Jennifer Ashley

I'll say for the record that if Ian is considered insane then I shudder to think how his family would receive my peculiar moments. In a lot of ways I think The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (hereby shortened to Lord Ian) is a very refreshing novel to read in the genre. I can't think of too many heroes, offhand at least, who were out and out crazy. You'd see fiancees, ex-lovers, brothers, fathers, Uncles, cousins, jilted lovers--all of them would be varying degrees of crazed, but I haven't show more seen any true romantic leads who were insane.

Though I'm not convinced that what was wrong with Ian was insanity. It felt more like the poor man started out with ADD and a social anxiety problem (small wonder given his father) which only got worse with his father's barbaric treatment, the sorry excuse for help the asylum offered and society's overall treatment of him and his family. I'll lay some blame on Hart's doorstep too because he was a right bastard on occasion too.

I liked Ian a lot and despite things I could never see him capable of harm. I'll amend--unprovoked harm. I have no doubt that if a person hurt one of his family he'd come after them with murderous rage. I wasn't keen on Hart, but he wasn't really portrayed as being a guy you want to have around for a laugh. I was mightily interested Cameron and his son Daniel though, they seemed like awfully fun guys. Mac I was indifferent to by in large. I liked his estranged wife Isabella quite a bit, though she seemed flighty as all get. Incidentally each brother gets their own book (Book 2: Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage (Mac), Book 3: The Many Sins of Lord Cameron (Cam), Book 4: The Duke Takes a Wife (Hart) as taken from author's website).

Beth was sometimes very fun to read and get to know and other times a little too stereotypical. I feel she gave in to Ian a little too easily and made too much of her need for intimacy with a man again. It was delightful to read whenever she'd make a joke, or sarcastic comment and Ian would either take her at face value (bless his soul) or just stare at her until she explained herself. Her confrontation later with Hart is pretty interesting too! He had no idea what to do with the spitfire his little brother was interested in. Her backstory, retold a couple times by a couple people, was just a shade too dramatic. Disgraceful French alleged aristocrat who frank a lot Father deceased when she's young, fragile beautiful frail Mother who died when she was young, the horror of a Workhouse and facing an unknown future, romantic clergyman sweeps her off her feet (very little is said of their courtship by the by so I was surprised when no one thought to bring up that maybe it wasn't all consuming love she felt, but relief and infatuation), he dies and she's taken in by a kindly gossipy old woman with no relatives who leaves her everything. Beset by fortune hunters! Despicable indebted society man calmly asks for her hand (and newfound fortune) in marriage.

And that's all before she meets Ian!

The subplot of Detective Inspector Fellows is sometimes annoying and sometimes menacing. He pushes too hard at times and comes off as a comical foil to the better prepared Mackenzies who can guess and thwart his moves. I didn't see the revelation coming though, but I paid him very little heed overall.

The romance elements were high, though unique in a lot of ways. Ian, being rather awkward with society's rules and courting practices, pretty much meets Beth and tells her flat out 'You're too high class for me to just make a mistress--so marry me so I can tumble you in bed all the time'. He's blunt to the point of brutalness at times, but which works well with Beth who has lived so long with people looking down on her or treating her as invisible. He does court her--its not a courtship for marriage (that's an already foregone conclusion in his mind), its a courtship to explore pleasure with her however. Something Beth very much enjoys and participates in.

Overall I really enjoyed the book and shall be giving the next three a look. I'm not certain I'll care much about Mac's estrangement and reconciliation with his wife, but I'm interested to see how Cam fares and what Hart's mysterious Lady Eleanor Ramsay--a lady who jilted him originally--is like. show less

Jane Thornton, Aimee a maid, Charlotte Morrison, and Matilda, a kitchen maid all vanished, without a trace at about the same time. Whether this is coincidence or linked occurrences Lacey ends up entangled. Investigating their disappearances and wondering, "why civilized England was so much more dangerous for a young girl than the battlefields of the Peninsula had been for soldiers like me" Lacey struggles to find his place in life, at moments to even want to live. He conducts interviews, show more follows up leads and roams the city of London as well as the countryside looking for the missing among the lost. It is a poignant journey. There were times I ached for Lacey though he would've resented any indication of pity. There were other times I believed he was doing exactly what he should to stave off the melancholia that might have swallowed him whole if he sat still too long.

I thoroughly enjoyed the vignette writing style employed to set up the mystery, introduce the players and reveal thread by seam by pocket just who Gabriel Lacey had been, was in the moment and might some day become. The dreadful realities balanced by the desperate hope gave him a ragged edge I really, Really, liked. Chillingly atmospheric, the details are razor sharp. This is not a book to skim or you'll miss a vital clue; a bead of exacting characterization. The dialog is almost abrupt at times but it suits Lacey. Others seem to be chuntering on in comparison; a nuanced difference Ms. Gardner uses well as she develops characters for the series and this mystery.

I recommend this book for any historical mystery lover. You won't groan or cringe over accuracy. But be advised their are mature themes - no graphic or lurid descriptions - and a hero that has a sharp edge not only to his prose but his confrontation of life. I call books like this my no calorie chocolate, worth the indulgence and semi-sweet aftertaste!
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Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: London, 1816
Cavalry captain Gabriel Lacey returns to Regency London from the Napoleonic wars, burned out, fighting melancholia, his career ended. His interest is piqued when he learns of a missing girl, possibly kidnapped by a prominent member of Parliament. Lacey's search for the girl leads to the discovery of murder, corruption, and dealings with a leader of the underworld. He deals with his own disorientation transitioning from a soldier's life to the show more civilian world at the same time, redefining his role with his former commanding officer making new friends--from the top of society to the street girls of Covent Garden.

My Review: This will be your only warning: AVOID THESE BOOKS IF YOU ARE OF A SERIES ADDICTIVE BENT

Have y'all left who're leavin'? Good.

Go get this Kindle freebie, everyone else, and settle in for the haul. This series, starring wounded warrior Captain Gabriel Lacey, will now grab you by the heartstrings and cause you to leak water from the vicinity of your eyes. I do not know what this phenomenon is called, but it is unsettling.

I read mysteries, as I've mentioned before, in order to assauage a weird little part of me that craves the World to do the right thing. It doesn't, as the Supreme Court has proven yet again, five old men in black dresses telling a bunch of religious dupes that they can decide who has access to birth control (as if this is anyone's goddamned business but the woman seeking it), but I still crave a glimpse, even in fiction, of a world where the right thing is done.

I am not talking about the law. The law is written by lawyers. This means less than nothing when it comes to doing the right thing, or even following the promptings of honor.

The right thing, in this story, is learning the fate of a powerless girl. Learning the reason a girl ups sticks and runs as fast as she can away from her loved ones. Learning the secrets of people so powerful that knowing they *have* secrets is a life-threatening prospect.

And learning, in the end, who one needs to forgive and what one needs to forget aren't necessarily obvious at first glance. And certainly aren't easy tasks. Forgiveness, if sincere, is seldom anything but hard-won and almost never without a heavy, heavy price.

I read this book in about half a day because it answered a call in me, and left me deeply satisfied that I'd found a friend. An honorable idiot, with a foul temper, and a complete and thoroughgoing unwillingness to do things the easy way. In short, an uncomfortable companion and an irreplaceable friend.

Ten more books await me. I am deeply satisfied by that knowledge. Make of this what you will, but remember that you were warned.


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After all the build up, I can't say how impressed I am with Hart and Eleanor's relationship. Ashley did justice to their long ago relationship without being melodramatic, and their present day reconciliation was both nuanced and romantic. Can't say how much I love it when characters grow in a romance! The Mackenzie brothers have their own special brand of PTSD to overcome, and Hart definitely goes over the top with exorcising his demons, but everything clicked together beautifully in the show more end. After all the touching moments between Ian and Hart, I'm again overcome with the urge to go back and re-read Ian and Beth's love story. show less