Celeste Connally: Murder of a Merry Gentleman
Lady Petra Investigates #4
Murder of a Merry Gentleman is the fourth book in Celeste Connally’s Lady Petra Investigates series of Regency mysteries, featuring Lady Petra Forsyth, an intrepid, unconventional noblewoman who is an expert horsewoman, carries a dagger and a set of lockpicks, and uses her brilliant mind to solve crimes. After the suspicious death of her fiancé in the first book in the series, Petra has sworn never to marry, but her vow has been put to the test by the handsome Duncan Shawcross. For the time being, she has defied social convention by sleeping with Duncan outside of wedlock, and not bothering to hide the relationship, but it is clear Duncan wants to marry her, and it seems her resistance may be slowly breaking down, but I will not say any more about how the relationship develops. I will say that Duncan is largely absent from this book, away on a secret mission for the government, so Petra is left to her own devices in solving the murder.