A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem by Manda Collins

A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem

By Manda Collins

Rating: 4.25/5 
Genre: Historical Romance
Steam: Explicit!
Publisher: Forever Romance
Pub Date: November 10, 2020
Available: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop

A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem Synopsis: When Lady Kate Bascomb reports on a missing piece to a serial killer spree that’s kept London on it’s toes, it becomes something of a spectacle. While some are not too pleased with women writing about such gruesome acts, she simply doesn’t care. However, the article at hand puts Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham out of his job and into a downgraded roll. But when Kate goes to the country to her dear friend’s home she is drawn into another piece of the murder mystery. Kate embeds herself in the investigation, much to the chagrin of Eversham. But working together seems to bring good results and romantic sparks.

A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem Review:

I got this book from a friend for my birthday back in February 2021 and I just now picked it up eight months later. Let me say that I was an idiot. Is it the best book that I’ve ever read? No. After cracking the book open and getting through the first couple of pages I needed to know the answers and flew through this novel. It was entertaining and I devoured it in within a day.

Note: This isn’t a fully romance book, if anything I would place the romance on equal standing to the mystery in the book.

Loves:

The mystery to this novel was so good. It definitely kept me guessing and was on equal footing with the romance. I used to read a lot more mysteries, so I definitely appreciated this aspect of the book. It’s probably not up to snuff if you’re a true mystery fanatic, but I adored it in conjunction with the romance of the book.

This book is also not exactly historically accurate, but I love it for that. The women (and men) are incredibly feminist and bold and I loved every minute of it. With Kate’s character being incredibly bold and Andrew recognizing and celebrating her for that was something that some contemporary novels don’t even have.

Andrew Eversham is a complete delight and I love him. Honestly I need a book completely centered around his and Valentine’s relationship. I want to go out to drinks with them. Also, the chemistry between him and Kate was absolutely phenomenal. So beautifully crafted. They balance out perfectly.

Kate’s position as a widow was the caping touch for me in the the excellence of this novel. She’s older, she’s experienced, and she doesn’t want to take shit from anyone. This was something that I miss from reading historical romances, and it gave it to me! Thank you Manda Collins!!

Meh:

The first issue I had was everything seemed so well placed with the mystery, like what is the likelihood that all of these things would have taken place when/where they did?!? I would have to say, realistically this wouldn’t have happened and it took away from the book a bit. I wish there had been more problems for them to overcome.

The other issue with the continuity of the plot. Things didn’t line up with friendships and timing, it took me a couple of rereads through sections to get a better grip on things. Neither of these things were detrimental from the story, rather just annoyances of mine. (Mainly around length of friendships and the level that they were at within those timelines).

Long Story Short

Do I recommend this book? Yes I do! I found it to be entertaining and exactly what I needed to read after completing some finals. It took my mind off on an adventure to London and the country on a murder mystery with a great level of romance. It felt so good. A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem is a super under appreciated novel that I feel like needs some attention and love.

If You Liked This One…

If you liked any of Evie Dunmore’s novels (League of Extraordinary Women) then this will be for you and visa versa! Here are my reviews for Bringing Down the Duke (1), A Rogue of One’s Own (2), Portrait of a Scotsman (3). Seriously though, if feminist historical romances are your thing then these are a must!!