Rosalind Thorne does it again! I enjoyed the mystery and getting to know all the new characters, though I did miss Adam. I’m glad he showed up at the end to help solve the mystery. The story kept me guessing, wondering who could’ve done it, who had the opportunity or the reasons…. It was really engrossing. I spent several nights making myself put it down so I could actually sleep and not read till dawn!

I was wondering how Rosalind was going to deal with the romantic triangle with Devon and Adam, and I really like how the author resolved the issue. Nice solution. (Sorry. No spoilers)

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. The latest entry in a great new series does not disappoint.

This was a well written book. Since it is the 4th book in the series and I hadn't read the previous books, at times I felt I was missing something. I now plan on reading the first 3 books because I enjoyed reading about Rosalind.

I think this is now the third in the series aI have read and always look forward spending time with these characters; keep them coming! There are no superfluous characters, everyone is ther for a reason.

With comfort I recommend these books to my friends.

I wanted to say thank you for the allowing me access to the advanced reading copy of this book. This is a series that I really like and always look forward to the newest one. I am always caught up in the plot. This is a series I like to recommend to our customers. Rosalind Thorne has become a "useful" woman to many in the upper classes of London -- a place she too used to be a part of until she wasn't due to a family scandal. She is called upon to help solve problems and she can go where law enforcement can't. In this particular instance, she travels to the country to help with the wedding of her friend Louise Winterbourne and finds secrets and murder which need to be solved before the wedding can take place. She is also reunited with the man she once loved, Devon Winterbourne, the Duke of Casselmaine.. This is her chance to see if those sparks still exist

Thank you Netgalley. A cozy with a twist. The protagonist has many complications in her life and must make difficult choices to survive. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more in the series.

What a great book! This is the best book I have read this year! I love mysteries, I love some type of Romance in a story, after all, that of all things, reality. I like Rosalind Thorne, a young lady of the aristocracy who has fallen on hard times, her friends Alice, and her brother George. I liked the Duke, Devon, obviously not meant to be, no matter how much I wished for it. However, I do like Adam Harkness, the handsome Bow Street Runner! Interesting characters, very true to the times, a very well done "Who did it"! Could we at least have more kisses?
I highly recommend! Thank you!
carolintallahassee. com

This is my first book by Darcie Wilde and I read it out of sequence. I usually like to read a series in sequential order. The pace was slow in the first 30% of the book in that I felt there were a lot of descriptions and yet I still did not know the essence of Rosalind’s character…..what makes her special as a heroine. If you are new to British historical society customs, this book gives good descriptions and explanations. For me, I think I was expecting that by book 4 it should be clear what Rosiland’s occupation is. She is a daughter of an impoverished baron who committed a crime. She is an independent lady and by the end of the story I was still wondering how she pays for her living expenses.

The story does picks up pace and I do like the mystery which was satisfactorily solved. It makes sense.

However, I don’t understand Rosiland’s decision at the end about her personal life. It absolutely does not make sense to me. No reasons were given as to why she made the decision that she did.

Another great story in this excellent series: it's engrossing and highly entertaining.
I was happy to catch up with the characters, loved the well crafted and solid mystery that kept me guessing.
The historical background is well researched and vivid.
Can't wait to read the next installment, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Enjoyable read!

A Regency mystery with a smart level headed woman cast as the fixer, someone who helps others with their small problems for an accompanying gratuity.
Rosalind Thorne helped Louisa through her London season towards marriage.
Now she's attending the wedding and renewing her acquaintance with Devon Winterbourne, Duke of Casselmaine with the intent of maybe developing the relationship into something more. Only Louise has asked her to help her friend Helen whose brother died in mysterious circumstances prior to a duel.
Gossip, a death, attempted murder and a daring engineering project all play a part.
Bow street runner Adam Harkness makes an appearance and there seems to be some sort of love triangle hovering.
And a rather sinister, even salacious man seems to be wanting to know more about Rosalind Thorne.
A very different Regency historical romance/mystery with more to come. Rosalind Thorne is thoughtful incisive woman with a giving heart and insatiable curiosity. My sort of heroine.

A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley

Darcie Wilde continues the Regency adventures of Rosalind Thorne in a Lady Compromised; Rosalind is going to the countryside to decide if she and the Duke of Casselmaine, Devon Winterbourne should become engaged and to help her friend Louisa prepare for her marriage. She is asked to look into the death of the brother of a friend of Louisa. Scandal and murder along with financial improprieties threaten to turn country society upside down. Will Rosalind solve the puzzles? What will she decide about her future life? Historical mystery of manners makes a great pandemic read.

3.5 stars = Good+

I enjoyed spending time with my favorite characters from this delightful series! The mystery here is meaty and really pushes Rosalind. I felt like there was so much going on here that if I had been reading it in snippets rather than in two sittings, it would have been easy to lose the threads of the story. There is a LOT going on here.

This book was Rosalind's chance to see if she and Devon could reclaim the relationship they once had. This is a match I have never loved, so I was not as attached to that part of the story as I was to the twisty mystery. The epilogue is a great teaser for what might be coming next for Rosalind, and I am here for it.

Rosalind is an amateur investigative sleuth. A Baronet's daughter, the family has fallen on hard times due to her father's criminal activities of being a forger. She has to make do and try to survive on her own skills.

When she is invited to a country estate in preparation for a friend's wedding, she did not expect her skills to be called upon to solve a mystery. William Corbyn was found dead and it was considered a suicide but it is very apparent, that it is murder and the suspects seemed to have got clean away. When Helen Corbyn, William's sister appeals to Rosalind to find out exactly what happened, Rosalind sets in motion a series of events which upset a number of people.

The Duke of Casselmaine seems to be also involved in the cover up of the murder and this is hard for Rosalind who was in love with him but was forced to give him up due to family issues. Now brought back into his world, she finds that she is still very much in love with him and he too returns her feelings. However, would this murder and the investigation again set them on opposite sides of the fence?


Apart from the story of murder, the book highlights the moral standards of the time and how people were expected to live and behave which was most interesting.
Quite descriptive of the times (Regency England) this added more interest to the story.

'Rosalind is pleased when she's invited to Cassel House to help her friend, Louisa, prepare for her upcoming wedding. But that's not the only event on her agenda. The trip will also afford Rosalind the chance to see Devon Winterbourne, the newly minted Duke of Casselmaine. Devon and Rosalind were on the verge of betrothal before the infamous Thorne family scandal derailed their courtship. Now Rosalind wonders if there's a chance their love might reignite.

Devon is as handsome as Rosalind remembers and it's clear the attraction they once shared hasn't waned. But their time together is interrupted by one crisis after another--not the least of which is an awkwardly timed request for help from Louisa's friend, Helen Corbyn.

Not long ago, the untimely death of Helen's brother, William, was ruled a suicide, but few people truly believe he took his own life. Helen needs to know what really happened--especially since she's engaged to the man some suspect of secretly killing William.

While Rosalind desperately wants to help, she fears her efforts might cast a pall over Louisa's nuptials, not to mention her reunion with Devon. But when another untimely death rocks the ton, Rosalind has no choice but to uncover the truth before more people die...even if her actions threaten her future with Devon.'
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A Lady Compromised is the fourth book in Darcie Wilde's A Rosalind Thorne Mystery series. Rosalind is off to the country and to explore the idea of marriage with Devon, but things to not go to plan. Almost immediately after her arrival she is recruited to look into the death of a neighbor, which appears to be a suicide.

I have adored this series so far. I love the dry and often satirical views of people maneuvering their way through the very rigid rules of society. (although the author does not follow or is not clear on the rules regarding titles and address because they are consistently wrong and I'm disappointed that this has not been fixed by the fourth book.)

The mystery of the villain was not difficult to solve, but I still enjoyed it. The danger level in each book has been consistent, but that's not to mean it has become predicable or anticlimactic. The harrowing situations in each book are unique and I'm invested every time. I'm especially curious to see what kind of danger she'll face now that Russell Fullerton has set his sights on her. That epilogue was the perfect cliffhanger, I'm excited for the next book. And Rosalind was quite the force to be reckoned with, now that she's breaking out of that society lady shell that she has so carefully adhered to. A lot is changing here, but I'm excited for what that may mean for ther series moving forward.

I recommend this series if you enjoy cozy-style historical mysteries. I suppose you don't need to, but I would recommend reading the books in order as a series rather than reading this book as a standalone. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series and hope that it'll have more Harkness,
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I would like to thank NetGalley and Kensington Books for sharing an eARC of A Lady Compromised with me. This is my honest review.

A Lady Compromised by Darcie Wilde drops the reader solidly into Regency England and the business (and busybody-ness) of a small, countryside town. In this fourth book of the Rosalind Thorne Mysteries, Rosalind is visiting her friend Louisa at Cassel House, ostensibly to help Louisa with wedding plans. But she is also there to see the new Duke of Casselmaine, Devon, and ascertain if the sparks that once flew between them are still alive.

Seven years earlier, Rosalind and Devon were on the verge of announcing their engagement when scandal erupted in Rosalind’s family. Since then, Devon has become a duke and Rosalind has learned to fend for herself. She has survived by being a “useful woman” to other women. She helps plan parties, completes uneven numbers at dinner tables, and helps solve mysteries that society women find themselves embroiled in. And true to form, before she even reaches Cassel House, she receives a letter from a friend of Louisa’s, Helen Corbyn, asking Rosalind to help her solve the mystery of her brother’s death.

Helen’s brother William was found dead while awaiting a duel with Helen’s fiancé due to have taken place the year before. Helen and her fiancé found William’s body and claimed that he was shot through the back. Devon also claims to have seen the body, but says it was shot through the front and an apparent suicide. Helen knows that something is afoot. The rest of the neighborhood just wishes to move on and put the scandal behind them, but Helen’s insistence that all is not as it seems pulls Rosalind into solving a mystery when her plan had been to just reunite with Devon and see what might still be possible between the two of them.

In A Lady Compromised, Ms. Wilde writes a perplexing mystery with numerous twists and a cartload of supporting characters. She is a skilled author and her writing is true to the time - you feel like you have been dropped into small village life, with its manners and gossip and ‘neighborly’ concerns. The mystery is well-developed with some well-placed red herrings along the way. The conclusion was a surprise but a thoroughly believable one.

I have two quibbles with the book though. First - it definitely should not be read as a stand-alone. There are characters and events mentioned here without any context given, and statements that could only make sense with more background information. I recognize that this is always a risk when starting a series in the middle, but I wish a little more context had been given in these instances. My second quibble was with the romance portion of the story. Even though Rosalind is visiting Devon, there is another love interest that is not (re)-introduced in this book until well past halfway into the story. Reading about this second interest made me wonder why Rosalind was visiting Devon at all. Also, I love a little more romance in my reading - this is definitely a mystery and not a romance.

A Lady Compromised is a well-written historical mystery that will delight fans of this series and this genre. If - like me - you are new to this series, I think starting at book one (A Useful Woman) might be best. I’m going to add the first three books to my winter reading list. I’m curious about the characters and events I didn’t quite follow in this book.

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The stakes have grown high indeed when Rosalind is invited by Devon to his ducal estate and she will help with the wedding nuptials for a ducal cousin, but the mysteries around a local man’s death intrude and Devon seems to have been caught up in the affair.

This is the fourth in the Rosalind Thorne Mysteries series of historical mysteries that offer standalone mysteries, but a connected series arc for the regular characters.

A Lady Compromised takes Rosalind out of her comfortable Regency London setting to the countryside. She is there to spend time with Devon so they can sort out the possibility of a second chance, but her cover is helping his cousin with her wedding preparations. Meanwhile, Louisa presents her friend Helen, who is still unsettled about her oldest brother’s death, and the suspicion that the truth was buried with him because he was unstable after returning from war.

I love this series for the way the heroine’s family falling from grace placed her in the interesting position of being society’s fixer and an amateur detective. Rosalind is outside the norm, but still conforms to her historical social setting and is hampered by the way forensics, facts, and the law worked back then. The author puts a great deal of authenticity into the background and setting as well as each book’s focus. There is no stinting on developing the characters, either.

From the first book, there has been something of a romance triangle with Rosalind, Devon who is now a duke though was once her childhood love, and an intrepid Bow Street Runner who helps her solve the mysteries. It is more than choosing one of the men- or neither for that matter. It is also choosing her status so I get the need for thinking things through carefully. With Devon, she re-enters the aristocratic world she held before her father’s fall and the family sharing his disgrace, but with Adam, she would join the lower classes since he works as a policeman. At four books in, the situation is more distraction for me and I’m impatient for her to make a choice. Both men are wonderful and supportive and I hate to see them dangling though neither are really pressuring her. In truth, I wish the romance side wasn’t there if it’s going to drag on without a decision. That said, I think (because I’m not sure the way they were wording things) that she did eliminate one fellow at the very end.

The mystery was clever, but also obvious. There were a few surprises and some side villainy going on that kept me in the story. Rosalind first had to figure out if there even was foul play, let alone how and why.

This historical part of the story was well-balanced with the mystery. I liked learning about the canal work, draining the fens to create more farmland, country life, and country society. War and the ravages it has on those who came back and also families was a huge element. And, as usual, focus on women’s’ situations and limited choices were also highlighted.

In summary, I was impatient with the romance-side, was fascinated by the historical backdrop, and found the mystery rather satisfying. I look forward to what comes next especially the way an old enemy is still scheming against her. Those who enjoy strong, intelligent female detectives in a historical mystery should give this series a try.

Rosalind has spent the past seven years making her own way in society, ever since her father brought down the family fortune and social standing in a huge scandal. As Rosalind muses to herself, Sir Reginald Thorne was father, Baronet, forger, drunkard, liar and suspected panderer. Now she earns her living running a business of sorts but yes, a business. She has a knack of taking care of difficulties that are brought to her by women who have nowhere else to turn. They pay her for her help. In this case it will be close to home and her previous life. She will be spending a month at the country estate of her unofficial former fiance, Devon Winterbourne, Duke of Casselmaine. His cousin, Louisa, will be getting married and that means being under the same roof as her almost mother-in-law. While she is there she will investigate the death of the brother of one of Louisa's friends. Helen wants to know if his death was something other than an accident.
Set in the Regency Period, fans of Jane Austen will feel right at home. The descriptions are lush and pulled me into the details of daily life in a great country estate. Along with the rules of society that I was aware of, Rosalind investigates the rules of dueling and I found that fascinating. Weaving it into the rest of the things Rosalind has to juggle - including another death - this well written period mystery kept me engaged to the very end. I have enjoyed all four books in the series and, while it can be read as a stand alone, I would urge anyone new to the series to start with the first book, A Useful Woman.
My thanks to the publisher, Kensington and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rosalind is off to the country after a plea for help from her friend Louisa in preparing for her upcoming nuptials. While eager to assist, Rosalind can't help but delight in the convenient opportunity to spend some time with her first love Duke Casselmaine. Some time away from the London society peers will give Rosalind the space she needs to determine what she sees for herself in the future and if that future involves Duke Casselmaine. However the country proves just as difficult as London with plenty of animosity and dark secrets among the leading families. Louisa seeks Rosalind's help on behalf of a local family dealing with a recent death under suspicious circumstances involving a duel. However before she can wrap her head around the first death, another occurs, this one under even more suspicious circumstances. Once again Rosalind finds herself in the center of an investigation where she must poke her nose into the secrets long buried by some of the most prominent families. She has no doubt that assisting in these investigations puts her at risk of losing a future with Lord Casselmaine however bringing justice to the wronged and preventing more deaths is her top priority.
A Lady Compromised is the fourth in a delightful regency era series featuring the fiercely independent Rosalind Thorne. Forced to make a new living for herself among the London ton, Rosalind uses her unique set of skills as well as her society connections to set herself up as a lady investigator. The current mystery set well away from London, in the country, gives readers a glimpse into the oddly strict but widely accepted social mores of country residents during the regency era. While the mystery took center stage, there was quite a bit of social drama and romance playing out behind the scenes that kept the story fresh and engaging. The mystery was complex with plenty of intrigue and a succinct ending. It is clear the author has a firm grasp of the regency era in the period details that are tucked into the story seamlessly. I highly recommend A Lady Compromised for those looking for a charming, comical, and well written regency mystery.

A Lady Compromised is the fourth installment in Rosalind Thorne Mysteries by Darcie WIlde.

Duke of Casselmaine has invited Rosalind for a visit. To the others she is to be his cousin Louisa bridesmaid, but in reality it is for them to see if they still have feelings for each other and to decide about their future. She is happy and anxious at the same time. Rosalind has not been truthful about her family with the Duke, and so is certainly not to sure if she has feelings for another man.
Louisa's friend also needs Rosalind's assistance in proving that her brother was murdered. She fears that the man she is supposed to marry has killed her brother or at least knows the truth which he won't share as it is to do with the duel.
Rosalind also has to make favourable impression on Duke's neighbors and his mother as well. as so much is at stake, and not just her reputation.

I was really looking forward to her finally coming clear about her past and current circumstances to the Duke and making a decision about their future. I do have to say that I can tolerate love triangles up to the certain point but then it just becomes tedious and irritating. I had high expectations that this is the book when it gets resolved.
I am always surprised how pretty dark and heavy this series is. Maybe I expected them to be more light and playful, but they can be very consequential. They touch on so many serious issues.

I really enjoyed learning about the customs of that time, traditions at dinner table and general traditions of that time. It is so fun.
It was at times very slow paced, there were a lot of facts about subjects that I am not really interested in and I had hard time reading about it. Mystery was fairly well done, it was a bit hastily finished off.
I hope that next book will focus more on the characters and relationship development.

A Lady Compromised by Darcie Wilde (Rosalind Thorne #4) 4 stars

It has been a year since "And Dangerous To Know" (Rosalind Thorne #3) and Rosalind is at a crossroads. Ever since her father and sister left in the middle of night in 2016"s "A Useful Woman", Rosalind has had to live by her wits and capitalize on her "usefulness" to high society women. A kind of Regency fixer, she has solved murders and prevented scandals. Now she is on her way to the country to the estate of the Duke of Casselmaine, her old beau. There she will be helping with the wedding preparations for her friend Louisa's upcoming wedding. However, Louisa has a friend, Helen Corbyn that needs discreet help. Her older brother was shot to death and she wants to know what happened. After doing a bit of casual conversation, it turns out that more than one person might have had a motive for murder.

The mystery had quite a few twists and turns and the villain was not a surprise, but his motive was. Rosalind is not only sleuthing, but she is also trying to see if she still has romantic feelings for Devon, Duke of Casselmaine. A marriage to him would give her security and restore her social status. However, she also has feelings for Adam Harkness, a charming Bow Street Runner. They have shared many adventures together, but being with him would lower her social status. Therein lies the dilemma, she needs a certain social status to operate and survive, But her survival is like walking on a balance beam, one misstep and all is lost. Also, if she marries the Duke, she will no longer have to be a fixer. Read the book to find out what her decision is.

Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Books for this ARC.