She d make sure Agnes Wraithe knew just who it was that ended her life Bea agrees and sets out on a wild chase to discover the nefarious plot she believes was set to entrap Verity Who would conduct such a vicious machination Was it a shadowy figure who hired a gunman to shoot Miss Wraithe and the Runner to find her Or could it be the shadowy figure killed Miss Wraithe and then hired the Runner Perhaps the shadowy figure hired the Runner to both kill Miss Wraithe and discover Miss Lark in a damning situation TRIGGER WARNING This has to come first Don t read this book if child abuse is a trigger for you This book contains mentions of lots and lots of disgusting abuse of privilege and power used against impoverished orphaned children I don t even like children and found the stories Verity has uncovered and Bea discovers completely reprehensible If you ve read her books.

Modern terms The period correct term is used twice in one scene Woah This may be the twistiest mystery yet It kept me guessing until JUST before Bea figured it out There was a clue that gave me an inkling earlier but I thought it might be someone else Then the clue was dropped that allowed me to realize who it must be but I didn t guess WHO exactly It was a bit of a shocker I didn t really like the catch a killer scene I understand why it had to be that way Bea is with cherub and needed to be safe but I think there could have been a safe way for Bea to do it herself It s fun and outrageous that way. Oh gosh I love Bea I can relate to her being an introverted book nerd and in her head all the time Poor Bea She hasn t known her beloved Damien that long less than a year It s been a fortnight since the last murder He has demonstrated how much he loves her and is devoted to her He adores her and loves her wholeheartedly However.

Her behavior must be beyond reproach as Duchess of Kesgrave and mother of a future duke All this goes through her head at rapid pace and she can t help worry about how her husband feels now She s also feeling blue because this case involves child abuse Her own childhood trauma was NOTHING compared to what the children of Fortescue s went through Fortunately Damien is the most swoonworthy of Regency romance dukes He truly does love Bea with all his heart and soul He knows her better than she knows him He can read her face like a book and knows what she s thinking Damien is very sweet and explains to Bea what she s thinking and why she shouldn t be thinking it In ways than one I find it hilarious that she s turned on by his pedantry and he knows it and therefore.

I m over it is what he would say now but he s not His parents cruelty and uncle s despicable behavior left a mark and he s determined NOT to be like them Kesgrave is unfailingly kind and caring towards others He knows just how to cheer people up and is intuitive about how Verity must feel. Verity doesn t appear much in the book but she is the focus and the center of the investigation I agree that she preferred to make Agnes Wraithe s life miserable and ruin the lives of the Forestcue s Orphan Asylum board members They all deserved it and she enjoyed making them miserable Murder isn t her style and why now She s too smart to succumb to blackmail and she even had a plan in mind She would willingly out herself as Robert Lark rather than pay one cent of blackmail.

Is a sycophant and a fool He has ethics which is normally good but in this case he won t give up information needed to solve a murder without getting something in return Bea figures out a way around Ellis s ethical concerns I admit that scene is funny even if I don t like the character Cyrus Thimble doesn t seem very smart I think he was hired by the shadowy figure but is not the shadowy figure He doesn t have a motive to be the shadowy figure Why would he kill Miss Wraithe He s an officer of the law and it is his duty to follow the law and bring lawbreakers to Bow Street to start the justice process Not much of what he says makes sense.

Maybe He sounds like a slimy worm Caroline Knowles has a secret but I don t think she s the murderer Her secret isn t so bad in proportion to the others She feels proper remorse for what happened and understands why what she did was bad She s a lonely young widow who made a mistake that ended in tragedy She doesn t seem to be suffering too much but her secret mistake did cause her to break her engagement I don t see why she would murder Miss Wraithe and frame Verity NOW It doesn t seem logical Pritchard Dibin is the most interesting board member One report says he s a doddering old man who fell asleep and drooled through board meetings Our intrepid sleuths think otherwise Perhaps he has a medical condition There are signs though that he had a motive for murder and the brains to put a dastardly scheme into place Of all the board members.

He s the one with a current motive He doesn t have a solid alibi and his story seems a little fishy to me I don t want him to be the murderer because he s a family man and seems like a caring father and grandfather One final suspect is a man named Hottenroth who is worse than even Lord Condon That man was truly evil Trigger warning again Giles Hottenroth was truly evil He deserved a fate worse than death His family didn t deserve to suffer though Now HIS crime makes me sick to my stomach and I was shocked that it came up in a series that s usually fairly light Someone could be out to avenge his downfall and the family s come down in the world I just adore this series and am still hoping Bea and Verity will team up for the next investigation before the Season ends and the Kesgraves go off to the country The Duke of Kesgrave and Lord Colson won t be able to keep up LOL I hope there are many adventures to come for Bea and Kesgrave.

Except when her asshole husband is gaslighting her about it None of the charm or comradeship that are the hallmarks of this series Authors are people They are allowed to not always be perfect But this really is a stunning disappointment from a good author And we have two books in a row where Bea is verbally attacked by her husband and that s not a trend I like Oh and we just offhandedly comment on the fate of last book s victim but show no compassion for a woman who s had her life savings stolen So many people in this book are vile and they receive zero repercussions Fingers crossed for the next one.

Lynn Messina is author of than a dozen novels including the best selling Fashionistas which has been translated into sixteen languages and a series of Regency romance novels Her essays have appeared in Self American Baby and the New York Times Modern Love column She lives in New York City with her sons. As eager as Beatrice Duchess of Kesgrave is to meet her husband s newly discovered illegitimate half sister she does not want it to happen like in the keeper s house at Newgate Yes that Newgate the abject prison filled with squalor and misery to which Verity Lark has been consigned for murder Found standing over the slain corpse of an old tormentor with a still warm pistol in her hand she is obviously guilty It is an open and shut case with little for an unduly curious duchess to investigate Except it all seems a little too simple and straightforward The Runner for example who apprehended Miss Lark at the scene of the crime it s awfully convenient that he just happened to be in the neighborhood at the very moment the gun discharged Something else has to be at work here such as a sinister figure lurking in the shadows to direct the action Convinced of Miss Lark s innocence Bea can conceive of no other explanation Or is the prisoner really just the victim of a horrible stroke of bad luck The question plagues Bea as she struggles to figure out the answer to her most confounding riddle yet for the stakes are higher than ever and distressingly personal A Vicious Machination Beatrice Hyde Clare Mysteries 13 I received an EARC for book 12 and now book 13 Between reading these I have read book 1 in the series as well as all the Verity Lark series so how much fun is it that the 2 series have finally intersected in 12 and 13. In 12 Beatrice s husband meets his half sister Verity Lark In this book Beatrice finally meets Verity but in Newgate Prison Beatrice must prove Verity is not a murderer Beatrice the Duchess of Kesgrove has moved many murders in her short married life Her husband the Duke is a wonderful character who loves her and helps her solve the murders The banter is adorable We see how Beatrice thinks things through and the villain was quite a surprise I presume in the next book Beatrice and Verity will finally spend time together and the Duke will get to know his sister. Thanks to the Book Whisperer Netgalley and the publisher for my EARC This is my honest opinion I highly recommend reading Verity s story also A Vicious Machination Beatrice Hyde Clare Mysteries 13 I started to read Beatrice Hyde Clare mysteries Series a few weeks ago and I was hooked I loved the MCs so much Bea the shy spinster who finds her backbone when investigating murders and Damian the arrogant Duke who finally finds his match I read all the books back to back and couldn t stop till the latest book of their amazing series A Vicious Machination Lynn Messina writes twisty murder mysteries with lots and lots of red herrings that keep you guessing until the very end While tackling serious subjects the author always manages to slip in plenty of wit and humor along with side stories to make the darker topic tolerable The writing is easy to read and get into Bea and her Duke are engaging and fun characters I love the way Bea and Kesgrave s relationship has evolved through the series and it s so fun to read their interactions and their witty banter The secondary characters add to the fabric of the story aunt Vera lady Abercrombie Fiona The plot is super interesting The world of BHC collide with the world of Verity Lark another wonderful series by Lynn Messina Verity Lark is accused of murder and it s up to her outrageousness to save her with her amazing investigative skills I absolutely love this series but now my Beatrice binge is at an end and I can t wait to read her next adventure I highly recommend Beatrice Hyde Clare mysteries series to readers who enjoy a cozy charming light hearted and entertaining murder investigation I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy ARC of this book All thoughts and opinions are my own A Vicious Machination Beatrice Hyde Clare Mysteries 13 How does Lynn Messina do it Lynn Messina writes twisty murder mysteries that keep you guessing until the very end and still manages to pepper every scene with humor I imagine her cracking up as she writes even though some of the subject matter in these books is heavy In A Vicious Machination the Beatrice Hyde Clare series continues to overlap with the Verity Lark series Verity Lark the reporter who has excoriated Beatrice in the past in a gossip column who also happens to be the half sister of Bea s husband is in jail for murder Bea feels she and her husband Damen Duke of Kesgrave must investigate and prove her innocent Though Damien and Verity have met in a past book Bea meets Verity for the first time in Newgate Prison The murder victim ran the orphanage where Verity grew up She had been selling children into slavery and blackmailing members of the orphanage s board of directors as well Verity exposed the scheme and ruined everyone involved so suspects for the murder are numerous Over the course of two days Bea and Damien interview suspects and hone in on the guilty party The finale is an action scene where Damien and Verity s beau is that the right term play major roles In addition to the fascinating investigation we see Bea continue to deal with discomfort over her new roles as Duchess and impending motherhood These scenes are both sweet and funny with secondary characters like Bea s Aunt Vera and Lady Abercrombie appearing briefly There s a hint that action will move to the Kesgrave country estate soon As always the pace is fast Though this installment is under 300 pages it is packed A Vicious Machination Beatrice Hyde Clare Mysteries 13 I was intrigued by the premise of this book bringing together two strong female characters from separate series but I think I was expecting them to spend a bit time together I was prepared for them to form an uneasy alliance that ends up terrifying everyone around them and I think that would have been really fun However this is an investigation run by Bea as usual with Verity at the center of it but also very much off stage for the majority of the book Will we in future see them operating together Maybe so but this volume isn t where it happens. There were some chuckle worthy moments and the book was fairly fast paced If you are a Beatrice Hyde Clare fan you will enjoy this latest volume A knowledge of prior books in the series is vital. Thanks to Netgalley and Book Whisperer for this digital review copy A Vicious Machination Beatrice Hyde Clare Mysteries 13 Family responsibilities and Murder Verity Lark the Duke of Kesgrave s half sister is being held in Newgate Prison charged with the murder of Agnes Wraithe dreadful ghoul and former headmistress of the orphanage Verity and her friends were mistreated in. It s up to the Beatrice the Murder Duchess or rather Her Outrageousness monikers given Bea by the popular press to prove her innocence Probably in exchange for shooting lessons The solving of this murder is important because Verity is family although the acknowledgment is tentative on Verity s side and will be a distraction for the Duchess Bea s lately spent much of her time wondering how she s going to cope overseeing the Duke s grand residence at Haverhill Hill where she and the Duke are due to stay shortly The Dowager Duchess becomes involved as does of course Kesgrave. I love the relationship between the Duke and Duchess How he really sees and appreciates her the way he affectionately calls her Brat how he allows Beatrice to be herself Their affection for each other is evident from the moments stolen in the library the carriage Oh my This murder though has been impressively planned down to the last second The who is hampered by the number of people being blackmailed by the murder victim The Wraithe Another throughly enjoyable and witty Bea Hyde Clare Her Outrageousness mystery A Book Whisperer ARC via NetGalley Many thanks to the author and publisher A Vicious Machination Beatrice Hyde Clare Mysteries 13

A Vicious Machination (Beatrice Hyde-Clare Mysteries, #13) By Lynn Messina

1942218915

9781942218913

English

Kindle Edition

3. 5I have to admit that I did not make any previous research when I stumbled upon this book and started reading it I realised soon enough that it was part of a series a very lengthy one in fact that I had never read unfortunately Despite this I found the book enjoyable and fun and although I clearly lacked a myriad of backstory it only made me keen to read the previous releases. Bea is witty and smart and this is the perfect book and saga please do not repeat my mistakes and start from the beginning for those who want a little bit mystery and adventure from their period romances A Vicious Machination Beatrice Hyde Clare Mysteries 13 Thank you Lynn Messina Book Whisper and NetGalley for the free advanced reading copy All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not affected by the giveaway. The Duchess of Kesgrave is eager to help her beloved husband become closer to the half sister he never knew but she never expected to meet Verity Lark in Newgate When Bea tries to befriend her husband s sister she discovers Verity has been arrested for murdering the cruel woman who made the lives of Verity her friends and fellow orphans a misery Verity was caught with the smoking gun literally Verity s friends know she would never kill anyone not even the Wraithe Verity prefers the written word and if she did plan to kill the Wraithe you know some of it but not all of it Warning 2 One suspect uses the term feeble minded The main characters use sympathetic part of her is still that emotionally starved little girl no one wants waiting for the other shoe to drop How cruel of her parents lawyer to threaten her with the orphanage The threat traumatized her and turned her into an anxious little mouse afraid to speak up lest she get sent away She has transferred some of that fear to Kesgrave He s a Duke She wonders if he s getting bored with her and her investigations now He points out she broke a marriage vow right away Her last investigation was on behalf of his former mistress and Bea is a notorious figure in the press hardly Duchess material Now she s possibly carrying the heir to the Dukedom starts on one of his lists just to cheer her up HMS Goliath HMS Audacious HMS Majestic The Duke of Kesgrave only pretends to be a Darcy Like Darcy he was brought up to think highly of himself and his position He has wealth and status and could be a total jerk ahem like Darcy don t hate me Read the book but he s a kind caring man Deep down he too is emotionally insecure at times due to his traumatic childhood Whatever especially to the woman who made her childhood miserable What does she have to lose She still has Twaddle Thumb although she promised to stop writing about the Duchess and she has other identities she can use and create Verity is holding her own in Newgate and trying not to let her fear and worry show Bea notes Verity is without means or protection An unmarried middle class woman will never be saved from the gallows Indeed as Lord Colson discovers Lord Sidmouth the Home Secretary won t lift a finger to help not even in thanks for all Lord Colson has done Apparently Courtesans are not in danger of being hanged but nosy meddling spinsters are fair game Lord Colson Hardwicke the disgraced second son of a Marquess is impressed by Verity s intelligence and determination Bea can see Colson is utterly besotted with Verity and thinks he must be a better person than his reputation because Verity is a good judge of character Bea guesses what everyone who read A Lark s Conceit knows already but only some of it Bea s not as clever as Verity The Dowager Duchess of Kesgrave is back in her grandson s good books She is trying hard to make amends to the child Mary Price La Reina s illegitimate daughter who now calls herself Verity Lark It took too long for her to share the story of how she met Verity It was a bit frustrating for me because I knew the story and didn t know why she didn t lead with it Unfortunately for the Dowager every attempt she makes to help Verity ends up making the situation worse No good deed goes unpunished Agnes Wraithe was an unimaginative punitive small minded evil woman She has come down in the world since her days of running an orphans asylum thanks to Verity She didn t have the brains to figure out Robert Lark s true identity let alone to come up with a plan to frame Verity for murder She doesn t even really know who Verity IS exactly her worst enemy Was she working with someone or did someone use her for their own evil purposes It s odd that a Runner should just happen to appear on the scene to find Verity holding the murder weapon Cyrus Thimble had to be a part of the vicious machinations behind Verity s arrest Was Thimble coerced Did he owe money to the killer He claims he was responding to a summons but who in that neighborhood can afford to hire a Runner Did Miss Wraithe still have dealings with Lord Condon Fortescue s disgraced patron Could he be the killer I think he is He lost the most and has the most to gain While he s living large on his estate in Ireland he s in exile and cannot return to London and life among the ton I hope he is the killer He needs to be punished for what he did to those children I don t even like children and what he did made my stomach turn The girls had the worst of it It s sick how men do not see females as beings with thoughts feelings and emotions. Even though Lord Condon is supposedly in Ireland he has the means to return to London or hire a hit man to do the dirty deed for him I think Lord Condon hired Cyrus Thimble to kill Agnes Wraithe and frame Verity At the very least I think he s the one who came across Robert Lark s identity He must have had a letter from someone who figured it out or had so much time to think and stew he figured it out on his own That makes him a dangerous enemy His representative in London Edmund Ellis practically speaking He s no match for the Duchess and Duke of Kesgrave though He provides a number of new suspects though besides himself It s a longshot but could one of the neighbors have been so fed up with Miss Wraithe s terrorizing their children they decided to put a stop to it permanently I HIGHLY doubt that Perhaps Miranda Jones s father wanted Miss Wraithe to suffer the way little Miranda did and therefore I would guess he would manufacture a story to have her arrested and thrown in prison but not actually resort to murder That simply doesn t make sense Who do those in power accuse first The ones without power No this case surely involves a plot to frame Verity so why would the neighbors do that when their beef was with Miss Wraithe after she was fired from Fortescue s The investigation turns to the disgraced board members of Fortescue s at the time of Miss Wraithe s tenure Not only did they turn a blind eye to her abuse they perpetuated abuse of their own upon the children Stop reading the book here if you started but can t stand to read about children being harmed Charles Wigsworth claims to be a man of science but he is a man of science much in the way Victor Frankenstein is a scientist Wigsworth is playing around with laughing gas and other gasses to try to invent anesthesia decades before the actual discovery All he wants is glory and fame recognition from actual men of science That s not too much to ask is it Of course it is when one becomes obsessed to the point of ignoring his family and everything else Of course it s too much when personal gain overrides ethics I wasn t as horrified by what he did as Bea is but the man is NOT a man of science The children didn t understand the risks vs the reward They had no one to study the issue and decide if the risk was worth it to assist with a major medical breakthrough No Wigsworth took advantage of the children who had no protectors and used them as human guinea pigs until something went wrong I m sure he s understating the situation too Wigsworth simply didn t care who he tested his gas on. Another board member Alicia Beveridge lives near Mayfair with her husband and children She s a feather wit a ninny a shallow woman who cares for fripperies that enhance her own comfort than for orphaned children Her husband is a cheapskate who keeps her on a short leash and it sounds like she needs it If she had credit cards they would be maxed out There was no reason for her to steal money from poor children so she wouldn t have to do without things these children never had She tries to make herself out to be the victim She sounds like a child Mrs Beveridge is typical of the ultra wealthy who don t want to give up their own comforts so someone else can have basic necessities Still she was the only one who befriended Miss Wraithe tried to listen sympathetically and learn what made Miss Wraithe tick Given this knowledge perhaps Mrs Beveridge is the shadowy figure I don t think she has the brains to do it but perhaps her husband murdered Miss Wraithe to put an end to his wife s misery and to protect his reputation After all it s his money he s withholding that caused his wife to steal from the orphans in the first place. Alicia confides in her dearest friend Harriet Feathers Featherstone Haughton She confided private information to Feathers Did Alicia learn of Robert Lark s true identity Did she tell Feathers Did Feathers leak the news to someone else Her husband Verity and Colson too A Vicious Machination Beatrice Hyde Clare Mysteries 13 I continue to be a fan of the Beatrice Hyde Clare and the Verity Lark mystery series and in this newest instalment which sees Beatrice and Verity come face to face consequently really uniting both series In this book Verity has been arrested and charged with the murder of the woman who ran the orphanage where she grew up Locked up in the infamous Newgate Prison Beatrice goes to visit Verity there after learning about the arrest in order to help exonerate Verity What commences is an investigation that exposes blackmail corruption and some awful medical experiments Of course Beatrice being Beatrice slowly unravels the truth and the murderer is revealed I thoroughly enjoyed the book but any recommendation to read this book comes with the caveat that the previous books in the series along with the Verity Lark series should be read The level of detail in the book the requirement to know the background of the characters and the references to events in previous books ensures that A Vicious Machination is not a standalone and could present a challenge to anyone for whom this book is the first introduction to the Hyde Clare Lark universe I continue to enjoy the growing relationship between Beatrice and her husband the Duke of Kesgrave along with their banter We continue to see Beatrice growing into her role of Duchess albeit with some apprehension about being able to manage the country estate that they will be heading to in the near future and possibly the location of some future murders for Beatrice to solve Very enjoyable book for fans of the series and I m excited to see what comes next Thanks to NetGalley and the author for an eARC of the book All opinions are my own A Vicious Machination Beatrice Hyde Clare Mysteries 13 Barbara s rating 5 out of 5 StarsSeries A Beatrice Hyde Clare Mystery 12Publication Date 6 28 24Period Regency LondonNumber of Pages 287A QUICK NOTE HERE says this is the 12th book in the series and Goodreads says it is the 13th The difference is at the 7th book where the author wrote a mystery featuring Beatrice Hyde Clare s cousin Flora as the investigator Goodreads counts that as book seven and doesn t include it in the series listing at all This may not matter to you but I keep up with the series and the book number within the series and I thought others might as well. Ahhhh this quick entertaining witty mystery was just the pick me up I needed Bea and the Duke are always so entertaining and fill their investigations with banter sly observations leaps of logic informative friends and family and dogged determination This series is intertwined with the new Verity Lark series so the last couple of books in each series have had crossover stories appearances BTW if you haven t tried Verity s series you should it is as interesting and entertaining as this series Just a quick bit of background Verity is the sister of the Duke but he never knew she existed until just a short while ago I think she is his full sister but I may not remember correctly At any rate his father and her mother had not married when Verity was born and she was put into an orphanage where she suffered a horrible childhood She and her two close friends managed to live through their childhood and have gone on to create successful lives for themselves and they ve exacted revenge on all of those cruel uncaring individuals who were involved with the orphanage While the Duke of Kesgrave has briefly met his sister Bea has not She very much wants to meet her but Kesgrave isn t sure whether he wants a relationship or not and neither is Verity What Bea did not want to do was meet Verity for the first time with Verity imprisoned at Newgate accused of murder Oh My With Kesgrave away until the evening Bea knows someone has to go to the prison to see what can be done So Her Outrageousness the Duchess of Kesgrave proceeds to the prison for an interview with Verity. Miss Agnes Wraithe the murder victim is one of the vilest creatures ever and she sincerely deserves the nickname The Wraith given to her by Verity and her friends Did she deserve to be shot I vote YES But did Verity do it I vote NO and so do Bea and Kesgrave and anyone else who knows Verity Will Bea and Kesgrave be able to find the proof they need It definitely won t be easy because Verity was found standing over the body with the gun in her hand OOPS There are plenty of suspects and none of them are innocent victims of anything but are they murderers Bea and Kesgrave eliminate one red herring after the other until there are no red herrings just the murderer. I enjoyed watching Bea and Kesgrave zip all over London interviewing suspects following leads participating in witty banter and ultimately solving the case I hope you will love it as well I ve always loved that Bea is referred to as Her Outrageousness but she also has a new sobriquet in this book The Murder Duchess I don t care for that one and I hope it doesn t stick I m already anxiously awaiting the next book in the series Happy Reading. I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy ARC of this book All thoughts and opinions are my own A Vicious Machination Beatrice Hyde Clare Mysteries 13 Well that was unexpected I ve been a fan ever since book 1 And all of the things I appreciate in the books were absent here There was no sassy chemistry between them He called her brat a couple times but it was just off Like the last book he was really abusive to her and she again apologized He s being a peevish jerk Aunt Vera is working to repair their relationship yet she said something scathing than she ever said before THERE S NO FLORA The clues to solving the mystery are really obvious and no one does anything If you are going to give us the way to figure this out so quickly how can you allow your very talented detective to miss it Both Bea and Verity show zero competence The denouement excludes Bea as the men need to protect the pregnant woman It was gross Everyone is laughing at Bea s obvious anxiety because I truly do love this series A Vicious Machination Beatrice Hyde Clare Mysteries 13.

.I am looking forward to it