The Secret of the Lady's Maid by Darcie Wilde

The Secret of the Lady's Maid
by Darcie Wilde

ISBN-13: 9781496738035
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Kensington Books
Released: December 26, 2023

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Rosalind Thorne’s quick wits and discretion have proved invaluable to London’s haut ton. Success has at last brought her financial stability and a new home, which she shares with her best friend, Alice Littlefield. But now trouble has infiltrated Rosalind’s sanctuary.

Alice has formed a tender attachment to Amelia, the maid in their employ, and her affection is returned. But before meeting Alice, Amelia was involved with Cate Levitton, daughter of a well-respected family. The scandalous liaison caused the Levittons to banish Cate to the house of her widowed cousin. Amelia has no expectation of seeing Cate again—until she stumbles upon her in the marketplace, looking deathly ill.

The women bring Cate to their home with the help of Bow Street officer Adam Harkness, who deduces that Cate’s sickness may in fact be arsenic poisoning. But who had motive, or means? Rosalind works to discover the truth. She also knows that both her blossoming relationship with Adam and her increasing independence would be frowned upon by society. Poison, politics, jealousy and jewel thieves combine in Rosalind’s most complex case yet.


My Review:
The Secret of the Lady's Maid is a mystery set in 1820 in England. This is the 7th book in the series. You don't need to read the previous books to understand this one, and this one didn't spoil the previous mysteries.

I'm feeling confused by how this ended. Adam's storyline was his struggle to make a big choice: do what he thought was right (arresting two criminals, one of whom was a Bow Street informant) and losing his job or letting his Bow Street friends deal with their mutual case without him. He made his decision but then never carried through on it one way or the other. It just kind of was forgotten as Adam got caught up in Rosalind's case.

Also, criminals walked free. With two women in Rosalind's case, the idea seemed to be that since they're oppressed women and were sorry they were caught, Rosalind and Alice (and Adam) would just overlook what they did as they felt the legal punishment was too severe for the crime. I still wanted them to have some negative consequences for their actions, but both end up in better circumstances than before.

This was a clue-based puzzle mystery. Rosalind asked good questions and collected information, but it took her the longest time to figure out how Cate was poisoned when I figured that out very quickly. Whodunit was guessable, and I guessed correctly long before Rosalind. Historical details were woven into the story. However, Rosalind kept waffling between wanting Adam and preferring to keep her social status and independence. While there were no sex scenes, there was plenty of intense kissing in private. There was occasional bad language.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.