A Regimental Murder

I just finished the first Captain Lacey mystery a few days ago (The Hanover Square Affair), and am glad to report that the second has lived up to the expectations of the first book. Since book ones subject and characters are mentioned heavily in book 2 I would suggest that you read book one first, if possible. As someone who is a fan of the regency period I really love these books. Lacey is a Regency hero in the best sense. I also like that the author has taken to showing the ugly underbelly of the English "ton" while showing the good aspects as well. I really love Lacey's "Watson" Lucius Grenville and I would happily read a book by the author with Grenville as the lead. The story was much more fleshed out as I heartily recommend this series to Regency Romance, Fiction or Historical Mystery fans alike. 5 stars.

A Regimental Murder by Ashley Gardner is the second book in the Captain Gabriel Lacey series set in Regency London. Lacey is walking off some of his lingering depression when he spots a beautiful woman struggling with a man with a knife. He quickly intervenes and finds himself investigating her husband's recent murder and the label of murderer that went with him. Lacey involves his friend Grenville, cream of the ton, and bodies start dropping like flies. Lacey is a most enjoyable hero: he has no compunction about pounding the snot out of villains, and he treats ladies with extreme respect, all while maintaining his pride in poverty. He is threatened again for longtime nemesis Denis, and starts the search for his long lost wife and daughter. So much happens within the 240 pages, it makes you wonder why other authors can't cull their own 400 pages down to something more reasonable. Gardner's characters are deeply complex with unfathomable motivations. Lacey's relationships with Brandon and Louisa are constantly revealing new sides to each character. This is a mystery series with heart and intense characterization.

Gardner has written a wonderful story with excellent characters. She has exposed a period of seeming elegance to have very little grace at all. The character Lacey is intriguing and fully dimensional. The story is full of twists and revelations, but intriguingly, not irritatingly, so. I shall definitely follow this series and highly recommend it for those who love historical mysteries.

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 Cap

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