A Dead Bore

A Dead Bore (2008) Sherri Cobb South

Set in Yorkshire in ~1808

Wanting to escape the family of her murdered husband (and the scandal attached to those events) Lady Fieldhurst accepts an invitation to Yorkshire. However, soon after her arrival, the local rector is killed in a fire during a terrible storm, and circumstances lead Lady Fieldhurst to turn to John Pickett, who had cleared her of the murder of her husband) with her suspicions.

I quite appreciated the manner in which the two characters from the last book were brought together again, since there would be no natural way for this to happen in London society. And I liked how John Pickett managed to be incognito in Yorkshire.

The mystery was interesting, although there were again things I might have taken umbrage with, had I paid more than $3.99 for the book, but it was a nice distraction.

I thought she did a very good job with the young teen daughter of the house, portraying that awkward age rather well.

“Why? Don’t you like me?”

“What I like is entirely beside the point. If you were discovered here, particularly at this hour and dressed in such a way, you would be locked in your room and given nothing to eat but bread and water, and I would be thrown out of the house on my, er, ear.”

“But—” Miss Susannah’s protest died on her lips, and her eyes widened. “Do you mean people would think you had compromised me?”

Pickett blushed at her frankness but answered with equal candor. “That is exactly what they would think. And, given the circumstances, who could blame them?”

“Well!” declared Miss Susannah, fairly beaming with pride. “That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. Now I feel quite grown up!”

That is a young teenage girl, right there.
Rating: 6.5/10

Published by Belgrave House/Regency Reads

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