A Poisoned Season

A Poisoned Season is the book where Tasha Alexander's Lady Emily series found its rhythm. The setup is satisfyingly intricate: a string of late-Victorian London jewel thefts is targeting items that once belonged to Marie Antoinette, and at the same time a young man is presenting himself in society as the lost dauphin of France. Lady Emily, recently widowed and increasingly comfortable in her independence, is in the middle of both stories.

Alexander's great strength is the way she lets her heroine's intellectual life happen on the page. Lady Emily reads Homer in the original, argues with male scholars about translation choices, and treats her widow's mourning as both grief and opportunity. The book is full of quiet feminism that does not announce itself.

The mystery resolves cleanly and the romance with Colin Hargreaves is given more room to breathe than in the first book. Four stars. A genuine improvement on the debut and a good entry point for the series.