A Purely Private Matter by Darcie WildeMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Second in the series. I really liked it.
This series has a great main character in Rosalind Thorne--round, complex, interesting, capable but not unbelievable--and the author has a very clear, confident voice. The Regency setting is nicely realized and the mystery plot is well managed.
Jane Austen's name is evoked here and there when people talk about this series, and I can absolutely see that and appreciate it, but this is a more worldly world than you find on most of the pages of her novels. That's not a criticism of either--there's a lot to admire and enjoy in both. But Rosalind is herself a lot more worldly than any Austen heroines, which she'd need to be to investigate murder and blackmail and adultery. It might be fun to see Emma or Elinor or Lizzie investigate in that way (though Fanny would be hopeless, I fear), and I'd read that book, but Rosalind has had a lot more practice facing the seamier side of life without freaking out or losing her composure. The series still has a dignified and proper tone, but it's much more aware and accepting of the broader society.
The point is that I'd label this series more Austen-adjacent than Austen-like.
Anyway, it's a fun mystery with excellent characters that I'm eager to see again in book 3. Recommended for readers of historical mystery. And Austen folks, for sure.
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