The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels (2021) India Holton (Dangerous Damsels)

Set in an alternate Victorian England.

Cecilia Bassingwaite is a proper Victorian young lady, and she is also a member of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, and she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means.

Ned Lightbourne goes by many times, and has had many job descriptions. But this job, assassinating / retrieving / protecting Cecelia Bassingwaite is far more than he was expecting.

I really wish I had been in the mood for this, because it is definitely a romp.

“Just rest, and I’ll assassinate her for you,” he had said, smiling in a lithe, melting way that reminded Lady Armitage of her second husband before the slow-acting poison began bloating his tongue.

It’s extremely silly.

Cecilia swung into action. She rid herself of her dress, and then, clad only in knee-length chemise, petticoat, long lace-trimmed drawers, corset, stockings, and slippers, she hastened from the parlor.

Cecilia had seen the houses rising like hot-air balloons over the trees— albeit rectangular, rigid, and less colorful, without flames beneath, so in fact nothing like hot-air balloons, but a failure of simile was the least of her problems at this moment.

I mean, I highlighted some fantastic passages.

“But, Aunty,” Cecilia said, “you shouldn’t be out here. It’s dangerous.”

“I am a pirate terror, my dear.”

“Yes, but it’s also cold. You’ll catch pneumonia.”

“Nonsense. Pneumonia is only for young ladies whose aunts wish to repress them so that they never become independent and leave said aunts alone.”

But I’ve been reading cozy mysteries, and apparently that’s what my brain wanted more of. So I’ll try a reread later.

Publisher: Berkley
Rating: 7/10

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