I was thrilled to get the ARC for this book since I read the first book, Murder in Old Bombay, and loved it! This book was a bit different from the first, as it takes place in the United States now instead of in Bombay, but it was still amazing. I loved, loved, loved this one just as much, maybe even more than the first one.
In this story, we get to not only see more of what Captain Jim is doing as a detective in Boston, but we get to see what Diana does and get to know her even more, and Diana is amazing. I love her character and she's definitely a good complement and match to Captain Jim.
It starts out with Captain Jim and Diana being home and happy with his returning from a job, but then he has to leave on another top secret detective job and tells Diana he'll be gone for a longer time this time. Then as she's going about doing her normal, figuring out what to do and all by herself while he's gone, while she's cleaning she finds his wedding ring left behind in his dresser drawer and then gets concerned when he doesn't come home after a few weeks. Diana has to go find him to see if he's safe and in the process ends up being a detective and taking a part in the job and operation that Captain Jim is involved in. This story has it all with Diana figuring out how to use her knowledge and skills as a woman to help with the whole operation and with Captain Jim seeing what happens with investigating a murder and unrest happening around when the World Fair is going on in Chicago, which is a fun part in the story with Diana talking to Nikola Tesla. I can't wait to hopefully read more about Captain Jim and Diana and would love to read anything by Nev March. She's an exceptional author.
Thank you so much to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Minotaur Books for letting me read and review this fantastic book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )

Jim is sent by his detective agency to the Chicago’s World Fair in 1893 to investigate the disappearance of another operative. Diana receives a visitor in Boston who wishes to see her husband. He explains he has the letter that Jim wanted translated, and tells her about it. Wanting to get Jim the information, she goes to the agency, but is told that Jim, too, has disappeared. Fearing for her husband’s welfare, she goes to Chicago. Hoping Jim will find her, she puts a daring plan in motion. Armed with a small pistol in her muff and a parasol, she puts herself in harm’s way. She does get some help from others, but it is her sheer determination that propels her on. It’s an exciting story, rich with the flavor of the fair and hidden problems that plagued it. Anarchists, scheming men, and the newly unemployed all figure in this story, as well as the recent inventions and discoveries of that time period. Well written with well developed characters, this novel is a great addition to the series. Lady Diana and Captain Jim are quite the duo, and it will interesting to see what lies in their future. ( )

When I read the first in this series, I made note to read the second when it came out. Unfortunately, I like it much less than the first. The setting has changed from Bombay to Chicago and the protagonist has become Wonder Woman.

Jim, the husband of Diana, is an experienced investigator and has gone to work for a private agency in Boston where they are now living. He is sent to Chicago, it's 1893, to help an investigator who has already been sent there. When Diana goes weeks without hearing from Jim, she decides to go find him and of course, she does. My greatest problem with what follows is that it doesn't have even a slim thread of possibility to me. ( )

Married couple Jim and Diana investigate a possible bomb threat in Chicago at the World's Fair in 1893. I enjoyed the author's notes at the end describing events in the story that were based on facts. Of particular interest were that the first successful heart-repair surgery was performed by Black surgeon, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, on Chicago's South Side in 1893. The characters were interesting but I didn't find the plot particularly intriguing. ( )

Peril at the Exposition by Nev March is a 2022 Minotaur Books publication.

This is the follow-up to March’s outstanding debut- “Murder in Old Bombay”. As the story opens, we find Jim and Diana are now married and living in Boston. Jim is working as a detective for the Dupree Agency, and passing on his detecting skills to his wife…

But then Jim is sent away to Chicago, just as the World Fair is getting underway. Diana is left alone, and soon begins to worry when she doesn’t hear from Jim. To her horror the men at the Dupree Agency have also lost track of him, so Diana heads to Chicago hoping to find her husband… hopefully, alive…

I had high hopes for this one, but alas, I’m afraid I really struggled with it. I didn’t have a problem with Diana controlling the main narrative- Jim gets to have his own first-person narrative as well, though his voice is secondary, but the story moved slowly, and has a few too many characters flowing in and out, for my taste. Diana was too bumbling- constantly putting Jim in danger- which just didn't feel right- or plausible.

Though the plot, which was centered around the disgruntled anarchists who stirred up anger and unrest, is a terrific issue to explore, the backdrop didn’t hold the same intrigues of the original Indian landscape, and the wonderful chemistry between Jim and Diana wasn’t evident here. I never warmed to the secondary characters, and the suspense which should have built as the plot unfolded never fully got off the ground, causing the ending to fall flat in the process.

Overall, this sophomore effort simply did not measure up to its predecessor, but it is also possible that my expectations were set too high going in. To be fair- the story does have its merits and was enjoyable enough- it just didn’t impress in the way I had hoped.

That said, some of my favorite series suffered through a few rocky moments before I fully settled into them- so if this series does continue- I’ll give it a chance to properly develop.

2.5 rounded up ( )