Poor Jeremy--His Engagement Party is Kind of a Bummer

The Adventuress: A Lady Emily Mystery by Tasha Alexander
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Tenth installment of the Lady Emily mystery series. While enjoyable it lacks the sparkle of the earlier stories involving Emily and her dashing husband, Colin. Jeremy, Emily's childhood friend and as close as a brother, who is usually so amusing and charming is sadly subdued and lackluster. He is engaged to an American heiress, Amity Wells, who is insufferable---so pouty, spoiled and immature. It is because of this engagement that Jeremy is so subdued, for, of course, Amity has heard of his broken " engagement" to Emily, prior to her marriage to Colin. Needless to say, Amity is made by the author to feel threatened by any familiarity between Jeremy and Emily. I found this totally hard to swallow considering the obvious deep love and devotion between Emily and Colin.

As a matter of fact, having read all of the previous books, there was much in this one that seemed unrealistic. For example, having known Emily for years, her friends don't have any problem believing that she has made up a story of having been frightfully imprisoned in the cell of the Man with the Iron Mask. They accept the impression of Amity's mother that Emily sought the attention being shown her daughter. What? They also accept that Colin and Emily, as polite and polished as they are would deliberately show up an hour late for a dinner given by Mrs Wells for the betrothed couple.

There were added characters, who I suppose were to mislead the reader. Did Jeremy have a little flirtation with a dancer at the stag party who disappears and is then found dead? What is the problem with the strange Wells son, Augustus? Is he a murderer or just a sadist who likes killing and torturing insects? Oh, and did the sweet but quiet Mr Neville commit suicide or not? All of these mysteries kept me reading but in the end, even their solutions were not very satisfying, nor was the romantic development for Jack. Jack is Jeremy's younger brother and I assume he and is new girl will be at the center of the next book.

There was a bit of history thrown in about the area around Cannes and, as usual, given Emily and Colin's interest in the ancients and history in general, this part of the book was enlightening.

I do look forward to the next story of Lady Emily and Colin. Hopefully, it will return to the fun of the earlier episodes. Especially since Jeremy is once more available to flirt with Emily!

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