THE SISTERHOOD

When the star of the London season dies at a ball, the king asks Lady Emily and her husband, Colin Hargreaves, to find her killer.

Victoria Goldsborough is about to vastly improve her family’s fortunes by marrying Peregrine, Marquess of Harrington. The Goldsborough girls are admired and envied because of their grandmother’s plans to marry them off to great advantage, and Victoria’s death is a terrible blow to the family. Emily and Colin have solved many crimes, and given all the suspects from the cream of society, it’s far better for everyone concerned if they investigate than if it’s Scotland Yard poking around. They question the family for hints of a motive. Victoria died from yew poison that must have been administered within a limited window of time. Peregrine’s mother had a diamond tiara she’d planned to give Victoria. Its disappearance on the night of Victoria’s death leads Emily and Colin to suspect Sebastian Capet, a charming, erudite jewel thief in love with Emily and currently involved in opening what may be Boudica’s grave. Victoria’s closest friend, Frances Price, is the daughter of a suffragette, although neither Victoria nor Frances is involved in the battle for women’s rights, a cause despised by Peregrine and many in his set. Emily finds out that both girls were secretly involved in Boudica’s Sisters, a group of society women planning on marrying well and convincing their husbands to support the suffragette cause. When another debutante is poisoned, the sleuths must step up their game and dig out the real reason for murder.

Plenty of motives and a surprise ending are buoyed by a bit of British Roman history woven into the mystery.