I hate to write negative reviews for any book, but I must do so for A Lark’s Tale by Lynn Messina. From the book’s description, I was expecting a rousing tale with humor mixed with the stealth of a sneak. From the beginning of the book, I felt that I was missing something. Perhaps another book preceded this one and I should have read it first. However, I found that was not the case.

I was confused from the first page and could not distinguish the characters from each other. The only idea that I took from the book is that Verity Lane used the name of Mr. Twaddle-Thum to write a gossip column. She used various and I should say illegal breaking-and-entering to find salacious gossip to share with the readers of the newspaper. I was never at any time comfortable reading this novel and only finished it because I needed to review it.

I’m sorry that I cannot recommend this book unless the reader has a mind like the writer. I was unable to make heads or tails of the whole thing.

I received a Kindle copy of this book from NetGalley.com in return for my honest review.

How lovely to meet another character from the Beatrice Hyde-Clare series making this a new series in that universe. This is a convoluted mystery with lots of characters both real and invented that took a bit of getting my head around.. However it soon devolves into Messina's usual murder and mayhem still with red herring's galore. I enjoyed the way Verity looks into the Kesgraves' investigations giving us another view of those investigations however this is helped by me having read those books already or it might be confusing. However the characterizations were fun as always with Verity and her side kicks Freddie and Delphine having good banter but the plot was a bit convoluted and I did loose track along the way. Hopefully this is just because it's a new series and will become less muddled as the series progresses. I'm looking forward to seeing where this series goes. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I thoroughly enjoyed this new book by Lynn Messina. While it could be read as a standalone, I think the reading experience is enhanced if one has read Messina's Beatrice Hyde-Clare mysteries series. There is overlap in characters (including Twaddle-Thum, which, btw, is one of my favourite made-up names EVER, also, verb-ing it to 'twaddling' was a delight) and references to Beatrice's cases.

Reading the other books first not only provides some context but also will help readers to truly appreciate the level of detail in the books and I can only imagine the effort it took to ensure that this book, A Lark's Tale, matches up perfectly with the Beatrice Hyde-Clare books as this one takes place over the span of a few of the BHC books.
There were times when the details became a bit overwhelming and I struggled to keep track of what was happening so I would have to go back and re-read parts, which is why I'm not giving it 5 stars.

The book ending definitely sets up for a follow-up, which I will happily read. I hope that down the road, we get a scene in which Verity meets her not-so long-lost half-brother because I imagine that could be a very tense situation, given the favourite focus of Verity's aka Twaddle-Thum's columns. :)

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of the book; all opinions are my own.

“But did she accept the massive injustice? Did she take to her bed in a fit of despair? Well, briefly, yes, because she was only human.”

I have received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

okay, i’m completely hooked on anything that has the word “cozy” attached to it. i added this to my netgalley shelf because it was an automatic approval (probably because it comes out in like two weeks or so) but it has all the hallmarks of something i’ll love: regency era london, murder mystery, unreasonable detective work, sequels to come, and if i’m assuming correctly, rivals to begrudging teammates to lovers. that’s just a guess though.

this was fun, i enjoyed meeting the characters and then learning that a bunch of them exist in other series out there (specifically what appears to be a female poirot, so i’ll be diving into that for sure) since it is an ARC, i do have one bit about a type of prose that bothered me only slightly, and it was that every so often, presumably when our author was tired of writing dialogue she would randomly summarize a few characters lines. it didn’t bother me enough to dock it a star, but apparently enough to mention it here 😂

While I enjoy Messina’s Beatrice Hyde-Clare mystery series, when I started to read A Lark’s Tale it seemed like a Lady Whistledown copy. Dear readers, I was mistaken. A spin off from the Hyde-Clare series (although I don’t believe you need to read them to enjoy this book), A Lark’s Tale is about Verity Lark, aka Robert Lark, aka Mr. Twaddle-Thum. Verity is an orphan in Regency England who grew up to beat the many obstacles in her path to become a reporter at a London newspaper. She writes “hard news” pieces under the Robert Lark, her imaginary brother, and lives with him (she even keeps an office and bedroom for him to perpetuate the ruse), her fellow orphan Delphine plus a cook and maid. Verity write gossip as Mr. Twaddle-Thum and has a vast network of spies and paid informants. In this adventure, she becomes involved in investigating a high level government wrongdoings and murderous coverups by powerful men when her life is threatened. Verity is smart, intrepid and not held back by the strictures of society. She even meets and equally skilled investigator and i hope their relationship is expanded upon in future books.

Persevere! Amusing yet startling!

So I enjoyed Messina’s cosy Regency style mysteries, the Beatrice Hyde-Clare series.
Lark’s Tale however is something else. At first I felt confounded by it. I couldn’t get a handle on the story. It was as slippery as an eel, much like Mr Twaddle-Thum. It did my head in.
Verity Lark is a gossip columnist, a chameleon. Nobody knows who she is. She’s a master of disguise, so much so, even she forgets who she is. I certainly did.
I think this is the first book I’ve read in a long time where I’ve had to take notes
Verity btw is the Duke of Kesgrave half sister by the courtesan La Reina (and that complex!) That’s not an alter ego, that’s fact.
Let’s look for instance at some of Verity’s disguises, or maybe I should say Verity’s alter egos.
*Mr Twaddle-Thum the gossip columnist ( most important)
*Robert Lark another reporter, with a house and housekeeper—Verity herself. Writes occasional serious columns
*Mr Quales an opportunistic landlord
*The turnip rustic
*Dudley Tiffin, scion of the H. Tiffin and Son dynasty: Official Bug Destroyers to His Majesty and the Royal Family.
George Hogarth, goldsmith
Archie Jones, excessively fond of onions
Old Turnip
Phantom
You can see my confusion!
Beatrice Hyde-Clare married the Duke of Kesgrave much to some members of the ton’s horror. Those who spread gossip about them were ejected from Almack's. Verity called one The Almack pariah. Kesgrave had his pound of flesh.
Madelyn Norton was one of those wretches. “One moment her crisp little [entrée] card was tucked firmly in her grasp, the next it was cruelly torn from her fingers.” Banished, she’s determined to make her way back into the fold. That’s why she conceived of the idea of becoming Mr Twaddle-Thum and much to Verity’s disgust broadcast her lies high and wide. So Verity, unknown to her, is now a target.
Cut back to the opening scene in Madelyn’s bedroom and it seems there are three people in her bedroom that night, (unknown to her) with guns. Needless to say after this Madelyn repairs to the country.
Verity sees that the Duchess of Kesgrave is paying attention to a murder of a man at the Western Exchange emporium and yet the scene was reported as being attended by Constable Jones: the apprehension of Francis Altick for the murder of William Gorman and the attempted murder of Sebastian Holcroft. No mention of the duchess. Curious.
Even more curious is the involvement of Holcroft the Holy. (That had been one of Mr. Twaddle-Thum’s coinages.)
So we run from murder to mayhem, there’s also Lord Colson Hardwicke who seems to be one step (mostly) ahead of Verity. But wait! Is this the same degenerate drunk from another time? Hmm!
A wild gallop around London sleuthing and more, and I loved every minute! I’m looking forward to more of verity and more of the mysterious Hardwicke.

A BookWhisperer ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

Sadly, this was only kind of "eh" for me. I didn't realize when I first requested it from NetGalley that it's a spin-off of Messina's Beatrice Hyde-Clare series. I had only read the first one of those so backtracked and flew through the next three in a matter of days. There are currently ten books in that series. Maybe all ten need to be read in preparation for this, but even then I don't think it would have helped very much. There's just so much to try and keep straight and it all gets quite muddled and it really didn't help at all that every time I saw the name "Twaddle-Thumb" I wanted to hit myself in the head with my Kindle. It's an annoying cringe pseudonym and I didn't find the one(s) using it to be much better.

Sadly, I had to DNF this. I would say that Ms Messina can write wit, but she can't plot, or at least plot clearly. This needed a good editor and it might have been possible to bring out the great and leave the dross. I think Messina was aiming to echo the ever-popular Bridgerton and write farcically and comically. I think farce tipped out comic and I could not warm up to these characters. I think the premise is fun and the writing witty, but I didn't enjoy the characters and the plotting was wonky.

With the exception of Veronica Speedwell, I don't think I've ever encountered a heroine with as much hubris and self-confidence as Verity Lark. If Plan A blows up in her face she always has a Plan B and a Plan C. She doesn't have enough backup plans though when a new rival/threat appears who is always one step ahead and sometimes waiting for her to catch up. A Lark's Tale looks to be the first in a fun new series.

A Lark’s Tale is a regency cozy, with, as that usually entails, an anonymous social columnist casting aspersions on the gentry. That leads to him/her getting innocently embroiled in all sorts of evil doing, and is our trusty detective solving the case.

This novel leaves me with mixed thoughts about its effectiveness. I am new to Messina’s work, and may have been more enthusiastic if I were familiar with her plotting and style, but as it was the opening threw me right off, not totally convinced of the sequence of events as feasible, nor liking a secondary character being presented as the immediate focus.

Once presented with Verity Lark (a wonderful name), I warmed to the book; however, Verity herself was a bit unbelievable in her various disguises, and from the cover, very different in manner and appearance than one might visualize. Was she gawky and gaunt or was she solid enough to carry off the broad shouldered burly disguises she sometimes uses? Padding alone would not suffice. As a woman in disguise, would not her singular height set her aside and recognizable? If it takes two hours to makeup as Old Turnip, how can she just wipe it off and act as a young man so quickly? I know I should suspend my disbelief and go along for the ride, but it is just a small quibble.

The larger problem I had was how the narrative dissolved into prattle much of the time. When Messina is on top of it, I stay glued to the page and enjoy the back and forth of untangling the mystery, but about a quarter of this could have been cut and nothing of plot lost. It is a bit too convoluted. Nice ending with Hardwicke and Verity, though. I was rooting for them.

Freddie and Delphine, Verity’s sidekicks, were well drawn and I would have liked even more of them in this novel,

My rating is 2.5 but will round it up to three stars, for I think Messina fans will enjoy it. It’s a very enthusiastic start of a new series for the writer, and I wish her well with it.

Thanks to NetGalley and The Book Whisperer for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fun story
This is a fun book but sometimes a little confusing as characters names come fast with little information about them given. The story itself is engaging about a woman reporter, both serious and gossip column, needs to find and stop someone impersonating her gossip column pseudonym, Mr. Twaddle-Thum. But what starts as discovering an impersonator soon turns into a threat to Mr. Twaddle-Thum or the person behind him. As her search, using multiple alternate identities progresses, she finds herself constantly meeting up with Colson Hardwicke, a subject of Twaddle-Thum’s column. When she discovers who is impersonating Twaddle-Thum, instead of clearing things up it becomes even more critical to discover who is determined to get rid of Twaddle-Thum and why? Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the copy. This is my review and all thoughts are my own.

An entertaining and well plotted historical cozy mystery, a Regency fiction full of humour. It features well plotted and interesting characters and the solid mystery kept me guessing.
Hope it's the first in a series.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was my first experience with Lynn Messina's world of gossip and subterfuge. I was skeptical at first as the introduction was a little wobbly, but once I got into the novel I was hooked. I loved the character of Verity Lark, or, more honestly, everyone but Verity Lark. Verity is an anomaly in the rarified world of the British Aristocracy; she is an outsider that has developed ways to blend in and gain information in nearly any setting. The sheer audacity of her disguises actually lends respectability to her own free-spirited behaviors. I am really looking forward to more of this series and hope that Verity Lark makes another appearance, in one form or another, very soon!

A really entertaining mysterious romp through London. The characters were brilliantly thought through and bought out across the novel and the plot developed at the perfect pace, keeping you gripped until the last page. I hadn't read this author before and have now downloaded more novels! A great read.

Set in the Regency era in London. A Lark's Tale is charming, witty, clever, cunning and just plain fun. Verity was orphaned and as such has an incredible understanding and compassion for those who are less fortunate. She is a bright gossip columnist and writes under the name of Robert Lark which covers a multitude of problems. Often masquerading as a male in a male-dominated society, Verity inveigles and spies using disguises and is above nothing, even bordering on illegal, to uncover the truth. Murder does not daunt her indominable spirit. In fact, she thrives on detecting! Mr. Twaddle-Thum is introduced and throws almost everyone into a tailspin. Twists and turns and a satisfying ending ensue.

My favourite aspects are the historical details such as dress as well as the characters, especially Verity and her friends Delphine and Freddie. The writing is energetic and compelling. The only drawback for me is the introduction of too many characters to keep track of. But after I firmly got them in order it was fine.

Historical Fiction readers who prefer murder and mayhem in a clean escapist read, do pick this up.

My sincere thank you to The Book Whisperer and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this delightful book!

Who is Verity Lark? Orphan, spinster, Robert Lark or, indeed, Mr. Twaddle-Thum and general busy body? She is all of them and none. 'A Lark's Tale' is a light-hearted Regency murder mystery that keeps unfurling at a frenetic pace.

Orphaned at a young age, Verity Lark has climbed out of waifdom to succeed as a journalist, writing under the pseudonym Robert Lark. However, bowing to her natural inclination for drama and being sly, Verity adds a new persona to her repertoire - Mr. Twaddle-Thum. The never sighted Mr. Twaddle-Thum divulges, twice-a-week, the beau monde's foibles and absurdities. Not to offend, mind you, but rather to keep them honest in their ridiculousness.

But the fun has halted. Members of Quality are being mysteriously knocked off. Mr. Twaddle-Thum is confounded, and instead of Twaddling happily, Verity becomes a target.

'Brace yourself, darlings, for things are about to become quite grim'.

'A Lark's Tale' is a well-written Regency mystery with such an abundance of characters, the story itself is sometimes the mystery. A list of characters, at the beginning of the story, would have been most welcome; especially as many characters have multiple names: their real name, titled name, and Twaddle name. Further, the book not only focuses on the primary mystery but on the sleuthing of stories gone by. Layer upon Layer to digest. Verity Lark and her friends Delphine and Freddie are very likable and the language and pace of the story are enjoyable in their essence - there's just a lot to unpack.

When I was granted the chance to read this advanced reader copy, I was happy, as I requested it based on a short but glowing review by Eloisa James. The plot seemed interesting: 19th century woman forced to readjust her path in life, actually working (as a gossip writer) because her place in society was being denied her. Naturally, she adopts a pseudonym (male), but somehow is found out and it seems her life is in danger as a result. All the makings of a good story. Then I read the prologue and found it to be ridiculous. So ridiculous I decided not to read the rest of the book. I also did not realize that there is a whole other series the author had written, and that the main character in this book is part of the previous series. That would have only confused me, because I wouldn't know who those characters were when they pop up. This is the downside of reading something by an author that is new to you: you can't really understand a current work if the character is a spin off from a previous series. It's never good to start in the middle. I wish I had found the prologue amusing rather than nonsensical. But that was not the case. I'm sure others found that to be an interesting lead-in, but not me. I cannot say that one shouldn't read this book. I'll only say that it is necessary to read the author's previous series, so that you know who's who when they pop up in this book.

This was a fun read. Verity Lark is an amusing character. I enjoyed the story, but found myself often confused about the other characters. Perhaps it would be helpful to read the other books by the author.

DNF. I didn't realize this was an offshoot of another series, but very quickly determined that to be the case by how lost I was. Initially, it all just felt like a lot of nonsense about this woman's alter ego Twaddle Thumb. I was supremely bored by the build-up of intrigue to the mystery which was overly stuffed with tedious detail and characters. Not for me.

Enjoyed the introduction of a new member of the Beatrice Hyde-Clare universe in this new-series debut "A Lark's Tale," but got bogged down in the minutiae of too many villains and too many machinations.
This book will be best appreciated by those already familiar with the Beatrice Hyde-Clare books by the same author, as Verity Lark is the unacknowledged half-sister to the Duke of Kesgrave. Growing up in vastly different circumstances, Verity lives by means of her wits as the undercover gossip columnist who is everywhere and nowhere, "Mr. Twaddle-Thum." But when she realizes that someone is masquerading as her/him, and that her own life is in danger, a nefarious plot starts to unravel, and she is determined to see it through to its conclusion.
I enjoyed Verity as a character, as well as her long-suffering friends Freddie and Delphine. I also enjoyed the way she investigates the Kesgraves' investigations--it's a sort of outsider's view of their cases from the last few books. And I enjoyed her interactions with Mr. X, who starts out by forestalling her attempt to rescue a damsel in distress, and then challenges her at every turn with his inside information.
What didn't I enjoy? The plot that Verity stumbles on, mostly in the latter half of the book, is too full of people and names and layers and higher-ups and lackeys, and I just stopped keeping track after a while and skimmed.
The characterizations were fun as always, but I could wish for somewhat less complicated intrigue--or at least, with fewer names to keep track of.