"A thrilling venture into romance and mystery".

Private investigators Lavinia Lake and Tobias March are hot on the trail of a murderer for hire . This time a macabre murderer appears to be copycatting two killers who left behind memento mori rings at the scenes of their crimes. The original Memento Mori Man murdered for hire decades earlier, taking on assignments only if he thought the target thoroughly deserved death. Three years before the start of this novel, the same "ghastly signature" was employed by Zachary Elland in tribute to his predecessor. Elland, March's fellow spy (during the Napoleonic wars), committed suicide after March unmasked him, so when a memento mori ring turns up on the doorstep of Elland's rich lover, Aspasia Gray, March is not surprised when she seeks him out at Lord Beaumont's country-house party. Lake, however, is dismayed, since Gray wants more than just March's investigative skills. A murder is promptly committed at Beaumont's estate, and Lake and March launch their investigations, centering on a certain unstylish blonde wig and a trio of dangerous, dowagers.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Travelling with a relay book.

Thanks amberC.

Disappointing. Usually Quick writes a fairly rollicking good tale, if highly improbable, but I found this quite tedious. In theory, this had all the right ingredients for an amusing & entertaining time. Unfortunately, what should have been a good historical romance-cum-detective tale was let down by the stilted, unbelievable dialogue. One must suspend disbelief to some extent to enjoy the escapism of this kind of story, but I couldn't hang mine high enough. What was the Dominic Hood sideline all about? It seemed absolutely pointless to me - just filler.

I really wanted to like it, but Quick's writing is stale in this one. I toyed with 5/10 but decided on 4/10 because she let me down so much. I haven't read the earlier Lake/March installments, but I do have the first in the series so sometime I may give this author a chance to redeem herself.

Left for the book exchange trolley.