Review: A Pretty Deceit

A Pretty Deceit by Anna Lee Huber
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Verity and her husband Sidney are still trying to discover why the previous Lord Hyde was murdered, presumably on Lord Ardmore's orders and the connection to the smuggling of opium on the Zebrina during the war, with the help of the new Lord Hyde and Verity's old war secret service colleague Alec. However, Verity's father insists they visit his sister in Wiltshire to investigate various issues, including a missing maid.

At first I found the split focus of this novel a bit distracting, one minute Verity is in Wiltshire comforting her very annoying aunt and her cousin Reg who was blinded in the war, the next minute she's careering around the countryside following a series of cryptic clues around Roman ruins. I am not a fan of the overarching Lord Ardmore plot, although I have a secret hope that he turns out to be a good guy working deep undercover to unmask traitors, and the treasure hunt that leads Verity and her gang around the country seemed a bit overblown - does anyone in real life go to the trouble of burying a series of cryptic clues all over the country? I also have issues with the way that all of Verity's investigations seem to be linked - is Lord Ardmore a one-man crimewave. And don't even get me started on Verity's use of slang, most of which seems to be either anachronistic and/or wrong for an uppercrust woman to use, or the use of the word 'elite' when it should be aristocracy.

Okay, so that's a whole bunch of niggles but overall I really enjoy these amateur detective mysteries. I didn't guess the identity of the murderer, but the clues were there, which I really like - I am definitely not a fan of the detective story where no-one knows the clues. I also appreciate that this mystery did not get solved by Sidney talking to one of his acquaintances in order to get the clue that unlocks the mystery. And, despite myself, I am getting enthralled in the Ardmore mystery and the secret Verity uncovers about her war service. Now I can't wait for the next book.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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