Celeste Connally: Revenge, Served Royal

Lady Petra Inquires #3

Revenge, Served Royal is the delightful third entry in Celeste Connally’s series Lady Petra Investigates, featuring aristocratic sleuth Lady Petra Forsyth, the daughter of an earl, in Regency England.  Petra is an unconventional woman of her time.  She is fiercely independent and has sworn never to marry, after the death, in suspicious circumstances, of her fiancé.  That doesn’t keep her from having a sexual relationship with handsome intelligence officer Duncan Shawcross, and making no effort to hide the nature of their relationship.  She is also an excellent horsewoman and wears a special riding habit for riding astride.  Although she often defies the conventions, Petra is very much at home in high society, and has connections to the royal family. read more

Celeste Connally: Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord

Lady Petra Inquires #1

Joining the now crowded regency mystery field, Celeste Connally manages to make her entry a stand out in her series debut.  Set in 1815, Lady Petra Forsyth has declared to all of society that she plans to remain unmarried.  Unusually for the time, she has her own monies left to her by her mother, and she’s mourning not only a dead fiancé but the loss of her dearest childhood friend, Duncan Shawcross.  The two were raised together and parted on a terrible note after the death of Petra’s beloved, who was also Duncan’s best friend. read more