Murder in Westminster by Vanessa Riley

 

Do you have a favorite historical mystery series?

I read Island Queen by Vanessa Riley last year and I LOVED it.  I was very excited to receive a copy of Murder in Westminster by Vanessa Riley from Netgalley to review.   This is the first in the new Lady Worthington Mystery series.  I greatly enjoyed it and I can’t wait for the second book in the series!

Lady Abigail Worthington has a husband at sea, and a very aggravating neighbor.  Lady Worthington’s family is from the Caribbean and her skin color and family history has certain members of the ton whispering about her.  When her neighbor’s wife, Juliet, is found murdered on the fence between their properties, Lady Worthington starts her investigation. Her neighbor, Stapleton Henderson, is a trying man that has a complicated relationship with his wife.  They were separated and she was going to run off that evening with another man. Would this cause Henderson to murder his wife?  What about her lover, did he kill her in a fit of rage?  Or her brother who needs cash from her?  There seems to be no end to those that might have killed Juliet.  

I loved this novel.  Lady Worthington is a capable and independent woman.  She is an excellent sleuth.  I loved the mystery, but I also really enjoyed Lady Worthington’s thoughts on abolition and on being a person of color in high society Regency England.  What I was really intrigued about was Lady Worthington’s husband.  It sounds like it was a marriage of convenience, but he spends the entire novel at sea.  I want more of the back story of their marriage.  There is a lot of great storylines that could go on in this series that I would enjoy.

Overall, Murder in Westminster is the first in a great new series and I can’t wait to read what comes next.

Book Source:  A Review Copy from NetGalley and Kensington Books.  Thank-you! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Island Queen by Vanessa Riley

 

Have you ever learned about a new (to you) figure in history that is inspiring?

Dorothy Kirwan was born enslaved in Montserrat in the Caribbean to an enslaved woman and white plantation owner father in 1756.  She spent long years working and saving until she was finally able to buy her and her family’s freedom.  Once free, Kirwan built an empire of her own as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and landowner.  Along the way she experienced great love and great loss.  She had many children and she worked to ensure that they and her grandchildren received a great education in Great Britain. 

Dorothy Kirwan Thomas lived a fascinating life and I loved learning about her in this wonderful historical fiction novel.  Her life at times reminded of the fictional Amber in Forever Amber or fictional Becky Sharpe in Vanity Fair.  She had a lot of strength of character and was able to work hard and put everything on the line to move herself up and help her family.  The story was epic, and I couldn’t it down reading it over a weekend of camping.

My favorite part was reading in the afterword that Island Queen had an Austen connection.  Author Vanessa Riley was reading the unfinished Jane Austen novel, Sanditon, and discovered the character of Miss Lambe who is described as a half mulatto heiress from the West Indies.  Riley wondered, “was this character a creature derived from a progressive author’s creativity or was his character based on persons of color that Austen learned about or saw or interacted with in her community?”  Riley went on a ten-year quest for the answer and discovered that both were true.  She found the true history of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas and other black women who were powerful women in that time.  I have been fascinated by this question as well also from Sanditon and the movie Belle.  I felt like my questions were finally answered!

Favorite Quotes:

“No woman needed a man who wasn’t worthy of her heart.”

“I was an impressionable girl who needed a hero.  I’m my own savior now.”

“No man in my life, none had supported me, not like Thomas.  He wasn’t threatened by my dreams or my past.  I should assure him of my heart and say to him the three words he said easily.”

“Broken glass still sparkles when the light hits it.  It might even look like diamonds or chandeliers’ jewels.  It’s still ruined and in need of repair.  Time will fix it, if you live free.”

“What was the use of building a legacy if the ones who deserved the fruit never lived long enough for the harvest?”

Overall, Island Queen is a historical fiction novel that brings the riveting story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas to life.

Book Source:  Review Copy from William Morrow.  Thank-you!