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    And Only to Deceive
    And Only to Deceive
    And Only to Deceive
    Audiobook10 hours

    And Only to Deceive

    Written by Tasha Alexander

    Narrated by Kate Reading

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    For Emily, accepting the proposal of Philip, the Viscount Ashton, was an easy way to escape her overbearing mother, who was set on a grand society match. So when Emily's dashing husband died on safari soon after their wedding, she felt little grief. After all, she barely knew him. Now, nearly two years later, she discovers that Philip was a far different man from the one she had married so cavalierly. His journals reveal him to have been a gentleman scholar and antiquities collector who, to her surprise, was deeply in love with his wife.

    Emily's intellectual pursuits and her desire to learn more about Philip take her to the quiet corridors of the British Museum, one of her husband's favorite places. There, she uncovers a dark, dangerous secret involving stolen artifacts from the Greco-Roman galleries. And to complicate matters, she's juggling two very prominent and wealthy suitors, one of whose intentions may go beyond the marrying kind. As she sets out to solve the crime, her search leads to more surprises about Philip and causes her to question the role in Victorian society to which she, as a woman, is relegated.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateFeb 3, 2015
    ISBN9781494579098
    And Only to Deceive
    Author

    Tasha Alexander

    When not reading, Tasha Alexander can be found hard at work on her next book featuring Emily Ashton.

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    Reviews for And Only to Deceive

    3.5/5

    661 ratings62 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I very much enjoyed And Only to Deceive not because it was an extremely strong mystery or suspence but for the characters. Althought the women do not follow any norms in society for the victorian era, that is what I loved so much about them. Lady Ashton first is not interested in getting married, then doesn't fall for her husband until after she is widowed only then to be convinced that he may not have died after all. Lady Ashton with the help of her equally unconvential girlfriends must solve the mystery of her husbands life leading up to his dealth to discover if her he is alive or dead.
    • 4/5
      And Only to Deceive is a suspense story set in the late Victorian era in England. Our heroine is Lady Emily, young widow of Philip, Viscount Ashton, adventurer and big-game hunter, who died just six months after their wedding. Given the constraints women – especially unmarried women -- of the era had to endure, she is finding widowhood much to her liking. And the fact is she didn’t know her husband well enough … or long enough … to truly be despondent without him.Lady Emily is just ending her two-year period of full mourning, during which – based on conventions of the time – she withdrew from society. Starting with a visit from Philip’s best man Colin Hargreaves, she embarks upon a period of discovery, both about herself and Philip. What she discovers about her late husband is a bit puzzling, some of it even disturbing. And, although she never loved him in life, Lady Emily begins to miss and love the man she never knew. What she discovers about herself – especially her enjoyment of the educational pursuits that her husband also enjoyed – is just plain startling.Readers who want a “pure mystery,” one untainted by romance, may be disappointed in And Only to Deceive. I must admit, I used to avoid mysteries with any hint of romance. But I now find that historical suspense novels with romantic overtones – especially when as well written and researched as And Only to Deceive – can be a pleasant experience.And Only to Deceive is the first novel by author Tasha Alexander – and it is a wonderful first endeavor, as polished and professional as any long-time author. I plan to read more by Tasha Alexander!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      I'm not a big fan of romance. Unfortunately, the mystery was rather overshadowed by the romance.
    • 4/5
      Emily marries the Viscount Ashton primarily to get away from her overbearing mother. When he dies in Africa shortly after their wedding she has reason to question that she knew the man at all. She sets about trying to unravel the mystery of his life and death endangering herself and displeasing pretty much everyone. A good read with a very likeable heroine.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I read this a while ago and couldn't remember more than a general benevolent feeling about it, so I listened to it on audio book. It was delightful to revisit, and I'm looking forward to more of Emily's unconventional Victorian adventures. I particularly love her flowering as a student of Greek and Roman mythology/art/antiquities. The audio book was wonderfully read, and I'm only sorry I can't seem to find the second in the series in that format at my library.
    • 4/5
      And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander is a 2005 William Morrow publication. This book has been on my GR TBR list, perhaps longer than any other. It got buried under a mountain of other books over the years, but I finally unearthed it and am happy to have found it again. Although the book was originally published in 2005, it shows no signs of age. The story features strong female characters and a dash of romance thrown in for good measure. The mystery is well-plotted, and my attempts to decipher who was- or was not- trustworthy was thwarted at every turn. As an added bonus, this story is free of graphic violence, sexual content, and offensive language, making it a story everyone can enjoy. I loved Lady Emily and am positive her adventures will become even more exciting as the series progresses- so yes, now I have yet another long running series to follow- which is starting to become a side hobby, along with all the other reading projects I have going. If you like lighter historical mysteries filled with intrigue, sharp dialogue, and a touch of delicious romantic tension, this is a book you will want to check out.
    • 3/5
      As a mystery, it was fairly easy to figure out. As a romance, it wasn’t too “squishy” - not my genre, so that was good. As a period piece (Victorian), it was passable. I understand other volumes in the series get better. This first one was giod enough that I will seek out the second.
    • 2/5
      1888 and Lady Ashton is near the end of her mourning for her husband Viscount Philip Ashton, after their short marrigae. Only marrying him to escape her mother she now starts to learn about her husband, someone she never loved. What secrets did he hold.
      Emily Ashon seems to change from a shallow individual to a petulant widow who disregards the societys' mores. Not liking the main character was a problem, and I did lose interest in the story.
    • 4/5
      This book was a delightful read. It proceeds at a leisurely pace, but that seems quite fitting for the Victorian setting and the situation of the book's narrator/main character. The plot has many threads and kept me guessing until quite near the end. Very enjoyable if you like historical mysteries.
    • 4/5
      Sweet and compelling read, with nice mystery elements and a super likeable main character.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyed reading this book. Liked the main character and her desire to be her own person in a time when that really wasn't possible, especially in "proper society". Interesting twists and turns.
    • 3/5
      Fun book. . Lady Emily marries an explorer/adventurer mainly to escape from her domineering mother. Adventurer husband dies, leaving a diary for her to explore. Thro contacts with his friends, she begins to fall in love with him. Then she discovers Philip has been acquiring artifacts for himself, and giving copies to the British museum. Untangling this with the help of his friends takes up the majority of the book. This is a fluff book, but one with an interesting approach to history.
    • 2/5
      Two stars.... and so begins my descent into cynicism:Fortunately, I was unable to find this book when I was looking to read it. I had hoped to read it before the two others I finished reviewing, yesterday. Had I read this before the other two, I would have put down the series and returned the other two to the Library unread.Lady Emily Ashton had been left a widow too soon after her wedding. Her husband Philip left her to go on a hunting excursion in Africa soon after their wedding and had the unfortunate experience of becoming ill & dying.This book takes place approximately 1.5 years towards the end of her official period of mourning.As Emily only married Philip to escape her harridan of a mother, she never got to know him, nor did she want to. Once she began spending time in the British Museum learning of his love for antiquities & ancient Greek history, she began to fall in love with him, albeit a tad too late.The intrigue begins in Paris where she meets an art forger and learns that pieces in the museum are not what the are suppose to be & that Philip had been secretly purchasing the originals from the black market & sent them all to his country estate.While learning more about her late husband, drinking port w/ her friends, & studying Greek she meets up w/ Andrew Palmer, who was with Philip on his fatal trip to Africa. She also meets Colin Hargreaves. Andrew pursues Emily in a manner most uncomfortable for her and Colin turns up at odd moments making her suspicious of him... and Emily's interest in the forgery of antiquities takes on a consuming desire to uncover the men behind the fakes.Andrew somehow convinces Emily that Philip is still alive (Dr. Livingstone, I presume) and wandering around Africa in a befuddled state and offers to take her out to find him, which Emily paying for it all.So here we go: Emily, who believes her self to be quite right smart, is in reality quite stupid when it comes to judging the true character of the people surrounding her.Emily's mother is an odious harridan, completely disrespecting the fact that Emily is now a widow & free to live her life as she pleases.Emily's friend, Ivy, is a repressed & tiresome married woman, continually spouting the mores of society & the wonders of being a married woman sitting atop a pedestal w/ no thoughts of her own. Emily has two society friends both looking for a husband; one is nastily rude/cutting to others and the other is a simpering idiot.Fortunately, Emily has two strong female friends; Margaret a scholar from the u.s. and the French Society matron, Cecile who both endeavor to help Emily uncover the mysteries she is investigating.So, although I liked the story, I disliked the characters (thus the 2 Stars) and that usually cuts it for me. In subsequent books of the series, Emily brightens up and becomes likable....One glaring thing: according to the book (this is the Victorian era), Emily as an unmarried woman was allowed to have breakfast in bed but as a married woman had her breakfast downstairs.... Which is the direct opposite of what I have read elsewhere. In fact the point was belabored in Downton Abbey, as the spinster sister was still eating breakfast downstairs, while her mother & married sister had their breakfast in their rooms.
    • 4/5
      And Only to Deceive
      4 Stars

      Lady Emily Ashton is quite relieved when she learns of her husband's death in Africa for their marriage was one of convenience. However, after reading Phillip's journals, Emily realizes that he was a man of great depths with a passion for antiquities and for his wife. Emily's need to know more soon leads her to the British Museum and into a dark and dangerous mystery revolving around stolen artifacts.

      It would seem that historical mysteries with "Lady" in the series title are a big hit for me. Similar to the Lady Darby (Anna Lee Huber) and Lady Julia (Deanna Raybourn), Lady Emily is an aristocrat who finds herself embroiled in mystery and murder as a result of her late husband's lifestyle.

      While not as vulnerable as Keira Darby or as self-assured as Julia Grey, Emily is an engaging heroine unafraid of challenging the social norms and mores of Victorian society. It is entertaining to follow along as she discovers the truth about her husband and about her self. The minor romance is an added bonus although its rapid progression at the end is not all that believable.

      The mystery revolving around the stolen artifacts is compelling mainly due to the allusions to Greek mythology (particularly the Trojan War). That said, Emily is not the best of amateur sleuths. She has a particularly irritating tendency toward making the evidence fit her theory rather than vice versa and there are moments when one has a strong desire to smack her upside to head due to her obtuseness.

      The villain is also rather predictable and it is possible to guess his identity almost immediately.

      All in all, a solid beginning to the series and I look forward to reading more about Lady Emily and her adventures in sleuthing.
    • 3/5
      I've known about Tasha Alexander's mysteries for quite some time now, and I finally made the time to read the first one in her Lady Emily series. It added a great deal of poignancy to the story to have Emily slowly fall in love with her husband after his death, but what I enjoyed even more was how Emily fought for what was best for her despite the machinations of her mother and of Victorian society. Emily was not the first wealthy woman to realize that-- in that day and age-- it's often better to be a widow than a wife. The mystery about stolen artifacts was an interesting one even though I did find the villain easy to identify. (But then, I've had more experience in deduction than young Lady Emily.) All in all, And Only to Deceive reminded me of the books of romantic suspense I read when I was in my teens-- books written by authors like Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, and Dorothy Eden. However, even though this book is well-written and has an admirable main character, the story as a whole lacked any spark that would induce me to continue reading. Since the series now contains ten books, it's obvious that there are many readers who've had a much more positive reaction. Ah well. It happens sometimes!
    • 4/5
      I thought this was very interesting, based in Victorian England in the late 1880's Lady Emily Aston accepted the proposal of Philip, Viscount Aston more to escape her mother than for love. A few months later he's dead on Safari and she's a widow who now has more freedom than she ever had before. While her mother wants to see her remarried she is using her mourning period to find out more about her husband and she's finding interests that they could have had in common, but she will never really know. Strangely she finds that there are secrets and lies and people who don't want certain truths to come out.It was an interesting mystery with a lot of introspection on whether or not you really know people you are close to. I enjoyed the read and want more from these people. I really liked Emily and found her growth to be very enlightening.
    • 4/5
      Lovely book. Plot was detailed and engagaing. Book kept to period details. Characters were likable. Dialogue was entertaining.
    • 3/5
      Fairly good historical mystery featuring recently widowed Lady Emily Ashton. Emily was only recently wed to Phillip Ashton when he died of an illness while hunting in Africa. Emily tries to get to know her husband by developing an interest in one of his other hobbies -- Greek antiquities.

      Although the character of Emily was fairly well developed, I thought the author modernized her a bit too much to be believable. The character of Colin Hargreaves however, was extremely appealing. Unfortunately he didn't appear nearly enough in this book to make me happy. Three and a half stars
    • 5/5
      THIS IS THE FIRST BOOK I HAVE READ FROM THIS AUTHOR AND LOOK FORWARD TO FINDING MORE.
    • 5/5
      Love the series! Look forward to reading book 2
    • 4/5
      Lady Ashton is unexpectedly widowed shortly after the wedding when her husband dies on safari. Knowing very little of him, she embraces his interests in antiquities and finds herself caught wondering what really happened.Combining the Victorian period restrictions for a woman with the mystery was thoroughly gripping, leading the reader along an unexpected path.
    • 4/5
      The fascinating world of nineteenth century Victorian high society is combined with the historical mystery novel in “And Only to Deceive”, the first book in Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily Mystery series. When Viscount Philip Ashton unexpectedly dies in an African hunting expedition, his young and beautiful wife, Lady Emily Ashton, finds herself a widow after only a few short months of marriage. Eager to discover the sort of man her late husband was, Emily pursues his interests in classical antiquity and finds a man much more interesting and mysterious than she had initially thought. More than that, however, she finds evidence to suggest that her husband may not have been as honest as she thought, uncovering a complicated plot of art forgeries involving some of the best artifacts exhibited in the British Museum.

      Lady Emily Ashton finds herself acting as amateur detective in a mystery that takes her to the British Museum, where she uncovers an art forgery plot involving artifacts from the Greek galleries. With the help of a colorful mix of female friends Emily sets out to get to the bottom of the forgeries as well as exploring the possibility that her late husband’s death may not have been accidental.

      I thought the author did a great job in her historical portrayals of societal roles in late Victorian England. She gave us a range of charismatic, intelligent females who are fully-formed and varied. Plus it was just plain entertaining and engaging. Some of its plot twists are predictable but that didn't take away from my enjoyment of this new series. There are now nine books in this series and I definitely plan to read them all. Next up.....A Poisoned Season.

    • 3/5
      I'll definately read another of these, but I don't like them as much as Deanna Raybourne's Lady Julia series. I'm fascinated by the idea that a widow could come to love the *idea* of her husband after he's dead without having loved him while he was alive. This and the Classics angle were both very interesting. Lady Emily herself was interesting and competent and charming and intelligent (educating herself, learning Greek, Suffragette Friends, etc). Then at some point she just...went a little dumb. She got smarter again, and it seemed like Alexander had created a heroine too smart for the simplistic mystery she created. As this is a first novel (and in my state of affairs, I'm extremely lenient about first novels), I'll definately try another. Worth a look if you like the genre.
    • 4/5
      Here is a book with a great many reviews. I might not have a lot to add. It is set in the very late 1880s. With some flashbacks that take us a few years prior to when Emily, our heroine, came out and her mother pushed her to marry. The mystery involves the sleuthing around copies placed in museums of antiquities so that the very rich could purchase the really thing for themselves. So on this front we have a good, though imperfect mystery. Our sleuth is talked out of direct action with those she is investigating and persuaded to let agents act in her place so we have such encounters second hand. Then we have a dual romance which is much more effective as the indifferent bride and widow learns enough of her husband to fall in love with the man once he is gone. There Ms. Alexander does great service and creates a touching romantic chord.That is enough to decide that the 2nd book in the series might be a worthwhile read as well. There is enough detail and description to give one a feel for the later half of the 19th century, but perhaps more historical setting and detail would be even more appreciated.
    • 4/5
      "A Novel of Suspense." No, not really. Whomever read this book and thought it suspenseful needs to get out more. It was a very good read though - I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's the age-old tale of "you don't know what you've got until it's gone" with Greek antiquities, art forgery, romance and mystery thrown into the mix. Emily makes a very good marriage to Viscount Ashton for the sole purpose of getting away from her harpy of a mother: a decision I whole-heartendly endorsed after only one scene involving that nasty shrew. Mere months after the marriage, her husband dies of a fever while on an African safari, leaving her a very wealthy widow. When her late husband's best friend, Colin, pays her a visit, telling her he promised Lord Ashton that Emily would see their villa in Santorini, Greece - a property she owned but didn't even know about - she decides she ought to learn more about this man she married but knew nothing about. Thus begins Emily's adventures. As she learns more about her husband Philip, she learns she had a very good man in her life for far to short a time - or maybe he wasn't such a good man? This is what comes from a lack of communication in a marriage: Emily is left with contradicting information and evidence - he was either very noble or a massive scoundrel She must sort it all out since she has fallen obsessively in love with her husband post mortem. I found this just a touch nauseating - almost to eye-rolling stage. I understand the regret she'd feel, but not love after the fact. Along the way, she discovers another passion; this one for knowledge, specifically, ancient Greece. She dives into her education, much to the consternation and disgust of her mother - which really, is a total perk for both Emily and the reader. I loved the characterisations - each person is boldly sketched out on the page, clear enough to almost be seen. The Parisian settings are vivd, even though few words are used. The plot was well done, although again - NOT suspenseful. This isn't the sort of plot the reader figures out before Lady Emily does. The villain is revealed slowly over the course of the story. There's no grand denouement, although there is a critical unveiling, which I thought was handled particularly well (no TSTL moments). There are 8 more books in this series so far - YAY! I'm off to order the next few; I definitely enjoyed the story enough to want to know what happens next. NB: I particularly enjoyed that the author thought to include a few brief sections at the end: The Story behind The Story, Fact vs. Fiction, Location, Location, Location and a Suggested Reading. As a complete novice with all things historical, I appreciated knowing what was authentic to the time, and what she took authorial license with. It's a nice touch.
    • 2/5
      I've been meaning to read Tasha Alexander's much-touted novel of suspense, And Only to Deceive, for some time now. Set in Victorian England, this is the story of newly widowed Lady Emily Ashton, who is sorting through her emotions over the death of a husband she barely knew and didn't love. As she learns more about the late Philip Ashton, she discovers his deep love for her and begins to reciprocate, alas, too late. At the same time, she becomes involved in the complicated underworld of black-market antiquities, art forgeries, and scandal reaching up to the highest ranks of the aristocracy. Was her husband involved in these unethical dealings before his death? The use of Greek poetry and tidbits of various other classic writings lends the novel an air of elegance, which unfortunately is dispelled by the rather stilted dialogue and plodding plot. Nothing much seems to happen besides a succession of conversations and the occasional passionate kiss. The "mystery" is not terribly compelling, and I didn't find Lady Emily the memorable heroine that so many other readers have. Despite the author's laudable desire to make her characters true to the period (no 21st-century people dressed up in 19th-century clothes), I'm not sure she succeeded. In particular, I found Lady Bromley an unconvincing caricature of a marriage-mad mother, so ridiculous and over the top that she quickly becomes boring. This novel reminded me of Deanna Raybourn's Silent in the Grave and its successors. Fairly enjoyable for an afternoon, but not something to which I'll return.
    • 2/5
      This felt so very much like … well, several books I've read before, but especially Silent in the Grave: Both were in the first person. In both, a Victorian lady is widowed, doesn't mind very much, finds out much later poor old hubby, Philip, Viscount Ashton, was murdered, and conducts investigation alongside husband's friend (with whom there are sparks) while stressing constantly about what to wear and when can I get out of mourning for heaven's sake it's not like I loved him. In both, I wound up with a deep impatience for, if not outright dislike of, the heroine.Emily's first reaction to news of her husband's death is relief. He wasn't a bad fellow, but she only married him to get away from her mother's constant nagging, and hey – a couple of years wearing ugly mourning colours, and now she's free and clear and can do what she wants. Yay. Unfortunately, as time goes by, Emily succumbs to her husband's friends' opinions of him, and begins to fall morbidly in love with his memory, the ideal image of the man she never bothered to get to know. He genuinely loved her; that's enough to start her falling. Too late.In her fervor of self-flagellation for being unable to face Philip's friends and family, she begins to throw herself into his passions. Well, two of them; she still can't abide his beloved hunting (which would have been quite a can of worms if he had lived), but she plunges into the study of ancient Greek and the appreciation of ancient Greek art. In about five minutes she begins to uncover what must be a forgery ring, and, fearing her husband might have been involved, investigates.She is shaken, trying very hard to reconcile this criminal activity with her green worship of him. Then the book catches up to my prediction (based on the classic soap opera warning "did you see the body?") and she is told Ashton might still be alive, despite his best friend's insistence that he was there and watched the man die. She is thrilled, determined to move heaven and earth to find him and nurse him lovingly back to health. A little ways into that process, I had an intuition that he couldn't be alive after all – and I was right. I've said it before: if I can predict how your book is going to turn out, you've done something wrong. And so he is revealed to yes, be dead, and in fact, have been murdered, and she basically shrugs her shoulders and swans off to revel some more in her romantic ideal of the widow who, see? Really did love her husband after all (if too late).Excerpts from Ashton's journal never really pull their own weight; they are mostly inconsequential, unrelated to the chapters they proceed, and never echo what Emily thinks about them. Though I suppose I should be happy the author spared me the long and boring passages about hunting, still, on the flip side there was remarkably little about the wedding night. Which isn't said out of prurience, but just because Emily was sort of looking forward to what he wrote.And the ending … the wrapup of the story was satisfying enough, but once everything was explained away there were still far too many pages left. And it just kept going. All through the book Ashton's friend (whatsit) had been encouraging Emily to go to Greece, to the villa in Santorini Ashton had prepared for her. I had rather expected that to be the next book – it would be perfect, I thought, to build it up, maybe have her planning the trip as this book ended, and then set the second book in the series on the island.Nope.The book was quite readable, which is why I did read it through. But it was disjointed. As a friend pointed out in her review, there was a great deal attempted, and not really succeeded at. And one major thing keeping this book from a higher rating was the completely incomprehensible handling of the forger. He is stunningly gifted, and has no problem selling copies of ancient work: he makes no pretense that they are the real thing, after all, and what his buyer does with the work once it's his isn't the artist's problem. Which … is a nice way to look at it, if you can manage it, but isn't very realistic. Up to that point it reminded me very strongly of the case of the artist Alceo Dossena and his buyer, his dealer, Alfredo Fasoli. Dossena claimed ignorance of the ultimate dispositions of his work, too, but he wasn't quite so cheerful about the fact that while he got a pittance for the art his dealer would sell it on, as original, for thousands. He sued. This guy? He has absolutely no problem with the fact that his name is still unknown, that the scores of hours of work and talent invested in every piece is being attributed to others, and – least likely – has no problem with living on the edge of poverty while his dealer is raking it in. Worst, though, is the fact that this one forger handles several different media, no problem. Sculpture? Got it. Black figure urn? No problem. And so on. I went to art school; I’ve always been interested in art forgery and I’ve read a bit about it. I know full well that artists are more than capable of great things in more than one medium – but the likelihood that a man would be so very, very good at pottery AND sculpture as to have his work pass for the best of the best among the ancients, including Praxiteles, is incredibly small. For him to be so gifted and still not be able to make a living for himself without being completely unscrupulous… maybe it's not unrealistic, but it seemed so.Suddenly, about three quarters of the way through the book, Emily develops a very lawyerly turn of mind, knowing instinctively finer points of what is and is not strictly legal and what will and will not convict a man. The reformation of a female main character from fluffy-headed clotheshorse at the beginning to strong and capable independent woman by the end is no new thing in fiction, but (or maybe "and so") it has to be handled well to be really believable. I'm not so sure about Emily.
    • 4/5
      I received the ARC of the eighth book in this series and due to my compulsions which include having to eventually finish every book I have started I also have trouble starting a series without having read the previous installments. I forced my self through book eight but I knew I wanted to know more of Lady Emily's earlier adventures and this book does not disappoint. Lady Emily comes upon her detective skills quite accidentally. After a brief courtship she marries Lord Ashton mainly to get away from her overbearing mother. Promptly after the marriage Emily's new husband travels to Africa for a hunting trip and dies of what is assumed to be an illness. Emily finds herself a widow before she even had a chance to know her husband. After Lord Ashton's death there is a lot on interest in his personal papers. As Emily attempts to discern the nature of this interest she begins to learn about her former husband and to her surprise he really loved her. He even had a romantic nickname for her that other people knew but to which she was oblivious. As Emily learns more about Lord Ashton she becomes more interested in finding out what he was up to in the days before his death. She is not the only one, his best friend Colin has made it a habit to start visiting Emily. Is he involved somehow in what was going on with Lord Ashton? Lady Emily's discoveries lead her to the British Museum and a world of forgeries as well as the fact that her husband's death may not have been as random as she first thought.I found myself thoroughly enjoying the first installment of the Lady Emily mystery series. Probably the only thing I didn't like was the endless descriptions of all of the poor animals that Lord Ashton murdered. His pursuit of killing an elephant was so disturbing to me that I didn't find the idea that someone might have done in him distasteful at all. I guess killing was the fashion of the time which is why I am glad I live in the time of conservation. Aside from that I loved Lady Emily and her spunk. Fans of Downton Abbey and the cozy mystery will find themselves satisfied here and I look forward to Emily's next adventure and progression in her love life.
    • 2/5
      Eh, not half as well written as Raybourn's novels.
    • 5/5
      I picked up this book years ago in a Walden's Bookstore, just thinking, "Hmm I like this cover, I'll give it a try." And I'm very glad that I did. Tasha Alexander has become one of my Favorite authors. Lady Emily Ashton is recently married in Victorian England, and wedded awkwardness is cut short when her husband has gone missing on a safari trip. It is only after he's missing, does Emily learn of his true amorous feelings for her. With the help of her husband's friend Colin, Emily goes on the hunt for her husband. Can she find him before it's too late? Read and find out. P.S. I love the ancient Greek in the book. As a classics major, I really appreciated the details. Good job!