{"id":5248,"date":"2023-09-14T05:57:17","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T12:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=5248"},"modified":"2023-09-14T05:57:17","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T12:57:17","slug":"andrea-penrose-murder-at-the-merton-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/andrea-penrose-murder-at-the-merton-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrea Penrose: Murder at the Merton Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wrexford & Sloane #7<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Murder at the Merton Library<\/em> is the seventh book in Andrea Penrose’s Regency mystery series featuring the Earl of Wrexford, a brilliant scientist, and his wife Charlotte, who, under the name of A.J. Quill, is England’s leading satirical cartoonist.\u00a0 Only a select few are aware of A.J. Quill’s true identity.\u00a0 Their unconventional family includes two street urchins, Raven and Hawk, collectively known as the Weasels, who have been adopted as their wards.\u00a0 Also staying with them is Peregrine, a boy of mixed race who inherited a title from a murdered relative in the previous book.\u00a0 Charlotte’s aunt Alison, a delightful–and feisty–older woman, is also very much a part of their sleuthing team, as are Wrexford’s and Charlotte’s friends, Kit Sheffield and his fianc\u00e9e Cordelia, a mathematician.\u00a0 Sheffield appears to be an idle wastrel, but, in fact, he has a sharp mind and has come to be the head of a business venture, which he has to keep secret because gentlemen are not supposed to engage in business.\u00a0 Wrexford relies on logic and solid evidence to solve crimes, while Charlotte uses her intuition and her artist’s eye.\u00a0 Together, they make a perfect team.<\/p>\n

As this novel begins, Wrexford receives an urgent summons to Oxford from Neville Greeley, the head librarian of the Merton Library<\/a>, but when he arrives, he finds the man has been murdered and a rare manuscript stolen.\u00a0 The dead man had been the best friend of Wrexford’s brother Thomas, who was killed in an ambush in Portugal during the Napoleonic Wars.\u00a0 Greeley survived the ambush, but with physical and emotional scars, and has retreated into his life as a librarian.\u00a0 Wrexford has always felt a sense of guilt over his brother’s death, because he thinks he’s the one who should have died.\u00a0 Thomas had a sunny personality and appeared to be his father’s favorite, in contrast to the reserved, often irascible Wrexford.\u00a0 It soon appears that the ambush was the work of a British traitor, and that the same person has come back to kill Greeley for what he knew about the attack.\u00a0 Because of the close connection with his brother, Wrexford becomes more emotionally involved in this case than he ever was before.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Charlotte works on another case: a fire, which of course turns out to be arson, at a scientist’s laboratory.\u00a0 One of the strengths of this series is that each book focuses on a different aspect of Regency science and technology, and this one is no exception.\u00a0 The focus here is on the race to build a propeller-based system which can be used for an oceangoing steamship.\u00a0 As we learn, and as Penrose explains in more detail in her author’s note, steamboats did exist at this time, usually propelled by paddle wheels, but they could only travel on rivers and canals.\u00a0 Paddle wheels were too fragile for the storms and waves of the ocean, and there was no steam engine at the time that was powerful enough for an ocean voyage.\u00a0 Interestingly, the Americans were ahead of the British in developing the technology.\u00a0 So, the scientist whose laboratory is set afire turns out to be working for one of several competing groups who are trying to develop this propulsion system.\u00a0 Charlotte realizes this race is the perfect subject for A.J. Quill’s pen.<\/p>\n

Another scientist, an acquaintance of the boys Raven, Hawk, and Peregrine, is also trying to build a marine propulsion system for the Royal Navy.\u00a0 On a visit to his laboratory, Charlotte and the boys discover evidence of sabotage, and they also meet Horatio Porter, a young midshipman, a great-nephew of Charlotte’s Aunt Alison, who soon joins the boys’ group, with the nickname Osprey, and proves to be a great help in solving the case.<\/p>\n

There is another consortium working on an oceangoing propulsion system, led by the Earl of Taviot and his sister Lady Kirkwall, who are both nasty people, even though Charlotte has a certain admiration for Lady Kirkwall, because, like her, she is a woman determined to make her way in a man’s world.\u00a0 Sheffield, who at first is not aware of their evil intentions, wishes to invest in this consortium so he can make a fortune that would enable him to buy an estate where he and Cordelia can live when they’re married.\u00a0 Cordelia and Charlotte are suspicious of Taviot and his sister, and think that the propulsion system they’re supposedly working on doesn’t exist, and that the whole venture is an attempt to defraud the investors.\u00a0 But how can they convince Sheffield of this?<\/p>\n

When the arsonist is murdered in prison, it turns out his killer had been a soldier in the same regiment as Wrexford’s brother and the murdered librarian, so Wrexford and Charlotte realize there is a connection between their supposedly separate cases.\u00a0 The government’s spymaster, a nemesis of Wrexford’s from previous cases, becomes involved, as does a Russian diplomat Charlotte had met previously and strongly disliked.\u00a0 Wrexford, Charlotte, and their family realize this case is far more complex than appeared at first, and that they are caught in a web of international intrigue.\u00a0 To escape, they must bring the villain to justice.\u00a0 But the plot takes many twists and turns until it comes to a satisfying conclusion.<\/p>\n

I love this series for its exploration of Regency science, and for the characters of Wrexford and Charlotte, who appear to be opposites (and who, as readers who have followed the series from the beginning know, disliked each other at first), but who have developed a warm and loving relationship.\u00a0 The boys, Aunt Alison, Sheffield, and Cordelia are also very likeable characters, and I am glad that Sheffield and Cordelia have now resolved their differences and that, hopefully, their wedding will take place soon.\u00a0 (I’m sure a dead body will turn up there.)\u00a0 In this book, in particular, the history of oceangoing steamships is fascinating.\u00a0 The scientists of the time came up with the idea, but the technology available to them wouldn’t allow the concept to be realized until many years later.\u00a0 Not to spoil anything, but Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings of flying machines and other devices that were ahead of their time also play an important role here.<\/p>\n

I highly recommend this series for fans of Darcie Wilde, Tasha Alexander, and Dianne Freeman, even though the latter two series take place much later.\u00a0 This series is another example of one that does not go downhill after the two leading characters get married.\u00a0 I would suggest starting with the first book, Murder on Black Swan Lane<\/em>, even though each novel stands on its own.\u00a0 If you start at the beginning, you will see how Wrexford’s and Charlotte’s relationship developed, and how the boys came to join the family.\u00a0 It’s a delightful series, and I always look forward to a new installment. \u2013 Vicki Kondelik<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wrexford & Sloane #7 Murder at the Merton Library is the seventh book in Andrea Penrose’s Regency mystery series featuring the Earl of Wrexford, a brilliant scientist, and his wife Charlotte, who, under the name of A.J. Quill, is England’s leading satirical cartoonist.\u00a0 Only a select few are aware of A.J. Quill’s true identity.\u00a0 Their … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[928,162,1374,1376,271,1375,273,682],"class_list":["post-5248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-andrea-penrose","tag-kensington-books","tag-murder-at-the-merton-library","tag-oxford","tag-regency-london","tag-royal-navy","tag-vicki-kondelik","tag-wrexford-and-sloane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5252,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5248\/revisions\/5252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}