Rosalind still reminds me of a proper British version of True Grit's Mattie Ross. The Bow Street runner, Adam Harkness, is smart and surprisingly compassionate. Lady Melbourne's family are all unique characters and raise suspicions. Alice and George Littlefield are the break out characters. They are dear friends of Rose's who lost their fortunes but took to newspaper employment to make their way in life and stay close to Rose. Then their is Devin Winterbourne, a Duke, and early suitor of Rose's from before her family became destitute. He is an interesting character and I have warmed to him over the course of the three books.

The plot was interesting with the "naughty letters" from Lord Byron that could cause destruction of reputations and a marriage, then the murder added in made this a tantalizing story. Plus the growing relationship between Rosalind and Harkness with Devin Winterbourne, the Duke of Casselmain, renewing his offer of marriage from years before makes the story fly by.

The setting of London is always expertly painted by Ms. Wilde and transports the reader. The climax provides some delicious tense moments that I enjoyed and the wrap-up had me wanting the next book immediately.

This series was inspired by the Jane Austen novels and that is can be seen on every page. I find the "cop boyfriend" very cliche, but the author raises class tensions between Rose and Harkness as well as high society's fanatical avoidance of even a hint of scandal, so being chummy with a cop is out-of-the-question and introduces a forbidden element to their attraction. It becomes harder in this book for Rosalind (Rose) to deny she has developed some feelings for Harkness. This has become one of my "go to" historical mystery series and has never failed to entertain me.

Rating: Near Perfect - Buy two copies: one for you and one for a friend.

A regency mystery? Yes, please!

What a fun and spunky read! Great characters and fantastic historical details. I want to consume more!

Another great historical mystery. I enjoyed how real life characters like Caroline Lamb and Lord Byron were worked into the mystery.

Rosalind is a spunky fun heroine full of skill and talent her adventurous spirit made this book! The ladies and their shenanigans are fun and hilarious and the mystery while not the most unique is still interesting and keeps your guessing a very enjoyable read

This was a very good regency mystery. I loved the characters and the historical detail. I’m looking forward to the next installment.
Many thanks to Kensington Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Another light read in this series! I highly enjoyed it and can't wait for the next book to be released.

Although this is 3rd in the Rosalind Thorne series, it's the first I read. That didn't lessen my enjoyment of this period mystery. Wilde gracefully weaves in the needed backstory as well as interesting period details. My one complaint is that the cover doesn't give a good sense of the Regency time period. I enjoyed watching how Rosalind picks at various clues to solve the mystery while moving within the confines society has placed on her. The characters are intriguing and I already look forward to the next in the series. Plus I have the enjoyment of going back to the first two!

“…inspired by the novels of Jane Austen,” you may be sure that I will be more than willing to delve right in with alacrity. Wilde created a capable heroine who was high born, fallen with her family’s disgrace, and risen by her own resolution and strength as a useful woman to those who were once her peers, and what began with curiosity continues to impress with a deep appreciation for her spirit and intelligence.

And Dangerous to Know is so titled to best suit one of the intriguing real historical elements of this third installment in the Rosalind Thorne series which works best read in order. In this latest, Rosalind is involved with ‘mad, bad, and dangerous to know’ Lord Byron, indirectly. While never actually present, he can be felt throughout the book.

Rosalind has recovered from her last encounter with murder and peacefully keeping up her prodigious amounts of correspondence, her household affairs, and trying to help her friend Alice figure out where Alice’s brother George has been disappearing to each evening. Meanwhile, she ponders the affairs of her conflicted heart—a duke or a detective?

This is all interrupted when an imperious summons brings her to the august doors of Melbourne House and she encounters its notorious mistress, Lady Melbourne, and her more notorious daughter in law, Lady Caroline Lamb. Lady Melbourne has letters written by Lord Byron that have gone missing and they are such that ruin for several will happen if they are ever published or the contents bandied about. Rosalind has a bad feeling about the whole thing, but when Lady Jersey recommended her and another society queen wishes to hire her, there is only one answer to give.

When she goes home to retrieve her things to stay at Melbourne House pretending to be Lady M’s social secretary, Adam Harkness arrives with an even grimmer commission, but oddly related because a body was delivered to Bow Street and it had come from Melbourne House. Adam can’t get inside and investigate such aristocratic people, but Rosalind can. She agrees to help him.

The investigation is complicated by more people knowing about Byron’s letters than at first thought and all of them having strong motives to take them. No one claims to know anything about a visiting nurse’s disappearance save the laudanum-crazed Lady Caroline and the doctor who hides his grief over the loss.

Adam plans to back Rosalind up and follow up on his end of the investigation when a jealous superior pulls him off the case and puts him on another while directing Adam to accept social invitations to hobnob with the upper classes. He claims Adam’s star is on the rise and he’s trying to help him. Adam just wants to do his job and doesn’t appreciate the interference, but he has to be careful because his career is on the line and the supervisor already doesn’t like Rosalind since she was crucial in solving past cases. He has to make sure she is safe since he feels her put her into danger investigating such a powerful family and she means a great deal more to him than she should since there is a class difference. Rosalind will find a way through it all if anyone can.

And Dangerous to Know pulled me right back into Rosalind’s Regency world where wealth and splendor are a veneer for true human nature and motives. There are grit and grime to these stories and not just palatial homes and glittering balls.

The main characters are vulnerable and flawed people as well as gifted at what they do. Rosalind gets the bulk of the narration with Adam the close second, but there are also snippets from other major players so the reader gets a multi-faceted story. There are complexities to each character that make them as mysterious as the main plot.

The blend of fiction and real-life is seamless and it is fun to see how the author chooses to fill in the details of what can only be guessed at when it comes to the characters. I’ve read a biography of Lord Byron and read some of his poetry, which sorry, wasn’t my thing, so I could appreciate what the author did with the real-life personages in this story especially Lady Caroline and her husband, William Lamb. I thought the author’s balance between sympathetic and wanton was just the right touch.

The mystery kept me guessing until the final clues fell into place. I had that moment when the light bulb lit, and I felt I should have seen the truth before and was as distracted as Rosalind about where the facts were leading which is always fun in a mystery.

The ending felt rushed and left me somewhat dazed. I still had a few questions once the dust settled. After being introduced to all those characters, I would have liked their responses when the truth was revealed and not just a couple.

However, I can’t claim deep disappointment since I finished with a strong desire to have the next book in my hands. There are definitely a couple plot threads that are meant to carry over into the next book.

All in all, it was another smashing success in the series and I can’t recommend it enough to those who enjoy a more authentic historical backdrop, complex female lead, whiff of romance, and cunning mystery.

And Dangerous to Know earns 5+/5 Stolen Letters...Engaging Entertainment!

The death of an unidentified woman is obviously murder, but Adam Harkness, the principal officer at the Bow Street Station, is disappointed the King’s coroner is prepared only to make personal notes, then quietly have her interred. Nothing official, no public notice, no warrant allowing Harkness to inquire further. The body was found at the gates of Melbourne House, residence of the very influential Lord Melbourne, and it would be inappropriate, if not career ending, to put under suspicion anyone in that family, despite quiet rumors of scandalous indiscretions. However, if someone discreet could ingratiate “herself,” and without notice, investigate and find answers...Miss Rosalind Thorne is brought to mind.

Rosalind Thorne has been approached by Lady Jersey, who is personally aware of her unique abilities, to provide her “particular assistance” to Viscountess Melbourne. A packet of letters, letters that would prove embarrassing to her, her family, and George Gordon, Lord Byron, have been stolen. Acting as Lady Melbourne’s confidential secretary, she would be well positioned to ask questions, search private areas, overhear quiet conversations, and hopefully locate the stolen property. Living at Melbourne House offers some challenge since Rosalind’s wardrobe has not seen an upgrade since her family’s financial crisis, but a five hundred pound stipend is quite the inducement or is it a bribe...payment for her complete silence.

After Adam Harkness relates his predicament with investigating the young woman’s murder, Rosalind observes, “It would seem, Mr. Harkness, that our paths have converged.”

Brilliant! I am new to this series by Darcie Wilde, and after only a few pages of the third book in her Rosalind Thorne Mysteries, I am a big fan! Setting the drama in the early nineteenth century is unique in my experience (I see Jane Austen’s Emma Woodhouse and Mr. Darcy) offering fascinating historical insights into events of the day, the English ton, and the criminal justice system such as it is. Darcie Wilde also pens historical romances, so this mystery seems to take on an epic nature delving more deeply into relationships, interactions, and formal and informal social gatherings along with the drama of a murder investigation. Each chapter cleverly begins with a title and passage from the sought after “personal correspondence” selected to illustrate directly and indirectly the drama and provide insights into background, behaviors, and motives. Darcie’s writing style using a third-person narrative with descriptive language and dialogue that does well to show tone of the era, emotions, and personalities. The mystery was an engrossing tale with twists and secrets; the insights into the “ton” were fascinating reminiscent of dynamics that might be found in Downton Abbey, but a century earlier; the characters were varied, well-developed, and realistic as I understand, with Rosalind’s strength and intelligence and Alice’s independence and ambition a real delight. Then Adam....ooooh! I loved it and am eager to read the first two books!

I greatly enjoyed the book! I went in thinking this was a historical cozy and it shouldn’t be too difficult for me to catch up, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was a lovely historical mystery series. I was really only bothered by 2 things; why couldn’t she have woven in a bit more about her father, her mother, and her sister? She made a few remarks, but coming into the series a few books in, I really couldn’t follow along. And I strongly dislike romantic triangles; I understand why she’s torn, but I do hope they wrap this up quickly as we all know who she’ll pick.

A new to me mystery series that I really enjoyed and can't wait to read more I recommend for cozy mystery lovers

It's the first book I read in this series and won't surely be the last as I loved this entertaining and engrossing story.
The historical background is well researched, the cast of characters is fleshed out and the mystery is solid.
The book kept hooked and the mystery kept me guessing.
An excellent read, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I had not read the first two books in this series, But it can be read as a stand-alone. Some of Rosalind's backstory can be assumed. Her descriptions about Regency England's upper class are well-done and characters are interesting. The plot involves lord Byron with many twists and turns.

Rosalind Thorne is once again drawn into a mystery involving the ton of London society. Due to her father's mismanagement of the family's money and his later disappearance, Rosalind now has to rely on her friends, mainly Lady Jersey to help make ends meet. Rosalind is tasked with recovering some sensitive correspondence that has been stolen from the home of a powerful household, the Melbournes. Rosalind must find out who stole them but she is also responsible for ensuring the safe return of the letters without any ensuing scandal. Adam Harkness, a bow street officer and potential love interest for Rosalind requests her assistance in discreetly investigating the murder of a young woman found outside the gates of the Melbourne household. Secrecy is of the upmost importance and Rosalind uses her unique background and skill set to get to the bottom of both mysteries which seem to be linked somehow. As she moves into the Melbourne household, posing as Lady Melbourne's secretary and begins her investigation, she quickly learns that Lady Melbourne is not being completely forthcoming on the details surrounding the missing correspondence. Will Rosalind be able to sort through all of the lies in order to uncover the truth hidden beneath?
Although it has been a couple of years since the last mystery featuring Rosalind Thorne, I had no problem slipping back into Regency era London and catching up with Rosalind, Lady Jersey, and the rest of the crew. The period details allow the reader to become immersed in the setting and makes the research that goes into each novel in this series evident. Throughout the plot, real historical figures, including Lord Byron are expertly interspersed with the fictional characters. The mysteries are well paced, with plenty of suspects and clues sprinkled throughout, and plenty of witty banter to keep you laughing. Although I am generally not a fan of love triangles, this one is well done and adds to the charm of the series. Rosalind's personal life takes a backseat in this story however the ending leads me to believe there will be some important decisions made in the near future. I look forward to reading what the future holds for Rosalind Thorne.

Rosalind is tasked with solving 2 mysteries that end up being connected. The love triangle took a back seat to this book though we could still see it on the periphery. I hope the love triangle (team Adam Harkness!) gets resolved in book 4 because to draw it out any longer will make this series a bit too tedious for my taste. The mystery was well developed though the pace was a bit slow. I enjoyed the first 2 books in this series, which is why I stuck with the book. Once you hit the half-way mark the pace improves.

The Rosalind Thorne series has continued to evolve and, in its third outing, has crossed from very good to excellent. Author Darcie Wilde has written a carefully crafted historical mystery which draws from actual events in the lives of Lord Byron and those impacted by his capricious and unpredictable behavior. His presence and influence permeates the book through actual quotes from his correspondence with characters in the novel, particularly Lady Carolyn Lamb.

The mystery involves stolen letters which speak to the relationship between Byron and society powerhouse Lady Melbourne, Lamb's mother-in-law. A woman, murdered on the Melbourne estate, was in possession of one of the letters. Rosalind finds herself in a spider's web of motives and suspects which she must navigate while maintaining her very precarious position in Regency London society where a social faux pas can be lethal.

Wilde's research into the period is evident and skillfully incorporated into this absorbing story. While the series' romantic triangle (which will hopefully be resolved soon!) does not advance much in this entry, we learn a bit more about Rosalind and the people in her orbit.

Highly recommended.

Full Disclosure--NetGalley and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

A dead woman has been found at the gates of Melbourne House. Lord and Lady Melbourne are famous, the upper "ton" of the "ton", as it were. And unfortunately their daughter-in-law is infamous, Lady Caroline Lamb, known for her liaison with George Gordon, "the" Lord Byron of romantic lore. The dead woman is unknown, though. There is a possibility she was killed inside the gates of the mansion -- and a great scandal this would definitely be. Since the police are involved, an investigation must be undertaken, but with the highest secrecy. Adam Harkness, principal officer at Bow Street Police Station, will see to it.

While this is happening, another matter has captured the attention of Lady Melbourne. Miss Rosalind Thorne is summoned to the house by Sarah, Lady Jersey, the doyenne of Georgian society. Thus we have the start of "And Dangerous to Know," the third of the historical mystery series set in Georgian times by Darcie Wilde.

There are letters missing, embarrassing letters. Lady M suspects “they” mean to publish, not blackmail. The scandal would be devastating. She wants Rosalind to stop this from happening. She wants the letters back in any event, whatever the reason for their disappearance. Rosalind agrees to help, moving into the mansion as her ladyship’s new secretary. So she is in place as Mr. Harkness comes on the scene. Both of them will soon have work to do. For the murder and the missing letters must be connected -- mustn’t they?

There’s mutual attraction here, of course. But convention ensures only readers are aware of it. Besides, Rosalind has a duke that’s offered her marriage. What’s a girl to do? Especially a poor girl. But at least we do learn of one concrete reason who Rosalind can’t marry her duke. I was glad of that.

Rosalind and her policeman do spend a lot of time in this book “thinking.” It’s a way that the author communicates facts. It’s also a way for the plot to get pushed along, but it does tend to get annoying after a while.

This is one of those books in which it might help if you know your history, so that you will more completely understand why these people are acting the way they do in these pages. The author does a good job of filling in some of the backstory -- including providing a truly shocking reason for why “the letters” can’t ever see the light of day, something that was hinted about at the time, but it might behoove you to do a little research of your own. The social media darlings of today have nothing on the men and women who flitted through the drawing rooms and ballrooms of British society in the early 19th century.

Chapters go back and forth between Rosalind and Adam, so that we can see what is happening from the different points of view. It helps to heighten the tension and serves as quite the page-turner. And a page-turner it is, even though the book bogged down a bit for me with the retelling of the travails of Lady Caroline; as far as the murder goes, pretty much everyone is trying to implicate Lady C, including herself. After we get past that little red herring, we get to the meat of the story and the real mystery and the solving of it. It’s quite a tale. Rosalind may come up against some that would like to see her fail, but that’s never an option.

The books ends on a thoughtful note. Rosalind must make some decisions for herself. She’ll work through them, of course, because there are more stories to tell.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for a copy of this book in advance of publication, in exchange for this review.

Oh my. What a thrill to be back in Rosalind Thorne’s world. It has been much too long since book two, but the author made it incredibly easy to pick up where we left off. The mystery of Lady Melbourne’s stolen letters unfurls at an excellent pace, and I devoured this book as quickly as possible. I was kept guessing as to the villains identity, and felt sympathy for some surprising characters. The love triangle was still in evidence, kind of - it was formed with light sheer scarves, but still triangular. Should there be a fourth book, and I desperately hope there is, the ending of this book leads me to believe the triangle could be resolved more satisfactorily in that fourth book. Fingers crossed!

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Rosalind Thorne, due to the error’s of her father, finds herself in an unusual circumstance, managing her own household and making due with “gifts” from the ladies of the ton whom she has helped. Her livelihood is trust and she can’t afford her good name to be smudged, taking that income away. When Lady Melbourne needs help solving the disappearance of some personal letters she agree’s to help track them down but it seems she hasn’t been told the entire story. These letters are connected to a woman’s murder on the estate’s property and Rosalind once again finds herself embroiled in a more serious investigation.

It’s been almost two years since the previous novel in this series but I easily fell back into these characters and remembered why my instinct was to add this one to the top of my TBR. The era of 18th century England is a fascinating one and this series gives us a different viewpoint of what it’s like to live that we haven’t seen in other novels, tv shows or movies. What happens to young women whose families fall on unfortunate circumstances? Well, worse things than what’s happened to Rosalind and her friend Alice, definitely, but having to “work” for a living while retaining your social status? Interesting and quite hard to navigate as Darcie Wilde portrays so well in her character Rosalind Thorne. I’ll admit that the social intricacies are as interesting to me as the actual mystery Rosalind is trying to solve, but in And Dangerous to Know that mystery is actually quite well done.

As Rosalind is investigating the disappearing letters and murder of a young woman she is also figuring out her feelings for her two beau’s. One a dashing Duke from her past life and the other a Bow Street Runner who is closer to the life she is now living. I think this novel brings us closer to a resolution to that storyline, but only just slightly. We are closer to seeing what’s going on in Rosalind’s mind and heart though. The next novel should reveal quite a bit more, or at least I hope so!

If you love historical mysteries as much as I but you haven’t read the first two novels in this series then please start at the beginning. Part of the fascination is getting to know these characters and I think you need to do that by reading the books in sequential order. The pace will help you immerse yourself in their world and sets the mood for Rosalind’s investigation. I can’t wait for the next novel, but since it took a while for this novel to be written I probably need to dial down my anticipation, just slightly.
❤️❤️❤️❤️

This is the 3rd installment of the Rosalind Thorne Mystery Series. Rosalind must take up residence in Lady Melbourne’s house and serve as her private secretary to recover some damaging letters that have been stolen from the estate. All is not what it seems as Adam Harkness a Bow street runner has informed Rosalind that the body of a young woman was delivered to the runners from the Melbourne estate and she had been murdered. Adam is asking Rosalind’s help with the murder and she still needs to recover the letters. Interesting regency period mystery which weaves in true historical figures (Lord Bryon and Lady Caroline Lamb). This is truly an engaging and enjoyable historical mystery. I have not read the first two in this series, however, I plan to so I can be ready for the next in the series.