Murder in Park Lane

Murder in Park Lane, despite being the fifth instalment in the series, was my first encounter with Detective Lavender and Constable Woods but I felt it is perfectly fine to be read as a stand alone. Where needed the author alludes to earlier events so I didn’t feel I was missing out on anything.
With the flood of twisted psychological thrillers, cruel cult murderers, psychopathic serial killers and deeply damaged main protagonists out there, it was actually rather nice to follow a wholesome, level-headed, happily married detective and his loyal sidekick around a comfortably picturesque, historical London solving a comparatively ‘harmless’ murder case. The main characters are likeable, the easy-going plot is well-paced, theres a bunch of suitably eccentric suspects, and a fair amount of red herrings before the mystery is brought to a successful conclusion - all in all a very enjoyable, entertaining and cosy reading experience.

Another cracking story about the 19th century Bow Street runners.
I love the descriptions of London when it was surrounded by fields and areas where the villain congregated.
The characters as always come to life: Lavender, Woods and their families. I could picture them riding on their horses as well as investigating the crimes with pure detective work.
A good story that's easy to read.
I can't wait to read the next instalment.

This series just keeps getting better and better. The characters are wonderful, the writing is outstanding and the plots keep you guessing to the very end! You can read this as a stand-alone, but to appreciate the full richness of the characters and their relationships, you really need to begin at the beginning.

Stephen Lavender is a Principal Officer at Bow Street and he works with Constable Ned Woods in his investigations. Sir Richard Allison is a renowned physician who works with Bow Street on occasion. He is arrogant and expects to be treated like royalty whenever he deigns to work with Bow Street. So, imagine Lavender’s shock when Sir Richard requests his assistance on a case. It is right down Lavender’s alley. The victim, David MacAdam, was found in a room that was locked from the inside, the window was warped and couldn’t be opened and there were no other possible points of entry. It couldn’t be suicide because there was no murder weapon to be found.

Suspects abound and the victim isn’t what he appears to be. None of the witnesses are telling the truth – some are outright lying and others are omitting vital pieces of information. Lavender definitely has his work cut out for him with this one.

When a second victim turns up, it complicates the case even further. Of course, there are personal worries and complications as well – Lavender is awaiting the birth of his first child and Ned is concerned about his weight and takes extreme measures to fix it.

The suspects will blow your mind – you have everything from aristocrats to con artists to loan sharks. What they get up to will keep you flipping the pages as fast as you can to see what happens next.

Definitely a good read!

This is the fifth in the delightful Detective Lavender and Constable Woods series set in Regency London. A man is found murdered in his lodgings, a locked door conundrum, and this leads our dynamic duo on quite a trail. I very much enjoyed this entertaining tale of suspense which has all the required ingredients for a great read. It has a clever plot, it’s fast paced, full of twists and turns, and has the odd red herring. There’s a great sense of time and place and the characters are well rounded. It’s not without its humour, either.

An easy, engaging and intriguing historical mystery which will keep you guessing - I look forward to the sixth instalment!

The characters of Detective Lavender and Constable Woods Bow Street Runners bring great presence in this historical mystery. You follow the clues with them and even get to smile at Woods along the way.
You have a new take on the murder in a locked room. There are many twists and turns to these murders but the story carries you along at a great pace.
I was given an ARC of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Another great story in this series. Inspector Lavender and his colleagues and family are great characters and the interactions between them are always amusing.Portrayal of the old ladies of high society spot on.

cosy-mystery, bow-street-runners, law-enforcement, murder-investigation, twisty, historical-fiction

Excellent mystery story that starts with a locked room murder! Detective Lavender and Constable Woods are a formidable team with some interesting foibles and the way that they bring out the best of sleuthing and logic from each other is very well done. Lots of interesting characters, and they all lie of course, and more suspects than any police officer wants to have to think about. Add in an interesting pathophysiology of death in the first murder victim and you have a really fascinating story even before the Regency equivalent of a high speed chase! Loved it!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Thomas & Mercer Publisher via NetGalley. Thank You!

Take a pinch of fact and add to fiction, add a touch of marital desertion, bigamy and murder and throw in the characters of Lavender and Woods and you have the perfect combination of a superb read. An enjoyable and exciting read. Thanks to TBC, Netgalley and Karen Charlton for giving me the opportunity to read this brilliant book.

"Murder in Park Lane" is a mystery novel set in 1812 in England. It's the fifth book in a series. You don't need to read the previous books to understand this one, and this story did not spoil any previous whodunits.

The detective was clever, and his assistant constable had skills that complemented the detective's. They asked good questions. However, so many people lied to them that the detective had difficulty making any headway for a while. It was a clue based mystery, and the reader can guess what's going on as quickly as a detective.

I cared what happened to the main characters. They were engaging, interesting people and had realistic reactions to events. The vivid historical and setting details made the story feel unique to that time and place yet didn't slow the pacing down.

There was some bad language. There were no sex scenes. A three month old corpse was described in detail, if an accurate description of a nearly skeletal dead body would bother you. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting novel.

Really enjoyed this book!

I've on a bit of a roll reading mysteries at the moment, and this one immediately caught my eye when I saw it up for request on NetGalley. It was a fun read. Though a part of a series, it works nicely as a standalone as well, which worked out well for me, as I haven't read the rest of the series just yet.

Starting with a locked room murder, a good portion of the mystery that Detective Lavender was tasked to solve in this one kept me guessing. While there were parts that I was able to guess easily, initially there was enough mystery to keep me hooked through the novel.

One of my favourite parts of the book was the revelation of what was happening in the boarding house where the deceased, David McAdam, stayed. I really enjoyed the fun - and relatively nonjudgemental, if only from the author and not the characters themselves - look into the lives of the women of Mayfair.

I was rather uncomfortable with the way the book addresses some of the non-white, non-Protestant characters - while Lavender is portrayed as non-prejudiced, there is enough displayed to make up for him in spades. While I understand historical accuracy and views, I've read others that deal more empathetically with historically oppressed characters, and I wish this book did the same. On the same note, the motive for murder was slightly off-putting as well.

The other thing that I would critique about this book was the 'swears' that Woods used. I'm not sure whether the use of 'Gawd's' is a nod to historical accuracy or a phonetic version of a accent, but it pulled me out of the novel all the same.

Still, despite my criticisms, this book was an enjoyable and quick read - it kept me engrossed and coming back for more through the novel. 3.75/5 stars for me.

*Note: ARC kindly provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A brilliantly plotted story. Great historical setting and well-drawn characters. The prose flows smoothly and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep things interesting. A great series, highly recommended.

My favourite genre is a good historical crime series and this one is a good one!

I love the characters and the fact that the develop and change and have a back story.
I liked the mystery which seemed to be set in the right time and showed a side of the nineteenth century that I found interesting.
I have also missed a couple of books in the series and that doesn't matter because it all makes sense which is another plus.
Highly recommend.

This series just keeps getting better and better. This time Lavender and Woods have to solve what at first glance appears to be a murder committed in a locked room, but as usual nothing is as it seems including the wonderful petticoat pensioners who believe they are above the law in every way. This book has it all murder, burglary and red herrings galore. This book in the series is not based on the true crimes that had been investigated by Lavender, as the others have been but does not lose anything in the telling. I also like the way the relationships are being developed between the characters and hopefully there will be many more books in this series to come.

This is the second in the series that I have read and much better, even though set in London and not my beloved Northumberland. A body is found, behind locked doors and two of Bow Street's finest - Detective Lavender and Constable Woods, are tasked with uncovering what has to be the murder of an apparently normal young man. Nothing is normal of course and they are lead through High and Low Society, with twists and turns all the way before the denouement . The depth and interplay of their characters get better all of the time and the descriptions of 19th century London take the reader right to the heart of the city - from the highs of Park Lane, through its mews to Cheapside and below. Fantastic descriptions. The other characters range equally widely with some really eccentric older Ladies, their servants and some highly disreputable young men. All great fun at one level. It's a highly enjoyable read, probably best classed as a cosy detective with sufficient detail of, but not over the top, gruesomeness, Lose yourself for a few hours, immerse yourself an enjoy. Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas&Mercer publishing for an advance copy in return for my honest review.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for a review copy of Murder in Park Lane, the fifth novel to feature regency detective Principal Officer Stephen Lavender and his assistant Constable Ned Woods of the Bow Street Police Office.

Lavender is summoned to Park Lane by police surgeon Sir Richard Allison who has a conundrum on his hands. Commercial traveler David MacAdam has been found stabbed to death in his his room in his lodgings with the door locked from the inside and no sign of a weapon. MacAdam was not what he seemed and this is just the first conundrum in his decidedly shady past.

I thoroughly enjoyed Murder in Park Lane which has a great plot, full of unexpected twists and turns, some likeable characters and a good dose of humour. The narrative is an extremely straightforward third person told from Lavender’s point of view and with a linear timeline. What a joy as many of my recent reads have changed everything about from chapter to chapter. This, I could sit down and read and get involved in without distraction, to the extent that I stayed up far too late to read it in one sitting.

The plot is captivating and absorbing. Just as the reader gets used to one set of circumstances the author throws in another twist so you have to read on to find out what’s coming next. It is extremely well conceived and executed. Plotting, however, is not the only joy of the novel. After five novels in the series Lavender and Woods are old friends and their partnership is a well oiled machine. Woods provides the humour and people skills and Lavender the brains but with Lavender’s mind on the imminent birth of his first child Woods gets more of a look in on the thinking until his diet gets in the way.

This is a lighthearted, entertaining read so it doesn’t concentrate on social conditions as many historical novels do but still has enough period detail to set the tone of the era.

Murder in Park Lane is a great read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

I keep promising myself I’m going to kick my cosy mystery habit and move on to something edgier instead, but somehow I never do. My latest read, Karen Charlton’s Murder in Park Lane, did nothing to make me want to look elsewhere.

The book is set in London in 1812 and it’s the fifth in a series featuring Inspector Lavender and his sidekick Ned Woods, butt worked very well as a standalone. So many series writers slip up here, but Charlton has it spot on — just the right amount of backstory, enough hints about past mysteries to nudge the reader towards them without leaving you feeling that you’ve missed out, and yet she manages to engage the reader with her recurring characters (though I would guess there are only two detectives, so there’s not a huge amount of room for confusion).

There’s murder afoot, in fashionable Mayfair, where a man has been found mysteriously dead inside a locked room with no murder weapon. This intriguing premise was perhaps solved rather earlier than I would have liked, but the mystery took off nicely, full of twists and turns as people’s secrets were revealed. Lavender and Woods are hot on the trail, though, relentlessly picking their way through the mysteries of the wealthy and the titled, the poor, the moneylenders and the fraudsters until they reach a satisfying conclusion.

For the most part I loved the characterisation, which was neat and anything but cliched, and I laughed out loud at some of the turns in the book (such as the nymphomaniac elderly ladies with an eye for handsome young men). I wasn’t so taken with the subplot of Woods deciding he was overweight and fasting to the detriment of his health, which was something that felt far more like the behaviour of a teenage girl than of a policeman with an adult child. It was so odd that I assumed it must have something to do with the plot, but it didn’t and rather petered out.

That one gripe aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will definitely be going back to read more in the series.

Thanks to Amazon Publishing UK and Netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Murder in park Lane by Karen Charlton.
This was a brilliant read with great characters. I love this series and hope there is more to come. Love how Karen writes. 5*.

A very good book, entertaining and engaging.
I liked the plot that kept my attention till the end, the fleshed out characters, and the well researched historical background.
Even if this isn't the first installment in this series I had no problems in understanding this book.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley, all opinions are mine.

I haven’t read any other books in this series but this proved to be no obstacle to my understanding or to my enjoyment of my first encounter with Lavender and Woods. This pair are a crime cracking partnership that bridges social classes of the time-making their team both more effective and more engaging narratively. The historical setting seemed well researched and the mystery to be solved was intriguing- the clues and unravelling story of the events leading to the murder kept me hooked. I enjoyed the portrayal of both lead characters-rounded individuals dedicated to their jobs and their families. I would very happily pick up more books in this series for an afternoon of ‘cosy’ escapist historical crime solving.
Thanks to NetGalley, Karen Charlton and Amazon Publishing UK for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

London 1812 and Detective Lavender is called out to the home of Mrs Sylia Palmer, as she has discovered one of her lodgers dead. Dead in a locked room. The lodger was a David MacAdam but who was he really and why was he killed. Lavender aided by Constable Woods must untangle the mystery.
Another well-written enjoyable mystery is this series, with its likeable characters. The book is easily read as a standalone novel but I would recommend reading the first four as they are such good reads.

Detective Stephen Lavender is called to investigate a murder in 1812 Mayfair district of London. David MacAdam is found dead in his room with the door locked from the inside. He was stabbed sometime the night before. The investigation leads the detective to Chelmsford where they find that MacAdam died months ago and has been buried by his wife. The more Lavender investigates with his partner Constable Woods the more interesting the case becomes and they are determined to find out what happened.

This is a fun classic mystery. There's lots of action and suspense. Detective Lavender and Constable Woods are called to Mayfair, where lodger MacAdam has been stabbed in a locked room with no murder weapon. Mrs. Palmer had three Dodgers, the others being Bentley and Collins. Collins has been away on business for some time. The detectives see a men's corset and realize that he probably didn't bleed much until undressed. Thus was probably was murdered before arriving home.

Lavender and Woods find MacAdam was about to marry a very wealthy young Indian woman, but was also squiring three elderly ladies for pay, and he was still married. When the detectives visited the wife, they find the wife was about to marry Ike Rawlings; several months previously, she had received a coffin delivered by Collins, which he said contained her dead husband. The detectives now realize that there must be a second murder in the coffin and have it dug up.

There are a lot of suspects for two murders and a robbery. In the end, Lavender and Woods figure everything out, but not until a wild chase after the killer/kidnapper and robber.

Hi Karen,

My Next review is:-

“Murder In Park Lane (The Detective Lavender Mysteries Book 5)”, written by Karen Charlton and published in Paperback by Thomas & Mercer on 26 March 2019. 315 pages ISBN-13: 978-1503955622

London, 21st September 1812. Detective Stephen Lavender a principal detective with the Bow Street Runners ,a forerunner to the Metropolitan Police, is called to a fashionable and expensive Park Lane, Mayfair address where a man is believed to be dead in his room. Unusually, the bedroom is locked from the inside. When entry can be attained the man is found to be dead from stab wounds but the killing weapon is missing. Could this be suicide or was it murder?
The dead man is a David MacAdam, a commercial traveller from Chelmsford in Essex whom seemed to be living a life of lies and deceit. Detective Lavender and his assistant Constable Ned Woods journey to Chelmsford to try to discover the deceased’s family and background. Whilst looking into this they find a second murder and a need to get to the bottom of these murders as quickly as possible.

The two policemen journey back and forth between Essex and central London,( a day’s travel by horseback at that time) interviewing all the background witnesses and relations to the deceased. Whilst all this is going on Constable Woods is trying to lose weight by missing out on meals and this causes him to lose his temper with witnesses and to be less than his usual discreet self.

The authors stories are the fictional adventures of Stephen Lavender, who was a real-life Principal Officer with the Bow Street Police Office in London. By the early 19th century, Principal officers had a variety of different and important roles although they were still nicknamed 'Bow Street Runners' as if they were messenger boys. Apart from supporting their colleagues solve crime in the capital, they were often sent out to help magistrates in the provinces with difficult cases. They also took part in undercover work in periods of insurrection, for example, during the Luddite riots in the Midlands and were available for hire by wealthy landowners.

This author has done extensive research into the Regency period and I was totally transported into the period and completely absorbed by this very exciting story which I read very quickly. I have not had the pleasure of reading her four previous Regency crime mysteries but have bought them on the strength of this one and look forward to reading them soon.

The author is an English graduate and a former teacher, She now writes full-time and live in a remote fishing village on the North East coast of England. I strongly recommend this book.



Best wishes,

Terry
(To be published on eurocrime.co.uk in due course)

This 5th instalment of Inspector Lavender once again takes you away from yourself and immerses you in yet another compelling yarn featuring Society, “gold diggers” and of course, murder in the early 1800’s. Opening with a mysterious death and up against closed ranks of High Society Lavender and Woods are starved of reliable information (and in Woods case - food!) before unpicking the thread of romance and deceit with a healthy dollop of scandal thrown in. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Book five in the Detective Lavender series. A locked room mystery set in Mayfair, London 1812. An intriguing tale which excels with excellent character development and atmospherics. An engaging read.

Another enjoyable read in a great series - the charming gentlemanly detective, Stephen Lavender, has a locked room mystery, some sensitive dealings with more than one colleague to negotiate and an intriguing mystery to solve. These stories conjure up a great sense of that time period and the partnership (and friendship between Lavender and his Constable, Ned Woods, is written in an engaging believable manner giving an enjoyable extra dimension.
This story has mystery, intriguing misdirections and will satisfy those who enjoy the puzzle element of crime fiction but the flavour of the historical setting, the glimpses into their wider family life makes for an even more satisfying story.

Having loved the author's previous works it was an easy decision to make purchasing her latest offering. Not only was I delighted to find detective Lavender at his most tenacious at crime solving but I loved reading about his family.
I look forward to Lavender's further exploits.

Written by Karen Charlton — Some book titles are far too clever for their own good and can leave the reader puzzled. An oblique reference to an as-yet-uncovered crime, maybe? A play on words? Yet another variation on the ‘Lies’ or ‘Girl’ theme? No such subterfuge here, Murder in Park Lane is about a murder, in London’s swanky Park Lane no less!

The latest outing for Detective Stephen Lavender, a Principal Officer with the Bow Street Police Office, and his trusty sidekick, Constable Ned Woods, opens with a conundrum in the salubrious surroundings of Mayfair. A man has been found dead in his bedchamber and none other than renowned surgeon Sir Richard Allison has demanded Lavender’s assistance in the matter. Sir Richard has often been called upon to help the Bow Street officers in their investigations and there’s no love lost between him and Ned Woods, who calls the doctor a ‘wheedling sawbones’. Looks like the sparks are about to fly.

It’s an instantly engaging and hugely entertaining start to number five in a series that goes from strength to strength. Lavender soon cuts through Sir Richard’s bluster and realises the victim has, indeed, been murdered. But who would want to kill businessman David MacAdam, a lodger in the home of impoverished Mrs Palmer, the widow of a returned British Army Colonel?

The case is a puzzling one, and the more that Lavender discovers it seems the less he actually knows. Because MacAdam was a practised liar, and the list of his victims is long. There’s nothing that Lavender loves more than an intriguing puzzle – and this case has them in spades!

It’s autumn, 1812 as this story unfolds and Charlton evoke the period with vivid precision. Lavender and Woods work well together, combining intuition with good solid police work to uncover, bit by tantalising bit, the sorry tale of David MacAdam – a lothario, cheat and philanderer. It’s a refreshing change to leave the high-tech behind and get back to the basics of police procedure and there’s something really satisfying when the clues begin to slot into place and a clearer picture emerges.

Alongside the cleverly constructed mystery, there’s the further development of the characters of Lavender and Woods. The former is about to become a father, while the latter gets himself into all manner of trouble by following his own deluded version of Regency Weight Watchers! Both storylines add depth and humour to a book where the pages just fly by.

Unlike others in this series, Murder in Park Lane is a tale taken entirely from the author’s imagination. Life in London and Chelmsford in the early 19th century is lovingly recreated here. Our main story may be centred upon London’s posher side, but Charlton also takes the reader to the capital’s less moneyed areas, evoking the sights, sounds and even the pungent scents of a busy city. Her characterisations are imaginatively rendered, with streetwise urchin Will and snooty surgeon Sir Richard particular favourites in a delicious cast of supporting characters.

Central to it all though is Lavender and Woods, a duo that has developed into a team to rival Holmes and Watson. If you’re longing for a break from the modern day crime milieu then I recommend making a date with this series. The Heiress of Linn Hagh (reviewed here as The Missing Heiress) is an excellent place to begin.

Historical crime fiction picks from various eras can be found in this feature by Barry Forshaw. London’s more recent history is evoked in Dominick Donald’s Breathe.

Thomas and Mercer
Print/Kindle
£4.99

CFL Rating: 5 Stars

Murder in Park Lane is the 5th Detective Lavender mystery by Karen Charlton. Released 12th Feb 2019 by Amazon on their Thomas & Mercer imprint, it's 313 pages and available in paperback, ebook, and audi formats.

This is a cozy historical murder mystery. 1812 and Regency England is fighting with basically everyone (France, the US, Spain, etc). Lavender and sidekick Woods are called to the scene of a locked room murder in an upscale neighborhood in London. They're soon on the hunt for a murderer (or murderers). The plot is appealingly twisty and the characters are fairly well defined. There is humor to be found here and some of the interactions are lightly comedic.

I found the author's use of casual endearments somewhat wearying and quite a lot of the dialogue was tough going. I was repeatedly yanked out of the story by anachronistic turns of phrase and if -any- policeman, however highly placed, had dared speak to even minor nobility like Lavender does, he'd have been horsewhipped at the very least. Start to finish, this was a book with modern sensibilities and interactions written for modern audiences. Also, the phonetic dialect was hard going for most of the book. I didn't find it added much verisimilitude and most of the time it just made me roll my eyes internally.

Much of the language and slang used in the book are British and American readers may have to use the 'lookup' feature on their e-readers; but that doesn't present any problems.

Three and a half stars.

MURDER IN PARK LANE is the fifth instalment in a series featuring Detective Lavender and Constable Woods. Although it was my first encounter with the duo, I thought this mystery worked really well as a single read. Karen Charlton seamlessly touched on earlier happenings so I didn’t feel I was missing out on anything important.
Although I love them, I liked that this mystery was not a twisted psychological thriller or a novel about psychopathic serial killers, for a change. Instead, the focus of this wonderful mystery was a comparatively inoffensive murder case in a pleasant part of historical London.
The main characters were very likeable, as were the outlandish suspects. The plot was well-paced and there was a number of red herrings to figure out. Overall, MURDER IN PARK LANE was a very enjoyable and entertaining book that I highly recommend.
I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from the publisher via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

I enjoyed this! This is the first ‘Inspector Lavender’ Book I’ve read, although apparently it’s the fifth in the series. I liked both the main character and his sidekick, as well as the whole cast of interesting and well-drawn characters of all ages and walks of life. The initial mystery—how was a lodger stabbed to death in his locked room?—is quickly resolved, but just as quickly escalates into an increasingly larger mystery that gets more complex and more puzzling with each new development. Kept me guessing until the end, The vivid descriptions of life in early London added depth, life, color, and smells—not all of them good!—to the story and made for a very full and satisfying reading experience.

Murder in Park Lane by Karen Charlton, is book five of the ‘Detective Lavender Mysteries’, however it can be read as a stand-alone book.
I read this as a stand-alone read and thoroughly enjoyed the book without reading the previous books in the series; however, I now want to read the whole series as I loved the mix of historical fiction and mystery which this book gave. It is set in Mayfair, London in 1812, and Detective Stephen Lavender is investigating the death of a man who has been killed by fatal stabbing but surprisingly the body is found behind a door which is locked from the inside and the murder weapon is missing. So begins Detective Lavender’s investigations, the author brings the sights and sounds of both London and Chelmsford alive as the Detective travels between the two to solve the mysterious death of businessman David MacAdam. When a second body turns up, Lavender along with Ned Woods, the Constable, learn that the house on Park Lane has a dark conspiracy and the two must learn the truth behind the murders and who is doing them.
This is a fast paced book and it took me along for the journey, I was hooked from page one. Definitely recommend the ‘Detective Lavender Mysteries’ series.

This is a cozy historical murder mystery the 5th in the series but easy to get into. It's 1812 and Regency England is fighting with basically everyone (France, the US, Spain, etc). Lavender and sidekick Woods are called to the scene of a locked room murder in an upscale neighborhood in London. They're soon on the hunt for a murderer (or murderers). The plot is appealingly twisty and the characters are fairly well defined. There is humor to be found here and some of the interactions are lightly comedic. I recommend to any cozy mystery fan

In Karen Charlton's Murder in Park Lane, the 3rd installment in the Detective Lavender Historical Mystery series, this novel would take you back to time with a twisted ride. It's London 1812. It all started when Detective Stephen Lavender and Constable Ned Woods from the Park Row Police Department received a call about a murder from Dr. Richard Allison, the Medical Examiner. They came to the scene of the crime to discover the body of David MacAdam. As they started the investigation, they learned more about the corpse that had more twists and turns with every clue. It ranged from adultery to being a lothario and a swindler to say the least. Meanwhile Lavender expected his first child with his Spanish wife Magdalena, while Ned dealt with fasting to trim his waist. Together, they come across some unsavory people who might want MacAdam dead for more than one reason. The closer they get to the truth, the more twisted it could be with one step from another until they found the culprit and put him and her behind bars.

This is a Bow Street Police story from early 1800 London. Anyone who likes early English fiction will enjoy this book. The characters of Detective Stephen Lavender and Constable Ned Woods are believable and realistic. This is a time for solving crime with questions and intuition. It is the kind of story where the reader can solve the problem along with the character. The premise centers on a suspicious death in a rooming house and follows threads of clues to villages and odd people until a solution finally emerges. Along the way there are lies, deceit and misdirection which adds to the color and vitality of the side characters. The pacing is good and the locations are lively. I enjoyed this book and will look for more by this author.

Murder in Park Lane is the fifth book in this series.

Description: London, 1812. At a fashionable address in leafy Mayfair, a far cry from Detective Stephen Lavender’s usual haunts, a man is found dead in his room. He has been brutally stabbed, but the door is locked from the inside and the weapon is missing. The deceased is David MacAdam, an Essex businessman with expensive tastes. As Lavender and Constable Ned Woods travel between London and Chelmsford seeking to understand MacAdam’s final hours and unearth the grisly truth, they uncover a tangled web of deceit behind his stylish facade. The unusual circumstances of MacAdam’s death are nothing compared to the shady nature of his life and it seems the house on Park Lane is at the heart of a dark conspiracy. But when a second body turns up, everything they think they’ve learned is thrown into doubt. Can Lavender and Woods find out who’s behind these shocking murders before more lives are ruined?

The story revolves around Detective Lavender and Constable Woods working together to figure out who murdered David MacAdam. Lavender is surprised when arrogant Sir Richard Allison, a renowned physician requests her assistance to figure out how MacAdam could have been murdered in a room locked from the inside?

Things get complicated when a second victim is murdered. So, definitely a great mystery.

Overall, the characters are well defined and the story keeps you guessing until the very end.

I was provided this book free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion. I give this a 5 Star

I started this series at book 4 and thoroughly enjoyed it. This, the next in the series did not disappoint. The beauty of the characterisation here is that everyone has their distinct personalities that are always authentic and in most cases creates an immediate bond between them and the reader. I absolutely adore the dynamic between our two main protagonists, their differences in social standing and attitudes make them a near perfect crime fighting team and their immediate circles enrich and inform the thrust of the tale.


Another exciting and involving plot gallops along with plenty of surprises along the way. Intricate enough for fans of mystery, but also atmospheric and historically dense enough to suit a fan of Victorian romances too.

I loved it, I almost just want to say don't take my word on it, just experience it for yourself!!!

There is a murder in Mayfair, that posh London neighborhood. It appears to be a locked room mystery. What happened to David MacAdam? He was thought to be a businessman. Was there more to him? Does this have bearing on his death? Why is there a second murder?

All of this plot unfolds in the 1830s with Inspector Lavender, a Bow Street Runner, and his Constable, Woods. The personal lives of the two are a nice addition to the story. This is a mystery that is more toward the cozy (as compared to the truly violent) genre. It provides an enjoyable read.

Note that this is part of a series. However, it can be read as a standalone.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title. All opinions are my own.