Penrose is in love with her research and cannot give up a single minute detail, to the detriment of her mystery.

Though I love Wrexford and Charlotte, Raven, Hawk, Lady Cordelia, and Kit Sheffield (as well as a new family addition, young Peregrine, dubbed “Falcon” by the Weasels), I grew impatient with the novel’s pacing and how Penrose structures the mystery plot.

Who wouldn’t want to inhabit a world such as they’ve created? The writing is consistently competent and the characters, from their introduction in book #1 to the present volume, likable and admirable, with ethical cores, care for the vulnerable, a primary insistence on justice to be served, and a deep love for each other. Certainly there are scenes that are, but overall, Penrose’s series is one of labyrinthine schemes, constant foils against Charlotte and Wrexford and their intrepid friends’ sleuthing efforts, and rife with historical detail. The publisher’s blurb makes Wrexford and Sloane #6 sound fast-paced and exciting. Soon, old secrets are tangling with new betrayals, and as Charlotte and Wrexford spin through a web of international intrigue and sumptuous parties, they must race against time to save their loved ones from harm-and keep the weapon from igniting a new war. But there are unsettling complications to the case-including a family connection. Wrexford is tasked with retrieving it before it falls into the wrong hands. The late Jeremiah Willis was the engineering genius behind a new design for a top-secret weapon, and the prototype is missing from the Royal Armory’s laboratory. Still, some social obligations must be honored, especially with the grand Peace Celebrations unfolding throughout London to honor victory over Napoleon.īut when Wrexford and their two young wards, Raven and Hawk, discover a body floating in Hyde Park’s famous lake, that newfound peace looks to be at risk.

The publisher’s description lays out the mystery’s stakes for Charlotte, Wrexford (what the heck is his first name?), the Weasels, their friends, and a lovely new addition to their found family:Ĭharlotte, now the Countess of Wrexford, would like nothing more than a summer of peace and quiet with her new husband and their unconventional family and friends. Though married contentment permeates Penrose’s latest, the honeymoon is definitely over when Wrexford and the Weasels pull a body from the Serpentine. Wrexford and Sloane #6 sees Lord Wrexford and his now Lady Charlotte once again chasing villainy.

Wrexford and sloane book 6