Review by Booklist Review
Gillian Linscott writing as Carol Peacock brings readers another case featuring the intrepid female sleuth Liberty Lane. In July 1840, magistrate Stephen Godwit, of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, visits Liberty's office in London to discuss a case that came before his court. He fears that young Jack Picton, a trade unionist and political agitator, has been unjustly accused of murdering governess Mary Marsh. Liberty finds that the sleepy little town of Cheltenham is really a hotbed of vice. The poor residents of the town will do just about anything to avoid being sent to the horrible workhouse. Historical-mystery fans will enjoy this colorful adventure set in the nineteenth-century British countryside.--Bibel, Barbara Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In the first chapter of Peacock's fine sixth early Victorian historical (after 2012's Keeping Bad Company), Benjamin Disraeli, the future British prime minister, asks Liberty Lane, a female private investigator who has served him in the past, to spy on the Chartists-working-class political reformers whom the government views as a threat. The indignant Lane refuses Disraeli's offer, freeing her to help Gloucestershire magistrate Stephen Godwit, who's concerned that a man imprisoned for murder may be innocent. The authorities have charged Jack Picton, reputed to be a revolutionary, with the bludgeoning death of governess Mary Marsh. Picton had been feuding with the victim's employers and was possibly her lover. Lane soon learns of a bizarre disappearance that may have a connection with the crime. The author has put a lot of work into laying the groundwork for the denouement, which will satisfy classic whodunit fans. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Intrepid PI Liberty Lane heads off to Cheltenham in the summer of 1840 to help investigate the murder of a governess. This is the sixth case (after Keeping Bad Company) for an outstanding historical series. Peacock is Gillian Linscott's pseudonym. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A private investigator takes up a seemingly hopeless case. It is 1840, and Liberty Lane has just turned down a job offered by Benjamin Disraeli spying on the more revolutionary elements of society with which she has great sympathy. Instead, she takes herself off to the home of Mr. Godwit, a magistrate who feels that a young man he and his two fellow magistrates have sent up for trial may be innocent of murdering the governess of a local family in the Cheltonham area. It is true that Jack Picton, a trade unionist, is probably guilty of something, just not murder. Picton has not helped his cause with his arrogant attitude and refusal to say where he was the night of Mary Marsh's death. Liberty and her maid/sleuthing partner, Tabby, have no trouble digging up local scandals, including a broken engagement between Mary Marsh's charge, Barbara Kemble, and Peter Paley, who recently vanished after his wealthy father refused to pay his mountainous debts. England's class-driven society makes it difficult for Liberty to even suggest another candidate for the murder, but she plans on doing all she can to keep the unsympathetic Picton from the gallows. The sixth in this highly enjoyable series (Keeping Bad Company, 2012, etc.) adds social commentary to a rich broth of historical tidbits and an excellent mystery.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
