I will happily read pages and pages of characters in a historical novel interact at a house party. Bonus points if half of them don’t like each other, the other half like each other a bit too much, and at least one person is outright rude.

I enjoyed myself so much, following the point of view of Pat Merton, that I almost forgot this was a mystery on top of being a romance. Both aspects of the novel sucked me in completely.

Most of the historical queer romance I’ve read so far has been between men, so it was interesting to flip the script and follow a relationship developing between two women. Remember, a relationship between two women wasn’t illegal the way it was between two men in England during this time period, but women had plenty of other problems to deal with regarding their place in society. However, Pat and Fen have plenty of intelligence (and a decent amount of money) on their side. I have complete faith that Fen and Pat will live happily ever after, and I’m not just saying that because I’ve already gotten to peek in on them a few years from now in the book Think of England.

Rating: 5 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.