Would probably scored better if I had read it as part of the sequence rather than as a standalone but this story of Rosalinde Thorne who investigates things discretely for the Ton, was entertaining. She is clever and knows her clients and how to deal with their issues. There's a missing pearl necklace and a daughter who ran away and created scandal but when someone turns up dead things get complicated and interesting.

I liked it, I'd like to read more in this series and maybe come back to this one after reading the rest of the series. ( )

Rosamunde, the personal assistant, tutor and chaperone of young ladies of the ton, is asked by a an old school friend (Betheny) to help sort out a situation of a missing (stolen) pearl necklace. When she arrives the family would also like her to prepare the young pretty sister-in-law of her friend for her society coming out. She learns that Bethany’s three sisters and father and mother also live with Bethany and her husband. One of the sisters (Norah) had run away and eloped with a man three years prior and returned saying she was a widow. Now he’s returned and is seeking money, blackmail and is causing trouble for the family. ( )

One man’s unacknowledgement leads to a trail of plotted vengeance!

Rosalind Thorne accepts a position to guide her friend Bethany Douglas’s sister-in-law Penelope, an heiress, through the season. That’s not all! A valuable heirloom, a three string rope of black pearls have gone missing and Rosalind is called on to “advise” Bethany about the investigation. The main suspect is her friend’s sister Nora who has returned to the household, destitute and compromised, three years after running away with Douglas’s best friend Bryan Cantrell. Bethany wants Rosalind to get to the bottom of the problem.
Unfortunately Nora’s other sister Mariah has just seen Cantrell alive and well, strolling through a gallery with a young woman on his arm! Something is brewing, but what?
Throw into the mix Bethany’s uncertain and volatile mother, her embarrassing father, her sister Leonora, and the possibility of a spy in the household.
Gerald Douglas is the latest heir to Sir Jasper Douglas. A man who wields the heirdom like a weapon to bring Gerald to heel. As he’s done to others before Gerald.
As things spin out of control Rosalind Thorne is hard put to make sense of things. Some of the results leave her (and me) speechless!
On her home front Bow street Runner Adam Harkness has gone to Manchester. For how long is not known. A blow not spoken of, except to say a wistful goodbye. Adam and Rosalind have an unvoiced understanding.
An intriguing Regency mystery.

A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher. ( )

This is the sixth Rosalind Thorne mystery. Miss Thorne has excellent breeding, a wide circle of useful acquaintances, and very little money. She makes her living as a "useful woman" who can be hired discreetly to solve problems in the haut ton.

When she is contacted by old school friend Bethany, who is now Mrs. Geral Douglas, to find a very valuable pearl necklace which his gone missing, Rosalind doesn't seem to think this will be a diffucult job. But when she moves into the house and discovers the Bethany also lives with her hypochondriac mother, her lazy and drunken father, her sister Nora who has returned after a scandalous elopement with an unsuitable man, her sister Mariah, and her sister-in-law Penelope, Rosalind finds that the pool of suspects and secrets in the household both multiply.

When Nora's supposedly death "husband" Bryan Cantrell resurfaces and wants something from Nora, things get even more complicated. And the complications aren't resolved when someone murders him.

Rosalind has taken on her toughest challenge in this episode. I enjoyed the setting of this story. I also liked the way Rosalind was taking control of her own life. I liked her relationship with Adam Harkness and her maid Amelia.

This was an engaging and entertaining story which makes me want to read earlier episodes in the series. M ( )