As a young widow in Victorian England, Lady Katherine’s social station provides her with more opportunities than a less-connected widow in the same position, but nevertheless, there are some things that are frowned upon, such as using her journalistic skills to uncover a serial killer

NB: The text doesn’t refer to the perpetrator as a serial killer, but there’s a clear pattern between a series of killings around London.

When Kate runs afoul of Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham, she retires to the countryside and runs right into (quite literally) another victim.

And guess who shows up to investigate? Yes, that’s right—none other than infuriating…handsome Detective Eversham. At first, this development annoys Kate, but perhaps Andrew is not so bad after all.

The best thing about this book was its homage to classic psychological thriller Se7en. Whereas the film focused on the seven deadly sins, this book features a killer whose victims have all broken one of the ten commandments. With the knowledge that the killer is among them, Kate and Andrew have to unmask the villain before they become the next victims.   

Since there would be no romance without the mystery, much of the relationship-building revolves around Kate and Andrew’s collaboration. The mystery was certainly satisfying, although one clue had a perhaps larger-than-intended effect on me, but that didn’t lessen my excitement to see the big denouement.

Kate is a wonderful protagonist. She’s clever and progressive and assertive. She’s a good friend, and she’s concerned with justice. Andrew, on the other hand, has the distinct advantage of not being utter rubbish, and realizing Kate’s value as a friend and ally before being attracted to her.

I would absolutely recommend A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem. This is a wonderful start to a new series. I loved the banter between the two protagonists as well as the mystery. I am already excited for the next book in the series, which features two of the secondary characters from this book.   

I received an ARC of this book from Forever/NetGalley.