Review - Revenge Served Royal

I love this description of the book: "Bridgerton meets The Great British Baking Show. Lots of plot twists, and lots of fun." ―Kirkus Reviews

I began with the first book in the series, but I have only reviewed one of those. I don't know why I didn't review the second one.  But let's see how I liked the third in the series.

1) Think Like a Lady, Act Like a Lord (click here)

2)  All's Fair in Love and Treachery (read but no review)

Author: Celeste Connally

Copyright: Nov 2025 (Minotaur Books) 328 pgs

Series: 3rd in Lady Petra Inquires

Sensuality: very mild

Mystery Sub-genre: Historical cozy, historical amateur sleuth

Main Character: Lady Petra Forsyth, 24yo independent daughter of an Earl

Setting: 1815 Regency era, Windsor Castle-England

Obtained Through: Publisher for honest review

Book Blurb: "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."    

My Thoughts: This was nice having Windsor Castle for the backdrop of the mystery. I felt like I was walking through history as Lady Petra investigated. The "Author's historical notes" go into some of her research and was interesting of itself. The royal palace is also a grand yet spooky setting and worked so well to place Petra out of her norm.

Lady Petra is growing even more courageous in this addition to the series.  She even tackles some tricky family involvement in the case.  I thoroughly enjoy her character.

Petra's personal maid, Annie, is the sister of the man who was quickly railroaded for the murder of the famous former royal chef. So Petra has a vested interest in solving the crime. 

Petra is joined by her best friends: Lady Caroline, Lottie, who is known for her hobby of training dogs, Frances Bardwell, who owns an apothecary practice and thus becomes a valuable asset, and her Aunt Ophelia who knew the former chef quite well.  

Duncan Shawcross, the illegitimate son of Marquess of Langford, is the romantic interest. I like this character quite a bit as he clearly loves Petra for her genuine self.  Chef Antonin Carême is a true historical figure (as well as Queen Charlotte) who was arguably the first real celebrity chef. He flirts with Petra occasionally. Recently, AppleTV has a streaming series loosely based on him (titled Carême) that is pretty steamy and portrays him as a spy (highly doubtful) as well as a chef. 

The plot had a beginning that was providing information and setting up the murder. Once that was all done and the murder occurs, it becomes a twisty mystery filled with surprises and a hair-raising climax. The killer confrontation is filled with tension, danger, and excitement. Very well done on that score.  The wrap up had sweet moments and was very satisfying.

It was an overall solid mystery, great setting, solid characters, and taut climatic killer-reveal for a great historical cozy.  I highly recommend.

Rating: Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now and put this author on your watch list.

Here is a short video overview of Chef Antonin Carême:

And this one is a quick overview of Queen Charlotte and recent portrayals:

THANK YOU for reading this blog and please recommend to friends and family who will enjoy it.

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Review - Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Lord

 Author Celeste Connally is an Agatha Award nominee, and a former freelance writer and editor.  This is a brand new historical mystery series and the debut sounds fascinating. It's being billed as "Bridgerton meets Agatha Christie." Let's take a trip back to the early 1800s London for an adventure.

Author: Celeste Connally

Copyright: Nov 2023 (Minotaur Books) 301 pgs

Series: 1st in Lady Petra Inquires series

Sensuality: moderate- era references to intimacy and period treatment of women

Mystery Sub-genre: Historical Cozy, Amateur Sleuth

Main Characters: Lady Petra Forsyth, 24yo indepedant daughter of an Earl

Setting: 1815 (Regency Era). London, England

Obtained Through: Publisher for an honest review, Netgalley

 Book Blurb:  "London, 1815. Lady Petra Forsyth, daughter of the Earl of Holbrook, has made a shocking proclamation. After losing her beloved fiancé in an accident three years earlier, she announces in front of London’s loosest lips that she will never marry. A woman of independent means—and rather independent ways—Petra sees no reason to cede her wealth and freedom to any man now that the love of her life is gone. Instead, she plans to continue enjoying the best of society without any expectations.

But when ballroom gossip suggests that a longtime friend has died of a fit due to her “melancholia” while in the care of a questionable physician, Petra vows to use her status to dig deeper—uncovering a private asylum where men pay to have their wives and daughters locked away, or worse. Just as Petra has reason to believe her friend is alive, a shocking murder proves more danger is afoot than she thought. And the more determined Lady Petra becomes in uncovering the truth, the more her own headstrong actions and desire for independence are used against her, putting her own freedom—and possibly her life—in jeopardy."

MY Thoughts:  Lady Petra is likable (a good daughter, a kind employer, and she's good to animals), a feminist when men were ruled. Her mother died when she was young, but left her a sizable inheritance that allows her more freedoms.  But she can be naive at times in her priviledged world and too trusting of her own safety. I like Duncan Shawcross, Petra's childhood playmate and confidante who is also the illegitimate son of Marquess of Langford.  They make a great team and he is a good potential romantic interest since he understands her well.  Her best friend Caroline is in a marriage of convenience does as she pleases which makes her a bad influence in many ways, but a good friend.  Lady Petra's personal maid, Annie, is a wonderful side character and a street urchin Petra has befriended, Teddy, as well.

This book had a slow start and took many chapters for the murder to happen.  But once it did the book really took off.  I realize this is the debut and thus had to setup the world and Lady Petra's reality, but the slowness combined with an onslaught of characters with titles and a bunch of gossip just weighed down the beginning.  I read this occasionally trying to slog through until I finally got to the murder and then it took off like a race horse and I couldn't put it down.  

Sadly, this is based on actual practices historically.  I know some may think the sending of unwanted wives to an asylum, as presented in the book, is an exageration, but it happened fairly often and with just a husband's say-so in far too many cases.  At the time this is set, men ruled and women had no standing in and of themselves.  Men of the day thought little of such practices because it was all legal strictly speaking.  

Historically, Lady Petra wouldn't have been afforded so much freedom by her father and Duncan Shawcross's being illegitimate would have kept him from being so well regarded in society. I didn't mind those liberties with the storyline, but some might take exception to them.  

The book is more about the journey than the mystery to solve. We follow Lady Petra and she does end up in a harrowing situation in the well done and tense climax.

Rating:  Good - A fun read.  Slow to start but it develops and gets really good.