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Rating: 
Summary: a superb mystery novel
Review: Captain Gabriel Lacey, the tortured hero from "The Hanover Square Affair" is back again (thank goodness) in a new and dark adventure involving murder and a dead man's lost honour. Unable to sleep one night, Captain Gabriel Lacey decides to go for a walk where he finds himself gallantly stepping in to rescue a lady when she's attacked by a beggar. Something about this remote and despairing beauty touches Captain Lacey, and when she finally begs his help, Lacey is only all too willing to give it. The lady turns out to be Mrs. Lydia Westin, the widow of Colonel Westin, who has been accused of murdering Captain Algernon Spenser during the rioting at Badajoz in Spain in 1812. Four years later, Colonel Westin readily confesses to the crime. But his wife doesn't believe that he did commit the murder. And when her husband is murdered in his bed (a murder that she has, for reasons of her own, covered up), Lydia Westin is sure that the real murderer had decided to tie up loose ends by killing her husband before he could change his mind and disclose what actually happened. Lydia want Lacey to discover who really murdered Captain Spenser and so to effectively clear his husband's name. And even as Lacey agrees to do all he can to help her, he cannot help but wonder what it is that Lydia is hiding from him. For it is rather apparent that there are quite a few things about this mess that she's left out in her accounting. Like why Colonel Westin would confess to a crime that he had not committed -- Lydia's reasoning for this is flimsy at best; and how the murderer was able to get into the Westins' town house in order to murder Westin. But intrigued by this puzzle and chivalrously inclined to help Lydia, Lacey once again dons his best suit and puts on his best manners in order to move amongst London's elite so that he can unmask a ruthless killer. His path will not be easy, especially when he suddenly finds himself crossing swords again with one of the underworld's more notorious and dangerous of villains... In creating the Captain Gabriel Lacey mystery series, Ashley Gardner truly struck gold. Both installments in the series so far ("The Hanover Square Affair" & "A Regimental Murder") have proven to be clever, intriguing and compelling. The authour does a fantastic job of adding an atmosphere of darkness and evil to the mysteries at hand, and of maintaining that air of suspense and intrigue that keeps one glued to the book until the last page is reached. And who cannot resist a dark and anguished hero with a painful past? Will Captain Lacey ever recover his spirits and rally? Will he learn to live with his past, or will things haunt him forever? And will he ever achieve a happy and romantic ending? (For the sake of the series, let's hope that this will not happen for a while at least!) Smoothly written and briskly paced, "A Regimental Murder" was a pleasure and joy to read. The question is: will I be able to contain myself for an entire year before the next Captain Gabriel Lacey installment is published?
Rating:
Summary: a superb mystery novel
Review: Captain Gabriel Lacey, the tortured hero from "The Hanover Square Affair" is back again (thank goodness) in a new and dark adventure involving murder and a dead man's lost honour. Unable to sleep one night, Captain Gabriel Lacey decides to go for a walk where he finds himself gallantly stepping in to rescue a lady when she's attacked by a beggar. Something about this remote and despairing beauty touches Captain Lacey, and when she finally begs his help, Lacey is only all too willing to give it. The lady turns out to be Mrs. Lydia Westin, the widow of Colonel Westin, who has been accused of murdering Captain Algernon Spenser during the rioting at Badajoz in Spain in 1812. Four years later, Colonel Westin readily confesses to the crime. But his wife doesn't believe that he did commit the murder. And when her husband is murdered in his bed (a murder that she has, for reasons of her own, covered up), Lydia Westin is sure that the real murderer had decided to tie up loose ends by killing her husband before he could change his mind and disclose what actually happened. Lydia want Lacey to discover who really murdered Captain Spenser and so to effectively clear his husband's name. And even as Lacey agrees to do all he can to help her, he cannot help but wonder what it is that Lydia is hiding from him. For it is rather apparent that there are quite a few things about this mess that she's left out in her accounting. Like why Colonel Westin would confess to a crime that he had not committed -- Lydia's reasoning for this is flimsy at best; and how the murderer was able to get into the Westins' town house in order to murder Westin. But intrigued by this puzzle and chivalrously inclined to help Lydia, Lacey once again dons his best suit and puts on his best manners in order to move amongst London's elite so that he can unmask a ruthless killer. His path will not be easy, especially when he suddenly finds himself crossing swords again with one of the underworld's more notorious and dangerous of villains... In creating the Captain Gabriel Lacey mystery series, Ashley Gardner truly struck gold. Both installments in the series so far ("The Hanover Square Affair" & "A Regimental Murder") have proven to be clever, intriguing and compelling. The authour does a fantastic job of adding an atmosphere of darkness and evil to the mysteries at hand, and of maintaining that air of suspense and intrigue that keeps one glued to the book until the last page is reached. And who cannot resist a dark and anguished hero with a painful past? Will Captain Lacey ever recover his spirits and rally? Will he learn to live with his past, or will things haunt him forever? And will he ever achieve a happy and romantic ending? (For the sake of the series, let's hope that this will not happen for a while at least!) Smoothly written and briskly paced, "A Regimental Murder" was a pleasure and joy to read. The question is: will I be able to contain myself for an entire year before the next Captain Gabriel Lacey installment is published?
Rating:
Summary: fine Regency mystery
Review: In 1816 Regency England, Captain Gabriel Lacey is just starting to recover from the depression he suffered after seeing atrocities committed during the Iberian Peninsula campaign. One night while strolling in London he sees a woman on a bridge seemingly poised to leap to avoid a man with a knife. Gabriel chases the mugger away and brings Lydia Westin to the safety of his home. Lydia is a widow who asks her host to help her prove that her deceased husband never killed Captain Algernon Spencer following the Battle of Bedejaz in Spain in 1812. She believes that Lord Richard Eggleston, Viscount Breckenridge and Sir Major Edward Conraught managed to find a means to get her spouse to confess to a homicide that she insists he did not commit. Though reluctant to turn back the hands of time to Iberia, Gabriel agrees to help, not realizing the outcome of his acquiescing to investigate will be many deaths and attempted murders of him and his guest. Ashley Gardner is a name worth following as this author shows deep talent for vividly recreating the era and people of the Regency period inside a powerful mystery. The complex protagonist suffers from post battle fatigue caused by what he witnessed during the war. His slow recovery (see THE HANOVER SQUARE AFFAIR) seems real, but his willingness to jump back in the fray to ensure justice is served demonstrates the inner strength of a man with both morals and ethics that should make him a fan favorite. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: fine Regency mystery
Review: In 1816 Regency England, Captain Gabriel Lacey is just starting to recover from the depression he suffered after seeing atrocities committed during the Iberian Peninsula campaign. One night while strolling in London he sees a woman on a bridge seemingly poised to leap to avoid a man with a knife. Gabriel chases the mugger away and brings Lydia Westin to the safety of his home. Lydia is a widow who asks her host to help her prove that her deceased husband never killed Captain Algernon Spencer following the Battle of Bedejaz in Spain in 1812. She believes that Lord Richard Eggleston, Viscount Breckenridge and Sir Major Edward Conraught managed to find a means to get her spouse to confess to a homicide that she insists he did not commit. Though reluctant to turn back the hands of time to Iberia, Gabriel agrees to help, not realizing the outcome of his acquiescing to investigate will be many deaths and attempted murders of him and his guest. Ashley Gardner is a name worth following as this author shows deep talent for vividly recreating the era and people of the Regency period inside a powerful mystery. The complex protagonist suffers from post battle fatigue caused by what he witnessed during the war. His slow recovery (see THE HANOVER SQUARE AFFAIR) seems real, but his willingness to jump back in the fray to ensure justice is served demonstrates the inner strength of a man with both morals and ethics that should make him a fan favorite. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: TYPICAL REGENCY FORM. A GOOD READ.
Review: In Regency London, on a darkened street, widow Lydia Westin is threatened and gallant Captain Lacey comes to her rescue. When he takes her home, widow Westin attempts to seduce him in her gratitude. She then learns what series readers have come to know: that the captain is an honorable, haunted man. When Lacey learns of the widow's plight - her husband was murdered - he takes up her cause. The good widow believes her husband was killed by three men who both shamed and framed him. Mr. Grenville, a dandy to rival Beau Brummell, is attending a house party in Kent. The three officers suspected will also be at the house party. Grenville slips Lacey into this aristocratic house party, and together the two try to solve Westin's murder and clear his good name. A Regimental Murder is a complicated mystery and Lacey is unusually stuffy for a Captain. Mr. Grenville is entertaining, but the rest of the aristocratic society seems beyond redemption. _A Regimental Murder_ is written in first person and comes across in typical regency form.
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