This one is my favourite so far and that was made abundantly clear with my recent reread. Andrea Penrose’s Wrexford and Sloane series just continues to grow and improve with each release. Murder at Queen’s Landing is no exception but she sure is exceptional!

With the introduction of more characters into the tight-knit circle the murder mystery duo have created, specifically Cordelia and Lady Peake, things have the possibility of becoming imbalanced and mishandled. I’m talking about the writing of the characters here, not the characters handling of the case. With so many people to include and give tasks too, sometimes in secret because of personal reasons, the story can get lost and the pacing/tension/tone can drop. I feel pretty confident in saying this doesn’t happen here. The final removal of barriers between Charlotte and Lady Sloane happened at a time where it didn’t feel rushed, nor did it feel out of place. It made sense. Similarly, Wrexford and Charlotte’s decisions to withhold information from Kit (poor Kit, honestly, this whole book had me wishing he could be given a puppy or something) made sense and served as a great pacer for the plot – wen the information came out, the stakes jumped up a little, the investigations increased with the knowledge Kit possessed, and the overall feel for the situation slowly started to turn sweaty and emotional but the best version of sweaty and emotional. Only the best for these eclectic sleuths.

I will admit, there’s a pretty obvious idea of who is behind it from the beginning, but the true depths of their evil and wicked ways slowly coming to light makes the wait worth it. Knowing why they are a part of it and how to truly pin this on them makes the ending all that much better. There’s also something about Charlotte that was weighing things down in this one, but I think I’ve discovered what that is. in my first read through of this book over a year ago, I wrote that the progress feels slow or lacking. What I realise is that it was Charlotte and her hesitations, her internal conflicts waging war with her sensibilities and willingness to let her loved on get further into this investigation to reap the rewards of more information. She’s not so active as A.J. Quill in this one, part of the reason I felt this was lacking forward trajectory, but that is again linking back to her hesitations at putting her loved ones at risk. It’s an interesting plot device to use – the heroine not being able to protect those around her and not knowing what she can do to optimise her skills on all fronts.

Charlotte’s lack of action aside, the relationship dynamics and developments in this book are quite something. We have the reinforcement of a maternal relationship between guttersnipes and Charlotte, the familial relationship between guttersnipes and an great aunt, the romantic relationship (though unvoiced) between Kit and Cordelia because everyone knows Kit was feeling all sorts of emotions during this whole ordeal, and las but not least we have the slow-burn romance between Charlotte and Wrexford finally reaching a major point (no spoilers from me as to the specifics). I will say that Wrexford and Sloane have really teased things out; comparing these two to Sebastian and Kiera who kiss in the first book, or to Viscount Devlin and Hero in the C.S. Harris books who act on rather primal instincts in a certain book, Wrexford and Sloane are riding in push bikes while the others have motorbikes and mopeds. You’ll get no complaints from me as I love a good, long slow-burn, especially when the main plot is something like a murder mystery which requires active attention and understanding. Well done Andrea Penrose for creating such a teasing romantic pairing.