"Women and their freedoms... be allowed to keep their own money...be able to divorce a man they do not love...these are tedious ridiculous arguments that have no merit; for if women had these rights then what rights would men have? How would be considered the better, stronger sex?"

Well if Lady Petra Forsyth has her way men will realize in the historical fiction mystery Act Like Lady, Think Like A Lord by mystery author Celeste Connally that women are indeed the better sex.

In this start to a new mystery series, Lady Petra Inquiries #1, taking place in London 1815, a mash up of Bridgerton and Agatha Christie, independently wealthy Petra declares after the death of her fiance that she will remain single, or as the gossiping lords and ladies put it, be a spinster.

As she travels and lives an independent life she hears a dear friend has passed away from "melancholia" in a private asylum. Finding this rather shocking she investigates and finds a dubious doctor making money from men willing to pay for their "hysterical" wives and daughters to be put away and be quiet. They never saw Lady Petra and her Sherlock Holmes detective abilities coming for them.

Reading and listening to this story was a contrasting experience. The cover made me expect a cozy mystery, the first part read a bit slowly as a feminist story of a woman testing her independence but the audiobook narrator Eilidh Beaton brought home the writer's unsettling truths of women treated as property.

A light mystery with a powerful theme; there's a slow burn friends to lovers sub plot, a wise Duchess, and some cute dogs to even out the story. No need to think like a Lord with a woman like Lady Petra in charge.

I received a free copy of this book/audiobook from the publishers via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

With Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord author Celeste Connally launches her new Lady Petra Inquiries series set in Regency-era England. As necessary with a historical mystery, Connally skillfully brings the past to life with just the right amount of detail. Amateur sleuth, Lady Petra, could easily hold her own among her modern-day equivalents—she knows her role in high-class society, but is certainly not going to be constrained by any ridiculous notions of what women are capable of. The mystery at the core of the novel—involving women being unfairly placed in asylums for any number of questionable ailments—resonates through the years and certainly helps to elucidate how the world reached the crisis we are currently facing. As the start of a series, much groundwork needs to be laid, and it is clear from the surprising ending that more of that will come to fruition moving forward.

As soon as I saw ‘agatha christie meets bridgerton’ I knew I wanted to read this one. Unfortunately, it fell a little flat for me. I wasn’t a huge fan of the characters, the love interest, and the writing didn’t quite work for me. I’m sure it will be a hit for the right audience, it was just a miss for me.

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord is the first book in the Lady Petra Inquires series.

Lady Petra Forsyth is an independently wealthy young woman thanks to her mother. When her fiancé dies a few weeks before their wedding, after which she decides she will never marry. She also has pursuits that are more common with men. She rides astride, and wears breeches while in the country. She just doesn't find the traditional womanly pursuits interesting. When she turns down from other men, their wounded pride forces them to start rumors about Petra.

When word gets to Petra that a dear friend has died, she wonders if there is something off about the sudden death, she begins to ask questions which make people nervous. Petra's curiosity gets the better of her when more women are reported either dead or mentally unstable. Lady Petra discovers her friend has not died when she comes to her for help. A threat to undermine Petra's sanity begins to take hold and her safety and freedom is at risk.

This was a mixed bag for me. First, there is a lot of meandering conversations that don't serve the story well. They often are long and rambling. We get a diatribe about Duncan and why they are not friends. Second, this was a romance and there was very little romance in the story. Duncan is spoken of repeatedly but really does not appear often enough for this to be a romance.

The time period was during a time where women had no rights and were considered the property of their husbands. So, this plot fits nicely with Petra rebelling against the norm.

Unfortunately, there wasn't enough that was fun and entertaining for me. There were parts where I had to skip ahead.

First in the Lady Petra Inquiries series, this is my introduction to the author’s work; sadly, it did not go well. Despite the very intriguing premise, I found the writing voice unappealing: it is not just that for the first few of chapters there are long paragraphs of exposition, very little dialogue, and even less action, but something about the overly formal sentence construction put me off.

I persevered, however, due entirely to the publisher’s blurb.

Beware: implied domestic violence; mental health issues; threat of rape; mentions of physical and mental torture of women (including forced sterilization). Also, there will be spoilers below.

When the novel starts, Lady Petra has reached the not-quite-venerable age of three and twenty. Having lost her betrothed so suddenly and shockingly, her period of mourning afforded her time to ponder her future in ways most young ladies of good society rarely can.

“That was, Petra began to wonder if having lost her chance of being advantageously married, if she might have–in a way–been given an opportunity. One that would allow her to view her inheritance through new eyes. Specifically, as it pertained to what was afforded to her as a woman, to what it could afford her life going forward.” (Chapter 1)

Having declared publicly her intention of remaining single–and therefore sole mistress of her inheritance–she occupies an uneasy place in society: now considered a spinster by choice, while in the normal way of things, she would still be young enough to pursue, especially given her rank and fortune. As her father is the Earl of Holbrook, and her loving godparents the Duke and Duchess of Hillmorton, many are forced to defer to her who would rather snub her.

The narrative goes into great detail about Lady Petra’s friendship with , and subsequent estrangement from, one Duncan Shawcross, the illegitimate yet acknowledged oldest grandson of her godparents; any genre romance reader will immediately understand that he is written as Lady Petra’s eventual love interest.

On the other hand, there’s precious little about her close friendship with Lady Caroline Smythe, other than repeated assurances that she is Lady Petra’s closest friend. Here and there there are dropped references to past adventures, and how they helped this person or that, and one by one a whole cast of supporting characters is introduced, who have participated in those previous adventures.

These references, of course, aim to establish Lady Petra’s acumen, resourcefulness and previous experience carrying out unorthodox schemes. However, between her part in such stories and what we learn from her during her first appearance, lady Caroline seems to me the more interesting of the two friends.

To wit: Lady Caroline married for love, only to find out soon after that her husband is sexually attracted to men; and so, they reach an agreement, whereupon Captain Smythe continues his romantic relationship with a fellow soldier, while she can engage in her own affairs without fear of repercussions from him. She is also as accurate an archer as Robin Hood himself–a talent that Lady Caroline hides from all men of her acquaintance, of course, for a proper lady may lay with as many men not her husband as she desires, but not best any of them at sport.

At any rate, it is soon very clear that there’s something strange going on, as several women of Lady Petra’s acquaintance have suddenly died, and then a footman who claims to have seen one of them alive, after, is found murdered himself; and, from that point, the story moves very quickly indeed.

Spoilers ahoy!

It soon becomes clear that men of the ton have found a way to dispose of troublesome female relatives–wives, sisters, nieces–in a way that benefits them financially while costing them relatively little, and without the trouble of leaving a public record of the actions taken against these persons: commit them to an asylum for the insane, whether or not they are.

Lady Petra manages to put together a lot of the parts of the conspiracy, partly through observation, partly through a number of very convenient coincidences–including one of the supposedly dead women showing up at her house, half-starved and feverish–when she finds herself the target of one such machinations, with her loving papa’s approval. In short order, she’s essentially kidnapped and sent to the asylum herself.

The scenes where she wakes up, still half-drugged, and restrained helpless on a bed, are harrowing; the threat of rape and torture are all but spelled out. Even harder to read are the descriptions of the torture inflicted on other women sent to that place by their spouses or relatives, some tortured essentially to death, some drugged and tortured until their wills, and their minds, are broken beyond repair.

And then the story goes off the rails entirely.

Of course Lady Petra is saved–first with help from inside, even as Duncan and others ride to her rescue. And of course eventually the other women in the house are helped, as much as they can be–lest we forget, some have literally been driven to insanity, by the actions of the “doctor” in charge, on the will of the men in their lives.

But, since these are men of the ton, there is to be no public inquiry, or calling of the authorities, no indeed. Such a scandal would destabilize society! Instead, Lady Petra takes the evidence–conveniently documented with every care by the villain–to her godmother, so that the Duchess can see to it that the Queen ::handwave:: do something about it.

At which point Lady Petra and Lady Carolina stage a rather ridiculous ‘unmasking’ of the villainous husbands to the Prince Regent so that he can…give them the cut direct.

Because apparently that’s the ton equivalent to physical and mental torture or something.

I mean, the actual torturer is hanged, but the men whose wives and other relatives had been sent to be tortured do not end up in jail. At most, they leave for the Continent or America in disgrace.

But not, of course, Lady Petra’s father; oh no, he had just been ‘weak’ and succumbed to the manipulations and lies of her maternal uncle–who had financial incentive to dispose of her because something something her mother’s wealth.

Allow me to repeat: we are expected to buy that the man who had raised Lady Petra, with whom she had lived her entire life, would suddenly believe that she was “troubled” on the word of someone who did not live with them, to the point of agreeing to commit her to an asylum for insane women.

And later, we are supposed to believe that Lady Petra would immediately accept the earl’s apology, and feel safe and secure once more under his control–after witnessing first hand what could have been her own fate as a result of his little “mistake”?

Another annoyance is that the missing friend, who walked from Essex to London, after weeks of being starved and drugged, and who is so ill as to be insensate for a full day when she finally arrived at Lady Petra’s house? Oh, she’s well enough to ride to the rescue less than a day later.

Finally, there’s the added motivation given to the sadistic “doctor”. It’s not enough that he would be paid well by the men whose inconvenient womenfolk he made disappear, one way or another; he must be a sadist too. But he cannot simply be a sadist; oh no, he must have been abused as a child himself, so that his evil is somehow brought on by his evil (and whorish, of course!) mother.

And look, I understand the whole “cycle of abuse” thing, but also, can we just once, in fiction, admit that some people are evil simply because they are?

My main annoyance (substantial understatement) with the book is that the narrative goes to some really dark places; the very real abuses of people–especially women–placed in mental asylums as recently as a few decades ago, are well documented. The turn from that to the utter farce that takes the place of consequences for the men who gleefully agreed to the torture and deaths Lady Petra discovers is…Words fail me.

And to add insult to injury, the last line of the book upends the “happy for now” ending between her and Duncan.

Obviously, the author can write; I read the novel in one sitting, after all, even with the annoying formal style (you’ll notice I referred to the female protagonist by her title throughout the review, that’s why), and excessive exposition.

And she made a point of both acknowledging the existence of queer and non-white people, in all classes of society; as well as the many injustices of the time and place–from women being disposable possessions to poverty, and the virtually non-existent escape from the bottom when you find yourself there, be it by birth or misfortune. Indeed, the fact that what little restitution (not justice) any one of the women victimized in the story gets is granted through Queen Charlotte–whose authority comes from being the mother of the Prince Regent, as King George was at this point fully non-compos mentis–is so very telling.

It matters that Lady Petra is neither a blushing virgin nor launching herself heedlessly into affairs, but considering her options and the consequences of her decisions with care. It matters that none of the “good guys” in the cast is judgmental of what other people do in their private lives so long as there’s mutual consent, and that they all make clear they will hold a safe space for those who need it–from Teddy the street urchin to Mr Bellingham, who likes philosophy and men, and would rather not deal with his older bother brand of “manly man manliness”.

So there’s that.

But I cannot get over the narrative choices made here.

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord gets a 6.00 out of 10.

This is an intriguing beginning to a new Regency Era mystery series. I thought Petra and her companions were interesting and the mystery held my attention. However, the book made me realize something about myself—asylums, gaslighting, and forcing healthy people into “treatment” are serious triggers for me. I still managed to finish the book, but I’ll admit it was a bit of a struggle due to my own person hang-ups. To be clear, these things are not portrayed in a positive light in the story. I just didn’t enjoy reading about those circumstances in detail. If you are okay reading about these situations, then I would still recommend the book. It sheds light on an ugly piece of history that is often swept under the rug.

While this book took a minute to get into, once it got going it was nonstop and the twists were engaging. The writing was well done and I enjoyed the characters.

If you’re looking for a historical mystery with a feminist bent, then this is one you may like! The adventures of the protagonist, Petra, to uncover the mystery kept me engaged, especially the latter 50% of the book which I read in one sitting (even though it was not a mystery in the sense of not knowing who was the guilty party, but rather a mystery in the sense of how would Petra bring him to justice). Just a note that there is very little romance and a cliffhanger at the end. I loved the side characters of Annie, Frances, and Teddy. I liked seeing all the representation included.

Billed as a mishmash between Bridgerton and Agatha Christie, I immediately jumped at the chance to read Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord. I thought the premise of the mystery was both intriguing and infuriating, and I thoroughly enjoyed the feminist stance Lady Petra had taken with her father's support. I do wish that the spice level was more amped up like Bridgerton and not closed-door. I also wanted more banter between Lady Petra and Duncan... there was clearly tension, but I needed a little more to feel the chemistry.

3.5 stars rounded up as I see the real potential in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord is the first novel in a new Regency mystery/romance series of Celeste Connally. I was excited to give this book a try because I love mysteries and Regency romance. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the comparison to Agatha Christie & Bridgerton too apt. It’s not really a romance, and I kept thinking this book was taking place in the Victorian era rather than Regency. In fact, I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had taken place then. I realize the author was not striving for historical accuracy, but it grated on my sensibilities that there were so many things that didn’t fit with the era.

Main character Lady Petra reads more like a modern feminist than a Regency lady and is the champion of all things liberal. She strives to protect her friend with a gay husband, and a man she just met who is also gay. She’s a crusader for female rights, a bluestocking, and frequently flouts the rules of Society. After the tragic death of her fiancé, she vows never to marry.

When her friend supposedly dies and then a male servant who seems to know about her death winds up murdered, Petra takes it upon herself to investigate. What she discovers leads her to a private asylum where women were frequently falsely imprisoned. She relies on her maid, a cute street urchin named Teddy, and her old friend Duncan to assist in the investigation.

As she infuriates the local men of the ton and increasingly her own uncle, she’s in danger of finding out just what happened to her friend. She also finds herself in an enemies to lovers relationship with her estranged childhood friend Duncan, who was also the best friend of her deceased fiancé.

As mentioned before, I really think the author did herself a disservice by not having this set in the Victorian era. I think an apt comparison would be the famed PBS series Miss Scarlet and the Duke or one of Deanna Raybourn’s Victorian novels. The plot was interesting, and kept my attention, but its resolution seemed a bit rushed and hard to believe. The romance seemed to almost come out of nowhere with hardly any build up. Because we’re reading from Petra’s POV, Duncan’s character seemed underdeveloped and the chemistry between them was there but not explored enough to make a romantic relationship at this stage plausible. I honestly think it would have been better to have a more slow build romance.

The story was intriguing and it definitely ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. Readers should be warned that this is not a cozy mystery. There’s a semi-open door love scene, mentions of characters walking around nude, some infrequent swearing, sexual innuendo and promiscuity, crass descriptions of sex, and an interrupted sexual rendezvous with a gay couple. I received an advanced complimentary copy from the author and publisher. All opinions are my own and voluntarily provided.

Lady Petra is a member of society who goes against the norms for the times. Whether it's riding her father's racehorses western style or speaking her mind, she goes against the grain for what is acceptable behavior for young women in the early 1800'.s When her fiancee suffers a fatal fall, Petra vows to remain a spinster. Thanks to her mother's will, she is provided with funds that are in her name, and those funds would remain in her name even if she were to marry. As some of the.female members of the ton begin to disappear to the countryside to be "cured" of their supposed ailments, Petra becomes suspicious that they are are just being shifted out of sight at their husband's convenience. Petra is determined to get to the bottom of what's going on, even though she puts herself in danger in the process. Enter a handsome childhood friend to help her along, and a subtle romance underlies the story.

Don't let the title of this fool you; while appropriate as this nails Petra's personality, this books is heavy on the mystery and much lighter on the Regency romance. This is the first in the mystery series of Lady Petra - I look forward to reading more! Out now, pick up at your favorite bookseller! Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this one; all opinions are my own.

I’m always on the lookout for more historical mystery series. So when I was offered an egalley of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord, my interest was piqued. Unfortunately, I did not find it to be quite the “delightful feminist romp” that was promised.

The story is told in third person, past tense from POV of Lady Petra: an aristocratic lady who pisses off the ton with her declaration that she will never marry. Unfortunately, Petra, came across as notably shallow and petty particularly in the beginning of the story. She spent her time gossiping and judging. And she was so petty about her grudge against her childhood friend. Overall, she acted like a spoiled brat. So while I empathized with Petra’s struggles to gain control over her life, I did not like her. And the story started out slowly introducing many characters. So I had trouble engaging with the story in the beginning.

Then there was the potential love interest, Duncan: the aforementioned childhood friend who has suddenly reappeared in Petra’s life. His character had potential, but he had zero character development.

The murder ended up not being the focus of the book. It was just a catalyst for other events, and this really did not feel like a whodunit. Plus the synopsis gives a lot away.

Rather than the murder mystery, the main focus of the story is the lack of women’s rights. But classism, homophobia, domestic violence, and racism were also touched upon (in a “let’s cram every social injustice into the story” kind of way). Despite Petra being a judgmental product of her times in so many ways, she was anachronistically forward-thinking and supportive of all discriminated groups. While her fight against the patriarchy was understandable, it simply was not believable that someone that sheltered and self-centered would be so caring and supportive of so many causes.

I have to admit that part of my lack of enjoyment was that I felt the advertised story did not match the reality. I expected more of a Cozy Mystery. And while the murder (and lack of blood and gore) matched up with what you typically find in a Cozy, the violence against women was much more prevalent. The misogyny in this book was fairly suffocating. And while it was historically accurate that women had no rights and could easily be forced into insane asylums by the men in their lives, it made this a depressing story overall. I’m going to add content warnings for sexism, domestic violence, drugging and kidnapping, forced institutionalizing, torture, sexual assault, homophobia, gaslighting, mental illness, and torture/sadism. While this was by no means the most graphic descriptions I’ve read, it was still far more violent that I expect in a Cozy Mystery.

This story also did not feel empowering since so much of the story focused on women being powerless. I did not feel like the ending offset the amount of seemingly hopeless misogyny that dominated most of the book. Though the story started off with Petra’s declaration never to marry, she did so in a naïve way with no expectations of the repercussions – showing again how spoiled and guileless she was. The titular phrase of “act like a lady, think like a lord” did not appear until much farther into the book. And her declaration of that intent was ridiculously short-lived and unsuccessful.

The ending felt rushed. There was the clichéd villain monologue followed by an overly speedy, overly neat wrap-up. It wrapped so easily and cleanly that it felt like it invalidated all of the struggles that came before. Nevertheless, up until the very end, I was going to give this 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars. But then Connally threw a bunch of stuff into the epilogue that ruined it. First there were changes between characters that had no development, happened off page, and were explained away in a couple of flat sentences. Then there was the “twist” thrown into the epilogue. It was painfully obvious that it was only thrown in there to provide conflict for the next book – which is a gimmick I absolutely abhor. So that instantly bumped my rating down to 3 stars. It was exactly the sort of lazy, cheap copout that drives me nuts.

The bottom line is that the book is fine but not particularly memorable or enjoyable for me. I will just have to keep searching for my next enjoyable mystery series.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 2 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Great start to a new mystery series set in the Regency era in England, combining mystery with social history. Lady Petra is able to declare her independence, due to an inheritance. After her fiancée died, and her childhood friend, Duncan, is not talking to her, Petra is not interested in becoming a possession of a man, but still attends the balls and listens to the gossip. When she hears her close friend, Gwen has died, Petra becomes suspicious as she realizes a threat to many in her circle by a questionable doctor. There are many twists, chases, murders and more as I was not able to put down the book. Recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord
By Celeste Connally

This book is a Regency-era mystery. It introduces Lady Petra Forsyth, a self-proclaimed spinster. Lady Petra is a member of the ton, British high society. As such she must follow the dictates imposed by said society on women. They are treated almost as chattel, their father's/husband's possessions, with no recourse.

In this story – the first in a series – Petra comes upon information that various gentlemen of the ton are having their female relatives taken way to Fairwinds – ostensibly an asylum for the treatment of hysteria and madness in women. Fairwinds in run by Luca Drysdale, an evil and sadistic man with a terrible past.

The story here is entertaining, the various characters – from highborn friends to maids and women in business – are believable. You will find yourself rooting for them to succeed. They are the forerunners of the feminist movement!

There is a hook here at the end which indicates that Lady Petra and company will be appearing again in further volumes. I look forward to another lighthearted romp in the future.

In a Nutshell: Would have worked much better had the ladies in the story didn’t assume “act like a lady” meant “gossip all day long” and “think like a lord” stood for “judge everyone else for what they look like and what they wear and what they do…” This had great potential but the characters sullied my experience.

Story Synopsis:
Suffolk, 1815. After Lady Petra’s beloved fiancé dies just a few weeks before their upcoming nuptials, she is left heartbroken. Even now, three years later, she isn’t interested in marrying anyone else. So she declares, before the elite of London, that she intends to stay unmarried because, as a woman of independent means, she has no need of a husband to support her lifestyle.
During a ball, she discovers that a close friend has passed away two weeks back under mysterious circumstances. But just some minutes later, another person tells her that the friend was spotted just a few days ago. Lady Petra realises that one advantage of being an elite spinster is that she can poke her nose into the mystery and dig out the truth. So that’s exactly what she does.
The story comes to us in Petra’s third person perspective.


Imagine you, an introvert, have entered a party where you know no one. You join the nearest group of friendly-looking ladies, hoping to join in their animated conversation. But you simply don’t get a chance to do so, because the ladies just don’t shut up. On and on and on they talk, remarking on other people’s appearances and relationships and scandals and businesses, until your head starts spinning trying to make sense of the who’s and what’s of the conversation, and wondering what the heck you are doing there.

That was my experience for most of the first half of the book, with me being in the introvert’s shoes. The initial 30-35% is nothing but an extended gossip session with tons of names being dropped and no sign of a concrete plot. The story then incorporates a bit of action, but the gossip doesn’t stop. Rather, the tittle-tattle is present all the way till the end; it only dips and rises in quantum.

Lady Petra is the expected star of the show. This means that she is the best at whatever she sets out to do, no matter how poor her decision-making and how annoying her habit of jumping to conclusions. She acts as opinionated and adamant as she wants to, but no other character can do so without being subject to whispers and rumours. The most irritating aspect of her personality, to me, was her condescending attitude towards those “inferior” to her social station. This might have been accurate to the era, but the way it was written didn’t endear Petra to me, all the more as she didn’t even realise how patronising she sounded. Her second annoying trait was her habit of judging every character by their physical appearance and anatomical attributes, or lack thereof.

Most of the other wealthy women characters have fixed roles to play – either victim or blabbermouth or privileged snoot. The poorer women are stuck as stereotypical maids and housekeepers. The book does the greatest disservice to its male characters, most of whom have only to drink and interact with Petra and talk about women “spreading their legs”. Almost every character is flat, and the ones with a little depth are mostly unlikeable. There is a ‘romance” but it is barely there, which would have made me happy in normal circumstances had the romantic interest not been sketched in such a lacklustre manner.

Gauging such a book on its historical accuracy is not fair as these kind of historical mysteries provide a partially feminist twist to reality. This, I’ll accept as a good writing choice. However, when a character is shown as conservative, the inaccuracies stand out. For instance, if a lady has discovered a dead body and is quite shocked, and her childhood friend suddenly arrives at the scene, the first thing he would do as a gentleman is to steer her away from the body and allay her fears, not stand there and discuss the various stab wounds and figure out who could be behind the attack. It is a challenge not to roll the eyes at such scenes.

What I did like about the book is the theme. Or maybe I should say ‘themes’, because it does attempt to fit in a lot - gender discrimination, women’s rights, queer rights, domestic abuse, racial discrimination, class discrimination, wealth bias,... (Debut novel, so yes, again we have the infamous ‘kitchen sink syndrome’.) Let’s just say, the intent was good.

I also liked the ‘mystery”, though its on-page execution was silly towards the end. It is impossible for me to accept that a potential villain would just stand in front of his next victim and give an extended infodump of his modus operandi and his plans. At the same time, the final resolution seems quite rushed.

Lastly, I wish the person who wrote the blurb had some self-control. Most of the plot is revealed there, including a major chunk of the mystery. What’s the point of reading a mystery novel if the reveal is in the blurb itself?

The series is titled “Lady Petra Inquires”, but practically, Lady Petra gossips, judges, accuses, and still comes out on top of everything. Officially, this is supposed to be a “Bridgerton meets Agatha Christie…, a dazzling first entry in a terrific new Regency-era mystery series with a feminist spin.” Mentioning Agatha Christie here has to be a joke of the highest order. And simply having a historical setting doesn’t make a book “Bridgerton”! How is a romcom series being compared to a mystery?

This is the first of a planned series. Most of the plot threads come to a conclusion without cliffhangers. What little is left untied is too trivial to be worrisome. Of course, it goes without saying that my journey with this series end right at the starting point. If you are a more forgiving soul or is someone who enjoys salacious gossip-mongering in fiction (or reality), kindly do give this a try.

2.5 stars, rounding down because the grace marks are only for the narrator.

My thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the DRC of “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

This delightful story addresses an historic wrong against women, that of committing them to an asylum if they did not obey the societal rules and father/husband/older male relative or “guardian demands. Our protagonist takes on this outrage and exposes this travesty. This is a fast moving story that was hard to put down. Great writing and great balance of narrative and dialogue.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy of Act Like a Lady, Think Like A Lord by Celeste Connally. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

This novel was a fun story that combined adventure, romance, and mystery tropes into one big Regency salad. Lady Petra Forsyth was an interesting heroine who made her own way. Was she sometimes annoying and a know-it-all all? Yes. But I think that will be the thing that attracts readers to this book. Anyone who likes their leading ladies to be similar to Jane Austen's Emma will enjoy the story. I give it 3.5/5 stars.

Regency female sleuth and self-proclaimed spinster aka lady-of-means
For a book with a slow start this story became a page-turner. By chapter 20 I could not put this book down. Lady Petra Forsyth, 24yo daughter of the Earl of Holbrook has vociferously told the ton that she will not marry! This news thrills the high society gossip mongers. After Petra lost the love of her life, Emerson to a fall at Duncan’s house where they secretly met for intimacy, she has no interest in marriage. As her mother left her with her own money besides a dowry, Petra chooses to do what she loves more than anything else, sleuthing. Oh, but when she finds out that a dear friend of hers, Lady Gwen has died but her former footman had seen her since that news, Petra can’t help herself. Did Gwen die? If not, where is she? And why is her husband not so very upset?
All along her former childhood playmate and confidant, 25yo Duncan Shawcross, illegitimate son of Marquess of Langford has been there to help her. After the death of Emerson, his good friend and Petra’s fiancé, Duncan left London. Now, three years later he has returned to make amends with Petra and to proclaim his feelings. Maybe? Surprise at the end. If you like mystery and scary predicaments with no explicit scenes, you may want to try this book. Entertaining and often gripping. I volunteered to review an ARC of this book through NetGalley.

Act like a lady, think like a lord is a regency era “cozy.,” a mash-up of genres. Lady Petra is declares that she will not marry -just don’t call her a “spinster” and ends up spending time investigating a murder of someone close to her. Through her investigation, Petra reveals more about the gender politics of the era.

A clever concept and a strong main character. the plot lost me, however, at times and I find myself zoning out. All in all, many people who enjoy cozies or era mysteries will enjoy this one however.

Overall I enjoyed this book, and it kept me reading. I liked the feminist twist, and that the main character Lady Petra is open minded, especially to those of different class or sexuality than her.

I liked the mystery, and the cliffhanger at the end,

At times I skimmed this book, as the plot meandered at bit. But overall, this book was well written.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for providing me with an ARC of this book to read and review.