Review: 'Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord'

 Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord
By Celeste Connally
Historical Mystery
Minotaur Books
November 2023

Lady Petra Forsyth may be an only daughter of an aristocrat, but she's no simpering society miss. She loves riding horses, speaking her mind and standing up for herself. And she doesn't need a man to prove her worth. Not many in the British aristocracy are like her.

In Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord, a novel that sets up a series of historical fiction equal parts mystery and romance, Petra is her own woman who hasn't let bad things keep her down. For instance, her best friend hasn't spoken to her in three years. This is after she and that friend, Duncan Shawcross, grew up together. He was a by-blow who was farmed out by his lordly father to Petra's household. Their mutual love of horses and daring each other was the basis of such a strong friendship that Duncan covered for Petra and her fiancé when they spent nights together before marriage. Then her fiancé died, and Duncan didn't answer Petra's letter while traveling through Europe.

As a way to avoid her stodgy, complaining Uncle Tobias when he invades her father's country estate to chastise them, Petra and her friend Lady Caroline attend the ball of the Duchess of Hillmorton. The episode is written with precisely the tone of dialogue and people weaving in and out of conversations that are a mainstay of Regency romances. Petra is not there to gossip, but to find out what she can of the untimely death of another society friend. Whose husband doesn't appear to be in mourning.

Her friend wasn't the only one to disappear. An asylum in the country seems to be involved. When Petra arranges to meet her late friend's house servant in the park, he is killed, and Petra hit by a rock. Fortunately, the rock was thrown by Teddy, a street urchin who didn't know he was paid to hit his benefactress.

Petra soon forms a circle of like-minded folk determined to find out what is happening to the disappeared or dying women. She has her society friend Lady Caroline, Baker Street Irregular urchin Teddy, a young woman who trains society dogs and, eventually, Duncan. Even though their misunderstanding continues, as it does in romances, they are soon on the same side in the investigatory side of the story.

When Petra gets closer to solving the mystery, her own life is imperiled. Because author Celeste Connally has created a can-do heroine, don't assume she will be waiting for a knight in shining armor to rescue her.

The novel has two distinct tones. Half of the story is a wittily written Regency romance. The other, even when the whodunit tropes are observed, delves into dark territory concerning the rights of women in a society that dictates how free they actually are -- even women in the higher reaches of society. There also are psychological complexities that are woven into the story involving women sent to an asylum.

More traditional readers may wonder at how enlightened Petra and her circle are. She is not the type to wait for marriage to express how she feels about a lover. In that, she is staying true to her character. The unlikely aspect is that her partner supports her decision. The ways in which some LGBTQ characters lead their own lives fit into the constraints of the society in which they live, as long as there is discreteness.

Connally sets up a second novel at the end of this one that fits in with the characters. As long as she can navigate the dual nature of the circle she has created, Lady Petra could well feature in a long series of entertaining fictions. She is heiress to the early Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters and the Lady Julia Grey mysteries by Deanna Raybourne.