Aside from my subjective issues with the path Huber chose for these characters, I like this series; you could say I enjoy them in spite of myself.  But while this book was a 4 star read on the strength of its plot, it might have been a 4.5/5 star read if not for the weakness of the editing.

The narrative is much longer than it needed to be because Huber, with admirable motivation, spends a lot of time ruminating on the devastation wrought on both the soldiers who fought in WWI, and those left behind to cope in fear and anxiety.  She does bring light to many aspects of the horror that is war, especially the first world war, but she spends too much time doing it, and this is a murder mystery, after all.  I'm confident a lot of it could have been cut without losing the more important message, and the overall story would have been a lot better for it.

Still, the plot is a strong one, with aspects of scavenger and treasure hunting spicing up what would otherwise be an ordinary nemesis plot running parallel to a murder mystery.  I'm still kid enough to enjoy rhyming clues and secret codes, as well as the touch of cloak and dagger when used judiciously, and it is here.

As I opened the post with, I still don't like what Huber is doing with the characters; while there are no love triangles or quadrangles, she has two other men in love with Verity who are dedicated to uncovering the series' plot; there seems to be no plan for this to change and it's tiresome.  Luckily, the murder mysteries have so far made up for it.  Can't see that lasting much longer though.

Historical mysteries seem to be all the rage at the moment, and fortunately, publishers have yet to monetise and ruin the trend to such a degree that you can't find a selection of well written series to enjoy.  While the quality of cozy mysteries has been abysmal the last several years, Historical Mysteries have filled in the gap nicely for me.

A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Murder is the 3rd in a series I discovered at my first (and so far only) Bouchercon convention.  It's a good series, and this book is a strong 3rd book, moving the characters' arcs along quickly, while presenting an interesting stand-alone plot, with clues easily missed and writing that skilfully misdirected the reader down several false avenues.  As the story moved along, some of the misdirection became obvious, but some of it didn't, rendering a delightful mystery well done.

My only groan over the book was the introduction of Countess Harleigh's mother who was caricatured for most of her page time, only to do the whole mama-lion thing and achieving what to me was an insincere redemption in the final pages.  Fortunately she's not around much in this book and it wasn't enough to really weight the book down.

A fan from the start of the series, I always thought the mc being based on a real historical figure gave the books that little extra something, but when I finished this one, as much as I enjoyed it, I thought ‘the author certainly took some creative liberties in this one’.

Which shows how much I know about history; every part I found fantastical turned out to be based on true events.  So all I can say now is, poor Prince Albert Victor; even if some of the more spurious speculations about him took place long after his death, his memory seems unfairly tarnished.

Veronica and Stoker's story was a good time though.  The plot was well crafted, though not a mystery, really.  This was much more about foiling a two-pronged conspiracy, and while murder was done, there was no mystery as to who did it.  Raybourn also used the storyline's backdrop of Whitechapel and the Jack the Ripper murders to spotlight the social inequities of the Victorian age.

And finally, after 5 books, there is finally some advancement between Veronica and Stoker, which, while the romance isn't the thing for me, is a relief, because I find tension of any kind, too long strung out, to be tedious in the extreme.

It took me too long to get this book because of the pandemic, but the upside is the next one has already been announced, so I know I'll have another to look forward to soon.

I enjoy this series for the setting, the time, the history and the characters, but The Paper Bark Tree Mystery was a poor entry structure wise.  The plot was good, but marred by the fragmented delivery; characters would transition from point A to point S without the reader knowing anything about B-R, making for a disjointed and often confusing read.  Ultimately, this is the fault of whomever edited it, but it's a shame because the story and the series has so much going for it and a lot of potential ahead.  I'll read the next one if there is a next one, but I hope for a much smoother narrative.

My issues with this one remain the same as the first, but I realise after some thought, that I am the victim of the romantic tension trope.  Possibly a willing victim, as it turns out.  I understand that Stuart is bucking the trope by having the two MCs not being romantically available to each other, but alas, I don't like it.  It feels like something is missing, in spite of my not being a fan of romances.  Given the time period these are set in, and  the general attitude of society that a man and a woman can't really be partners and bond on any level other than romantically - and should they try everybody accuses them of being romantically involved anyway, I can't see this going anywhere that isn't going to irritate me.

Still, the mysteries are good, and the Singapore setting is threatening to become trendy.  The characters are growing on me in spite of the lack of oomph.  The plotting is intricate enough, though one scene gave away the villain just a few pages before the big reveal.

I'll definitely read a third one and who knows, maybe the character dynamics will go somewhere interesting without all the silly angst.