| Title | : | The Hanover Square Affair (Captain Lacey, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 319 |
| Publication | : | First published December 2, 2003 |
Cavalry captain Gabriel Lacey returns to Regency London from the Napoleonic wars, burned out, fighting melancholia, his career ended. His interest is perked when he learns of a missing girl, possibly kidnapped by a prominent member of Parliament. Lacey's search for the girl leads to the discovery of murder, corruption, and dealings with a leader of the underworld. He faces his own disorientation transitioning from a soldier's life to the civilian world at the same time, redefining his role with his former commanding officer and making new friends--from the top of society to the street girls of Covent Garden.
#1 of the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries series.
This is a full-length novel, e-version of The Hanover Square Affair, previously published in print by Berkley Prime Crime.
The Hanover Square Affair (Captain Lacey, #1) Reviews
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The first in a crime fiction series set in Regency London, which features as its narrator and hero an injured Peninsular Wars veteran, Captain Gabriel Lacey, this novel seemed like it would be a good read. Sadly, my expectations were not met.
The novel has a number of problems. One is the character of Captain Lacey. He is yet another detective (using the word in its broadest sense) with "issues", including his gammy leg, his impecuniousness, his conflict with an old friend and comrade, his messed-up relationships with women and his "melancholia". It seems to me that he has too many problems to make him an effective detective. The melancholia is his biggest personal difficulty and in theory it should have made him a sympathetic character. However, it had the opposite effect on me. I have no problem with the idea of Captain Lacey suffering from depression and I take no issue with the condition being called melancholia. However, I started getting irritated when the word appeared four times in the same paragraph.
Another problem is the language. The prose is clunky and the dialogue clunkier. Gardner had the characters - including genteel female characters - use language which I doubt would have been used in the period in which the novel is set. In fact, apart from the very occasional reference to an historical event (the approaching marriage of Princess Charlotte, for example) and some geographical references, relatively little attempt is made to locate the novel within its place and time. I neither wanted nor expected bucketloads of period detail. However, I did expect an early 19th century London "feel", which this novel didn't deliver.
The plot has some good ideas, with a few red herrings thrown in for good measure, but it took a long time to become interesting. While the pace picks up eventually, the novel never becomes a page turner. I finished reading it because, well, that's generally what I do. And I did start to become marginally more interested in how the mystery aspect of the novel was going to be resolved. However, I don't see myself bothering with the next book in the series. For anyone keen to read crime fiction set in Regency London, I think that
C.S. Harris's Sebastian St Cyr novels are better than this offering. Although frankly, that's not saying a great deal, as I have some deep reservations about that series as well. I should probably stick to Georgette Heyer romances if I want a dose of the Regency and go elsewhere to satisfy my taste for crime fiction. -
Now this is why I like doing Challenges - I end up reading books I would never have normally come across. This time I had to read a book whose author's initial was g and I am so glad I did!
The Hanover Square Affair turned out to be right up my alley - a clever and nicely written mystery set in Regency England. Better still it is the first in a series and I do love a good series:) This book had everything I need; an interesting and competent main character, a suitably cunning plot, lots of action and a satisfactory conclusion. Oh and just a small amount of romance to sweeten the whole affair. I enjoyed it very much and have made a note to read the sequel. -
Written November 23, 2015
4 Stars - Perfect for my (moody dark autumn) feel these days. It was also great with a non-romantic story in between all my romances
Book #1
I just finished a
Jennifer Ashley (this time published in her pen name
Ashley Gardner) historical mystery series novel. There are already ten books about
Captain Lacey solving crime and mystery cases and I looking forward for more.
I really really enjoyed to listening to this (not a romance) audiobook mystery novel. Just the terrific, not too long, 7:30 hrs length.
The Hanover Square Affair was more than just a nice read. It was really good. ~ This author never dissapoint me regardless of genre. (Ms Jennifer Ashley is probably also soon one of my most read m/f writers these last years.)
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This first part, The Hanover Square Affair is set in London 1816 some time after the war with the French ended.
Our main hero, Captain Gabriel Lacey, is still a bit depressed and angry about how his twenty years long military career abruptly ended. It was, among other things, heroism and jealousy that ended with a broken very long friendship, farewell and an injured leg. Still a few years later hard to forget and forgive. ~ Poor dear Captain Lacey.
I'll remember that the blurb explain a bit about the mystery case: A missing young miss and her maid, add a broken father and a murdered gentleman. A "whodunnit" kind of mystery with more and more loose ends and strange people to really suspect. Our hero is suspicious, very clever and hero-like brave, but he doesn't jump to conclusions ... he does, however, some pretty stupid and dangerous "stuff" every now and then.
London is dirty, wet, gritty, raw and depressing depraved. I both shuddered and thanked that I live now and up here. This was far from the historical romances and those shimmering ballrooms we HR readers usually visit.
‘Sometimes there is no comfort, only the knowledge that the worst has happened.’
Easy to like, easy to listen to
I listened to the 7:30 hrs audiobook edition narrated by
James Gillies in a very old styled theatrical style. I liked it.
I always (you know me) want some grand love, steam and heartbreaking moments but this rough, horrible London murder-case caught my interest and I'm honestly satisfied.
~ Maybe will this very brave, pure-hearted and wise Captain find grand love in the future? (Please, he is so worth it) ~
Anyway, I'll continue to read (or listen) with my kind of romantic hope of future happiness (and a lot of nasty evil villains behind bars). Shall be interesting to follow these second characters as well. I already have some "dear" favorites.
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I LIKE - ...and want new cases and stories -
The morning Captain Gabriel Lacey came across a riot at 22 Hanover Square in London; and observed the frantic efforts of an elderly man to gain entrance of the dwelling, was one which set a chain of events in motion which saw him coming up against debauchery, corruption and murder. The sudden shooting of the man, a Mr Thornton, led him to involve himself in the disappearance of his daughter who had vanished without trace some weeks previously.
It was 1816 and Lacey’s career had ended on a sour note after the war of Napoleon. His purse was mostly empty; the melancholy attacked him often – but his sense of right and wrong had never left him. So the facts Lacey uncovered made him determined to find the truth. With occasional aid from the well-respected Grenville; one of his former soldiers Pomeroy, who was a Runner as well as his former commander’s wife, Lacey made slow headway. But the danger of the underworld was moving closer…
The Hanover Square Affair by Ashley Gardner is an intriguing historical mystery which I thoroughly enjoyed. The struggles of Captain Lacey as he tried to move on from his life as a soldier was a hard one to witness; he is a character of great strength and I admired his tenacity in getting results for the underdog. I’m looking forward to checking out the second book in the series. Highly recommended. -
Ashley Gardner is also Jennifer Ashley, a favorite romance novelist of mine. But this is no romance. This is straight mystery and it's really very good. I don't mean to seem surprised because I'm committed to a couple of Jennifer Ashley's romance series, but I suppose I just expected this to be more romantic. It's got a few moments, but this is all about the mystery. Once I adjusted, I was very impressed at JA's facility with this different genre.
Captain Lacey, formerly of the King's army, has a chip on his shoulder and a penchant for noticing things that don't quite seem right. His chip is toward his former commanding officer and -- also former -- best friend. The reader learns more throughout the story and I can't say as I blame Lacey for his chip. He's also been befriended by a wealthy, popular socialite whose fine art Lacey once saved with his observations. Grenville knows Lacey regards him as a spoiled, pampered phoney, but this is the most interesting thing going at the moment.
When the Captain comes upon a small riot directed at a home on Hanover Square, he notices and learns a few things that make him very uneasy. He agrees to help a family find their abducted daughter because he can't NOT do it. He's that kind of guy.
He's also kind of poor and bitter. And he has a few prostitute friends he doesn't have sex with. They're friends and neighbors. He's like that. Sometimes I found him too judgmental, but it's a realistic portrayal and moments later show his own regrets for dismissing someone just because they have plenty. He learns more about a variety of people and his perspective changes.
The mystery is very dark and a little disturbing, but it's also very engaging and well written.
I got the box set on sale and this was the first story included. I'm definitely going to be continuing this series.
PS: no graphic sex, just obvious implied shagging and a cut to later. I don't mind at all as I think anything more explicit would take away from the very nice crafting of this type of story. -
A loan from a friend.
The plot of this was rather like Law & Order: SVU—Regency England. Definitely a look at the seedier side of early 19th century English life. The period detail was well-chosen and convincing, and the author’s attempts to capture the characters’ different, class-influenced speech patterns were quite good.
The pacing could have been better; the author kept trying to shoehorn the main character’s backstory into the plot. The backstory is important, because it helps the reader understand why Gabriel Lacey does some of the things he does; but the integration of the backstory could’ve been smoother. There was also a lot of telling in terms of emotional issues. It’s very tricky to write a first person point of view for the opposite gender, and I don’t feel the author successfully pulled it off. Gabriel didn’t always sound convincingly male, even for a 19th century man. On top of everything else--and it probably is a realistic touch, given the old double standard--Gabriel is rather a hypocrite when it comes to women; and that made me like him less. -
Rating: 4* of five
The Publisher Says: London, 1816
Cavalry captain Gabriel Lacey returns to Regency London from the Napoleonic wars, burned out, fighting melancholia, his career ended. His interest is piqued when he learns of a missing girl, possibly kidnapped by a prominent member of Parliament. Lacey's search for the girl leads to the discovery of murder, corruption, and dealings with a leader of the underworld. He deals with his own disorientation transitioning from a soldier's life to the civilian world at the same time, redefining his role with his former commanding officer making new friends--from the top of society to the street girls of Covent Garden.
My Review: This will be your only warning: AVOID THESE BOOKS IF YOU ARE OF A SERIES ADDICTIVE BENT
Have y'all left who're leavin'? Good.
Go get this Kindle freebie, everyone else, and settle in for the haul. This series, starring wounded warrior Captain Gabriel Lacey, will now grab you by the heartstrings and cause you to leak water from the vicinity of your eyes. I do not know what this phenomenon is called, but it is unsettling.
I read mysteries, as I've mentioned before, in order to assauage a weird little part of me that craves the World to do the right thing. It doesn't, as the Supreme Court has proven yet again, five old men in black dresses telling a bunch of religious dupes that they can decide who has access to birth control (as if this is anyone's goddamned business but the woman seeking it), but I still crave a glimpse, even in fiction, of a world where the right thing is done.
I am not talking about the law. The law is written by lawyers. This means less than nothing when it comes to doing the right thing, or even following the promptings of honor.
The right thing, in this story, is learning the fate of a powerless girl. Learning the reason a girl ups sticks and runs as fast as she can away from her loved ones. Learning the secrets of people so powerful that knowing they *have* secrets is a life-threatening prospect.
And learning, in the end, who one needs to forgive and what one needs to forget aren't necessarily obvious at first glance. And certainly aren't easy tasks. Forgiveness, if sincere, is seldom anything but hard-won and almost never without a heavy, heavy price.
I read this book in about half a day because it answered a call in me, and left me deeply satisfied that I'd found a friend. An honorable idiot, with a foul temper, and a complete and thoroughgoing unwillingness to do things the easy way. In short, an uncomfortable companion and an irreplaceable friend.
Ten more books await me. I am deeply satisfied by that knowledge. Make of this what you will, but remember that you were warned.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. -
3.5 Stars. This was a freebie that I picked up some time ago then put aside. After I became intrigued with the author's "Kat Holloway" Victorian murder mysteries (written as Jennifer Ashley), I decided to give this a read. This was written in 2003, before the author honed her writing talent; but I found it interesting, if a bit rambling. I certainly wouldn't be averse to reading more Captain Lacey mysteries.
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The Captain Lacey series takes place post-Waterloo, where Napoleon finally met his downfall. Lacey is a retired soldier; he wasn't at Waterloo, but he fought in the Peninsular wars on the Iberian peninsula in Spain. Lacey tends towards melancholia and has had a difficult life, both in and out of war. He's been abandoned by virtually every friend or acquaintance, except for Louisa Brandon.
Louisa is married to Lacey's former mentor and best friend. Brandon and Lacey had a falling out - to the point where Brandon sent Lacey on a mission that should have killed him. Instead, it lamed Lacey, forever damaging his left knee. The military decided that rather than deal with the situation as it should (court marital, etc.), the scandal would be too injurious to Louisa, Brandon, and Lacey. So the military forced both Brandon and Lacey to sell their commissions. Brandon still has an income. Lacey, the son of an impoverished gentleman, has his half-pay. But the enmity between Brandon and Lacey is far from over. Louisa is determined to remain Lacey's friend, and she's one of the only things that can draw Lacey out of his dark melancholia. Brandon suspects that Lacey and Louisa have been having an affair; he can't stop his anger and jealousy from constantly getting in the way. And Lacey is still very angry at Brandon for his betrayal.
In this 1st book, Lacey has made a friend in Lucius Grenville, one of Society's darlings. Grenville has money, position, title, and the "ton" hangs on his every word, especially about art and fashion. Grenville has taken an interest in Lacey - he likes Lacey's sense of honor and longs for some adventure. Lacey is looking for a purpose in life. These two make an interesting partnership in this book.
In Hanover Square, Lacey stumbles into a conflict. At 22 Hanover Square, he sees that the townhome has shattered windows and an angry mob in front of it, led by a gray-haired old man shouting that the inhabitant of the house has taken away the only thing of value that the old man has. Five cavalry soldiers are guarding the home; but they treat the old man meanly, going so far as for one of them to shoot the old man in the back. Lacey is familiar with some of the men; one he saved in battle by pulling the man from under his dead horse, but rather than being grateful to Lacey, the officer resents him still.
Lacey rescues the old man and his wife, takes them home, and hears the story of how their young, innocent daughter Jane and her maid Aimee were abducted. They believe that the man in 22 Hanover Square has the two girls and is ill-using them. Lacey gains admittance to the home, and encounters a maid who whispers something to Lacey about "Mr. Denis". When Lacey meets the inhabitant, a Mr. Horne, he dislikes him immediately, detecting that the man's tastes are vulgar and he's the kind of man who would definitely dishonor and abuse two young women.
So Lacey begins his self-appointed task of trying to discover what happened to Jane and Aimee, and who this Mr. Denis is. Within days, Mr. Horne is found dead - a knife in his throat and his testicles cut off. Aimee is found bound and gagged in a locked wardrobe in the same room, obviously beaten, raped repeatedly, and abused in other unspeakable ways. Aimee has no idea what happened to Mr. Horne or where Jane is. She only knows that Jane is no longer in Horne's house. Lacey is convinced that Denis has something to do with all of this, especially when he learns from Grenville that Denis "locates" objects for the very wealthy at hefty prices - even, it's rumored, virgins.
Grenville sniffs a mystery and adventure. He assigns himself to "work" the case with Lacey. Along the way, they discover two other missing girls: a maid (later found dead) and a poor, young cousin of an older couple.
What do all of these disappearances have in common? Are they perpetrated by the same person or persons? What does Mr. Denis have to do with all of this? Can Lacey get to the bottom of it without losing his own life?
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This book is quite dark and not at all what I've come to expect from a Jennifer Ashley book. Which is quite likely why she's writing this series under the nom de plume of Ashley Gardiner. The book is written in the 1st person, through the eyes of Captain Lacey. We know he's a tragic, melancholic figure, but we only learn bits and pieces of what's happened to him in his life... it takes quite awhile for us to see the bigger picture, and why Lacey feels so alone and almost desperate at the age of 40.
The mystery is engaging and sad... and it ends much as one would expect. Suffice it to say that there isn't a true happy ending, although we do learn what happened to all the girls involved. And Lacey lives another day to solve the next mystery. He finds a sort of purpose in this - something to keep him going. And my hope is that Grenville will finance his sleuthing and be a sort of partner to Lacey.
But I also suspect there's much more in Lacey's life to reveal, most of it unhappy. Will Lacey ever see his daughter again? Will Lacey ever find happiness or an unencumbered love relationship? Is he capable of being happy?
A good enough start and characters to venture into the next book in the series. -
Gabriel Lacey is a character you can’t help but feel sorry for. He’s a veteran of the Peninsula War, disabled and on half pay, with a deep sense of honor that fuels his search for villains and makes him a fierce friend to those in need. He’s also dealing with severe depression and has been abandoned by a few people he cares about.
This story is dark, but goes very quickly. I’m curious enough to keep reading. -
The Hanover Square Affair is the first book in the Captain Lacey mystery series. Captain Gabriel Lacey returns from the Peninsular Wars crippled, embittered and struggling with melancholia. He no longer has a career and his social connections are limited to a rather tenuous relationship with his former commander and a mysterious friendship with a popular socialite. Despite poverty and limited prospects, Lacey maintains an uncompromising sense of honor, so when he stumbles onto a riot at Hanover Square, he intervenes in the conflict between a cavalry unit and a grieving father. The man's daughter has gone missing, and when Lacey becomes involved, his search leads him into the seedy underbelly of London's streets in the company of prostitutes and murderers.
Captain Lacey is a complex character with a host of problems and a backstory that begs telling, but he still seemed emotionally flat. I was intrigued by his history with his former commander and how that relationship had disintegrated from solid friendship into barely contained animosity. The author hinted at the incident so often that I started to think I had missed something and had to page back and re-read several passages. When the reveal came, it didn't have quite the emotional impact the author intended because I didn't have a connection with either of the characters. Despite that, however, I think the author handled the mystery well, and she has a lot of material - character-wise - to work with. I'm interested enough to want to read the second book, and I hope we see more of Grenville and Black Nancy, two characters who brought some color to the story. -
I haven't put this on my Austen/Heyer shelf as while Gardner writes from roughly this era & uses some of Heyer's cant, this author appears to have her own voice. The book reminds me more of the Flashman series, even though Lacey isn't a rogue.
If it has any historical inaccuracies I don't care - this tale kept me entertained till the end.
So why only three stars? I feel that Gardner tried to put too much of Lacey's background into one book & she would have done better to let it come out gradually throughout the series. & with there being more than one crime, this made the book very confusing.
The first few pages of the second installment of this series were in the back of this book. This shows a sparser writing style which makes me think I might want to continue with the series. -
This is the first of the Captain Gabriel Lacey series and if you are looking for a mystery, but still want a historical setting then this series may be for you.
Captain Lacey, who was a cavalry officer of the 35th Light Dragoons is now out of the service with a limp, a chip on his shoulder and pockets to let. About all he as left is his honor and his sense of justice.
Unfortunately in England there is a lot that is wrong for the poorer citizens that live around him. When Lacey ends up on the back end of a mob in Hanover Square his sense of justice is screaming for him to get involved.
A man's daughter disappeared and her father is determined that the lord that took her shall pay one way or the other for the crime. Once Lacey starts digging into the matter things become much darker then he ever anticipated.
Upstanding men can wear masks to hide the evil beneath and bad men's appearances may hide good intentions. Lacey has a whole host of friends that help him solve this crime. Of course Lacey tends to stumble into trouble wherever he goes whether it is with thugs, dead bodies or the opposite sex. But somehow he manages to come out of the situation with his body and mind intact most of the time.
I like Captain Lacey's world and glad I came for a visit. I hope that Jennifer Ashley gets her wish and gets to continue this series. To date there are just 6 books in the series in a cozy format. -
Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooring.
Sooooooooooooooooooooooo booooooooooooooooooooooooring.
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I have rounded this one up from 3.5. It is a good read---not a masterpiece, but worth a try. I liked it enough to give the next book in the series a try. Captain Lacey is intriguing (enigmatic and complicated), and Regency London is always interesting.
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Read but can't remember
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Regency mysteries are one of my favorite genres and I can be very picky when trying out a series. When I’m reading a Regency series, I expect consistency and thorough research because that was a historical era with set in stone social, class, and behavior rules. I also look for excellent character and plot development. In “The Hanover Affair” book one in the Captain Lacey mysteries, I found that author Ashley Gardner has created a very complex, intriguing hero in Captain Gabriel Lacey.
Captain Lacey has returned to England following the Napoleonic wars broken in body and spirt, a melancholy mad prone to anger and depression yet with a strict code of honor. I like that Gabriel was not a perfect hero, he is a gentlemen’s son but neither wealthy of titled. His saving grace has been attracting the friendship of one Lucius Grenville, a very wealthy and bored gentlemen who despite his wealth and contact, finds himself drawn into to helping Captain Lacey locate a young woman abducted and now missing leaving her parents frantic and broken not knowing the whereabouts of their daughter. In his search for the missing girl, Lacey runs afoul of a rather menacing yet intriguing villain, James Denis who seems to have tentacles in very high places.
Inasmuch as Garner writes the male character with very complex character traits, the women in this story are the usual vapid, self-serving, shrews. I found Lacey’s upstairs neighbor, Marianne, to be grasping and manipulative while Louisa Brandon, the wife of Gabriel’s former friend turned bitter enemy, was outwardly kind and compassionate. However, I thought Louisa secretly reveled in playing Gabriel and Brandon against each other, she enjoyed knowing that the two men who loved her but knew that she was safe from any overtures from Gabriel because he placed Louisa’s honor above his own. Curiously, I liked Nancy, the young prostitute who was enamored of Gabriel but betrayed him out of pique…at least Nancy was her true self and she had very few options because she was born poor.
This is the first book I have ever read by Ashley Gardner and for the most part, the author never quite transported me to that time in history, her writing style clunky in places and it’s apparent the plot relies on the suffering of innocents as a plot device. The sheer amount of horrific violence perpetrated against women and girls by sick, violent men permeated this story to the point of it being a very bleak reading experience.
However, I felt a curious draw to the melancholy Captain Lacey and I was left feeling interested enough to find out whether avenging angel Gabriel will come out on the other side to find a measure of happiness. Therefore, it’s on to the next book in the series. -
Crossing Hanover Square one day, Captain Robert Lacey sees a small riot, a small group of militia putting it down, and its ringleader shot in cold blood. He takes the elderly man home, treats his wound, and learns why he was shouting and throwing rocks at the particular house he was - he believes his daughter to have been abducted and kept prisoner there. Captain Lacey decides to find out what happened to the girl.
He begins his investigations, slightly hampered by the fact that gentlemen aren't supposed to do such things, and soon he has a murder, and another missing girl, and a murdered girl, all complicating matters. Not to mention a sinister procurer of hard-to-find items.
The mysteries are fairly well handled, and the solutions satisfying, but I can't really say as much for other aspects of the book. The setting is barely evoked; this may be Regency London, but you'd hardly know it if you weren't told. (Though at least there are no glaring anachronisms.)
Lacey is a somewhat uninspiring character. In an apparent effort to provide him with some personality, the author has loaded him down with problems - he's poor, he's partly crippled due to a badly-set broken bone, he has depression, his wife left him taking their child with her - but none of it actually adds up to anything very interesting.
The other characters are equally cardboard, and there's a dreadful dearth of females. Not that there aren't female characters - there are several - but that none of them has even as much personality as any of the more minor males. Also, they mostly seem to exist to be either victims or, in the case of Black Nance, a reward for the hero which he is too honourable to take.
Overall, I found this a rather disappointing read. I'm glad it was going free on Amazon and I didn't actually spend money it. -
i managed to finish it. otherwise, it had not much to recommend it, really. the characters remained flat and cardboardish and i really could not warm to the main protagonist. his background story was ok but then, except the one with the daughter it remained implausible and illogical. cpt. lacey is ... not of the time he's supposed to live in. neither is his mate grenville (or most other characters).
back to the main hero: i was constantly told how he felt but i could not fathom why - the anger seemed to just appear, some blablabla sentence and then suddenly his anger boiled and he wanted to kill someone. i mean, plausible that he might well be angry etc. but it just was not right. left me completely cold. implausible again a word i want to use. (not that fiction has to be plausible but then i like books making sense within their universe and this [plot, characters, setting] just simply did not fit together well enough.)
then there were some typos and i do hate that in a book, also a sentence where the supposedly corrected pronoun was still in, so the sentence made pretty little sense. and then, first the protagonist can barely hobble to the door with his leg giving way "thrice" but then he can run across the deck?
oh and it is a bit weird to read a book set in regency england having to read the word "honor" spelt without the "u".
just a minor niggle about a book that simply felt at odds with itself. -
Despite being set in the Regency period, this mystery is a long way removed from the worlds of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. It's closer to Sharpe or the TV series Garrow's Law, set amid the dark streets of London, with poor and desperate characters as well as rich and glamorous ones.
The story is told in the first person by the hero, Gabriel Lacey, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars who has been left with both physical and mental scars - a bad leg and a tendency to "melancholia". After he reluctantly agrees to investigate the suspected abduction of a young girl, Gabriel finds himself also probing a complicated murder mystery which may possibly be linked. Some of the subject matter is quite disturbing, delving into the vice dens of the period, although there isn't a lot of detail.
There is a lot of Gabriel's back story thrown in, perhaps too much to take in at once, but it all helps to make him more intriguing. Anyway, I really liked Gabriel and enjoyed the way the author writes. Admittedly, there are a few modern American words or turns of phrase, but this wasn't jarring enough to bother me. I spotted this first book in the series free on Kindle, and it seems I have been successfully hooked - looking forward to reading more of the series.
I just wish this book had a better cover - it is much better than its rather generic jacket suggests. This seems to be my week for terrible Kindle covers, as the previous book I read had an even worse one! -
What a quick read! A bit dark, but very enjoyable.
I first read Gardner by reading the recently published
Death Below Stairs (writing as Jennifer Ashley), set in Victorian London. Absolutely loved it, and decided to try some of her other books, to keep me until the next Kat Halloway book is available.
There are more than a few mysteries in this book, as well as some unresolved back story with Captain Lacey and other characters, and I look forward to continuing my acquaintance with them in the remaining books of the series. Captain Lacey is just so likable. Not perfect, and not entirely stable, but someone I would love to count as a friend. Can not wait to see what happens next!
Luckily, Ashley is continuing both series, as well as a third series set in first century AD Rome -
Blood Debts.
A perfect blend of mystery and historical fiction, with hints that romance will make an appearance in future books. Highly recommended. -
I really enjoyed the book written by Jennifer Ashley writing under the name Ashley Gardner. It is the first in a mystery series that takes place shortly after the Napoleonic wars. The list of characters and back story are introduced. There is no romance in this book, it is about a missing woman and about finding her. The story is told from a gentleman's point of view that has been wounded in the war and now lives on a small military stipend. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
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Book #1 of the Captain Lacey mystery series is a wonderful historical regency mystery! You will catch yourself flying through this amazingly detailed mystery with tons of twists and turns. You’ll have no idea how the mystery plays out and is solved by Captain Lacey until the very end. It keeps you on the edge of your chair muddled among details that expertly fit together at the end like a puzzle. A marvelous read, especially if you love mysteries. Do not miss! ❤️
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I love mysteries, but this did not grab me. A lot of harping on the hero's paaaaiiiinnnn, physical, emotional, and financial. Bleh. Rather dull, ultimately.
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3.5 STARS
A promising start for a new to me series. I enjoyed the mystery aspect and to hope learn more about Lacey as the series progresses. -
I rather liked this -- to be completely honest, I should give it something like 3.5 stars. It's a well-researched historical, with people and attitudes mostly complying with their imagined time (the Regency period). It's also a well-constructed mystery, which managed to keep me guessing until almost the end, which is a rarity.
Another plus side is the characterization. The main character, Captain Lacey, is a retired soldier who managed to only just miss Waterloo. He comes with so much baggage it could cover a whole day's worth at Waterloo station, but all of it is well done, up to and including the fact that he recognizes his condition, calling it melancholia, which is appropriate for the time. His former commander and former best friend is somewhat sketchy, but the real best friend, the former commander's wife, is intriguing as a character herself, although occasionally she comes across a little too good to be true. Other characters -- the street-girl with the hots for the Captain, for instance -- are also truly interesting, and avoid clichés (no, the whore does not have a heart of gold, and, being 17, she acts like a teenager a lot of the time, which I felt was a really nice touch).
It's rather bleak reading; it's nice to see the Regency era not getting all romanticized for a change, but for some, it might be too bleak at moments. However, the bleakness, at least for me, never slipped over into unbearable territory, and, in fact, made the whole more interesting. I'm looking forward to reading the next installments. -
I ought to have loved this - Regency, crime, the underside of society and a poor traumatised veteran of the Peninsular Wars. Sadly, it just didn't work for me. It started out okay, but it didn't take long for Captain Lacey's whingy first-person voice to start to grate. He suffers from melancholia. I get it. I got it the first time he mentioned it and I didn't need to hear the next thousand times. Talk about feeling sorry for yourself! And talk about patronising the life out of all his other acquaintances, especially Nance and the poor Bow Street Runner. And talk about being judgemental while claiming never to judge. Captain Lacey, you need to stop navel gazing and get a life.
There were positives. The book was obviously well researched, and it didn't overdo the history, but it did give you the history. It presented London as a character really well. I wish it had worked, but my issues with Captain Lacey aside, I'm afraid I found the crime pretty preposterous in the way it was unfolded, and there were so many holes in the plot it was, like the captain himself, lacy.
I can see from all the other reviews that it works for lots of other people. Maybe if I tried one of the later books I'd like the series more, but at the moment, they are not on my TBR pile. -
I wanted to like this book. The main character had a great backstory, there was a good degree of historical accuracy, and I liked the solid research that went into it -- but I just didn't really get into it. Too much backstory and too many characters trying to fit into one novel. (I had the sense that this was actually the second book the author may have written for this hero, and she was trying to put a wee bit too much of the first book into it.) Add to that the first person narration was just a little off, and I just couldn't get into it.
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I'm sorry but couldn't read it as it's first person! I HATE 1st person - why do this to a historical....
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After returning from the Napoleonic War, to Regency London , Captain Gabriel Lacey begins a new career as a detective.
