REVENGE, SERVED ROYAL, third in the Lady Petra Inquires series

REVENGE, SERVED ROYAL (Lady Petra Inquires #3)
CELESTE CONNALLY
Minotaur Books (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$14.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Bridgerton meets Agatha Christie in this dazzling third instalment to the captivating Regency-era Lady Petra Inquires mystery series.

September, 1815. Autumn is in the air as Lady Petra Forsyth and some of the most illustrious members of the ton descend upon Windsor Castle for a week of royal celebrations, with the highlight being Queen Charlotte’s inaugural patisserie contest for the best bakers employed by England’s finest houses. Not only is Lady Petra’s own cook one of the contestants, but Her Majesty has requested that Petra herself serve as one of the judges.

Petra’s happiness at tasting delicious cakes and biscuits only increases at finding her beloved Aunt Ophelia in attendance at Windsor, as well as Sir Rufus Pomeroy. As England’s most famous former royal chef-turned-cookbook author, Sir Rufus is slated to present his best recipes to the Queen during the festivities, with Petra being granted an early viewing in the royal library.

Yet upon arrival, Petra instead encounters a frantic housemaid pointing to a body of one of Her Majesty’s guests—and to the valet still tugging at the silk ribbon used to strangle the victim. What’s more, the valet turns out to be Oliver Beecham, the ne’er-do-well brother of Petra’s own lady’s maid, Annie. But as Oliver is hauled away to the dungeons, he protests his innocence, claiming the late guest argued with several aristocrats, including the Prince Regent and Petra’s Aunt Ophelia, and boasted about hiding a potentially scandalous document within the vastness of Windsor Castle.

When some poisoned tea meant for Petra is consumed by one of her fellow judges, it’s clear the real killer is still walking the castle’s halls. Indeed, in order to prove the innocence of Annie’s brother and find the incriminating document, Petra will need to act like a lady, eat like a chef, and think like one of Her Majesty’s best spies before a murderer can turn the celebrations from sweet to royally deadly.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: I experienced this as GBBO in 1815, featuring a much, much nastier Paul Hollywood in Sir Rufus Pomeroy. While Petra is his co-judge (there are others but I forget who they are) in Queen Charlotte's version of a baking contest, I'm more inclined to call her kindly, sweet Mary Berry than Prue Leith.

When Sir Rufus is offed, ugly secrets come out about him causing Lady Petra to reconsider her lifelong attachment to him. Everyone decides to blame Oliver (Lady Petra's maid's brother, so feudal family)for the death. The hunt is on for the real killer...and it's quite a hunt. Lots of people, including me and Lady Petra's Aunt Ophelia, had hard words about and with Sir Rufus. No one is sorry he's dead. We're at Windsor Castle with the Royal Family in residence. There is an immense pool of people to draw suspects from. One person exempt from that was Duncan, Lady Petra's honeybunch. He's offscreen a lot this iteration, too much so for my taste.

The sheer complexity of the naming conventions, thus styles of address, among the titled cluttering up the pages requires attention to be paid. "Lord Doohickey" is also "His Grace the Duke of Thattaway"; forgetting that can lead to great confusion. The shifts were tonal, representing different situations and relationships. I'd love a peek at Author Connally's spreadsheets to see how this all nested together in the writing process. Another thing I'd love to see is this anachronistic GBBO clone on screen! The glorious descriptions of the foods, the added bonus of silly royal pageantry, everyone dressed to the nines all the time...wouldn't Netflix do this right? Hmm?

There is the upholding of Ma'at, there is the outing of the real actor behind the masks worn by multiple people, maybe even too many, but of course the crime is punished. It's why mysteries appeal to readers: the crime is punished.

This time quite fairly in my view. Enjoy the first two books before this one if you want a bit of a leg-up with the characters' names; if not, you'll work a little harder but still have good fun.