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Friends In High Places
A Liberty Lane Mystery – Book VII
Caro Peacock

Severn House Digital (Ebook)
1 August 2015 / ASIN: B010SWR3P4
Historical Mystery

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde

 

Investigator and free spirit Liberty Lane is asked by her friend, Lady Blessington, to help smuggle a supporter of Prince Louis Napoleon out of the country. He has papers that will aid the prince at his forthcoming trial, and has been hidden away for his own safety. Liberty agrees, but a fire and a murder prevent this from happening. Instead, a lot of other things happen involving Disraeli, a sinister investigator, opera singer and a lot of international politics.

I have been a fan of this series since the beginning and continue to be one for a number of reasons. Firstly, setting a novel in 1840 is not common, and the author has the period spot on with one foot still in the Regency and the other in the new Victorian age. This story deals with the plot to put Louis Napoleon on the French throne and the battle for Italian liberation from Austria. Then there is the convoluted plot involving more than one murder, plenty of red herrings and suspects. Add in to the mix a splash of romance (just a hint), portraits of various real people such as Disraeli, Lady Blessington and the Count D'Orsay, and you have another successful story in the series. As with all series, it is enjoyable to see what all the series characters are doing, and this is not a good place to start reading the books. Some elements of the story are standalone, but not all, and you would be missing all the character development and backstory, which all good series have. Liberty is a fascinating protagonist who has a foot in both high and low society and makes an ideal narrator. This is a real historical novel that marries a good story with plenty of factual history and is one of a series I hope runs and runs.

Reviews of other titles in this series

Death At Dawn (US-A Foreign Affair) #1
A Dangerous Affair (UK-Death of a Dancer)#2
Friends In High Places #7
Fool’s Gold #8
The Killing Site #9


Reviewed 2015
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