Series: Kendra Donovan #2
Source Purchased
Published by Pegasus Books on April 4, 2017
Rating:
Cover image and synopsis from Goodreads:
Former FBI agent Kendra Donovan’s attempts to return to the twenty-first century have failed, leaving her stuck at Aldridge Castle in 1815. And her problems have just begun: in London, the Duke of Aldridge’s nephew Alec—Kendra’s confidante and lover—has come under suspicion for murdering his former mistress, Lady Dover, who was found viciously stabbed with a stiletto, her face carved up in a bizarre and brutal way.
Lady Dover had plenty of secrets, and her past wasn’t quite what she’d made it out to be. Nor is it entirely in the past—which becomes frighteningly clear when a crime lord emerges from London’s seamy underbelly to threaten Alec. Joining forces with Bow Street Runner Sam Kelly, Kendra must navigate the treacherous nineteenth century while she picks through the strands of Lady Dover’s life.
As the noose tightens around Alec’s neck, Kendra will do anything to save him, including following every twist and turn through London’s glittering ballrooms, where deception is the norm—and any attempt to uncover the truth will get someone killed.
I was so excited to read this book! When I finished the first one, I wasn’t aware that it was going to be the first in a series, so I was majorly thrilled to hear later that A Murder In Time was not the end of Kendra Donovan’s story.
For this book, the setting moves from the Duke’s countryside estate to his home in London. I liked getting a look into life in the city during this time period. It was a fun change of pace from the previous book, and it meant that Kendra had to learn the social rules and expectations in the city, which were different from rules for life in the countryside.
While the time travel element of this story was still fun, I felt that this did lose some of the fun and novelty of book one, simply because the shock and excitement of the time travel was stronger in that book. To me, that all felt like more of a background to the story this time around. There’s nothing Kendra can do to travel back to her own time, so there’s not much story time spent on that.
The mystery in this book was quite entertaining, and given Alec’s link to the victim, the stakes were high without needing to place Kendra in harm’s way, as in A Murder in Time. And I enjoyed that many of the characters I liked from that book made a return in this sequel! I am definitely going to read the next book in the series. Recommended!