Andrea Penrose continues to put out incredibly engaging, twisted tales that I cannot help but sink my teeth into. Murder at the Serpentine Bridge has everything you could possibly want – a political gathering of the ages, a dastardly plot which threatens national security, a brilliant rag-tag gang of sleuths and a time pressure which makes everything so much more compelling.

I’m no strange to the machinations of a good historical fiction murder mystery plot, but I have to hand it to Andrea Penrose here because things could not to better. We have (my favourite) a wide selection of suspects, a strong need for delicacy yet a desperate need to find answers, new faces and interactions to consider while coming to terms with the facts of the case and spectacular events which the tension and pacing patterns follow, dancing together to create a mesmerising web to get lost in.

I’m so glad the boys have finally been able to meet a boy their age who is at their “social standing” given it’s been so long that they’ve been introduced into this high society world. Let me try and sound less like a doting mother hen when I say this but it seems a bout time a younger character was introduced. I don’t know if I was expecting that ending (but I guess it’s possible, I’m not well-versed with the laws and politics of the time). It’s about time Kit did something though, that was definitely expected. The subplot between Kit and Cordelia was very amusing and added a lightness to the story which was of great benefit.

A few things I’d like to note, these don’t bring down my rating of the book at all, are that the repetition of specific phrases and words really does start to irritate me now. Charlotte trickling through her thoughts and following it up with iacta alea est, vipers slithered out of the shadows and the constant questioning of moral compasses were doubling up ad nauseam. It’s like the use of ambrosial three or four times in Murder at Queen’s Landing when it had never been used in the books prior to that. I’m sure it relevant to the linguistic norms of the time, but surely there are more phrases and throwaway lines of Latin to include, if not as a learning experience for the reader than as a matter of higher education coming through which would be authentic and accurate to the characters. That ending with the summary was also, in my opinion, not necessary given it didn’t need the character to be there tying all the loose threads together for them. If you want a subtle way to infer that a character will likely show up again in future books, leave that until their return where our good guys can try unpack the role this person had in their investigations prior to their return. I believe that would be easier to digest than that info dump we got.

Truly, this was a delight to read and it is a 4.5/5 for me. I’m excited to see what happens in the next one. I have been watching its due date near, checking the library for when it pops up so that I can request it as soon as possible. You best bet that I will be getting my hand on it the earliest chance I get.