Revenge, served royal

Lady Petra Forsyth (last seen in All's Fair in Love and Treachery, 2024) is excited to be asked to judge the patisserie competition sponsored by Queen Charlotte and the Prince Regent, slated to be held at Windsor Castle. The competition is only one of a series of events, which include lectures, sporting demonstrations, and a ball. Petra is looking forward to seeing the former royal chef and popular cookbook author Sir Rufus Pomeroy, of whom she has fond memories. When Pomeroy is found strangled with his valet, Beecham, standing over him, Petra begins to investigate alongside her lover, Duncan Shawcross, one of the Queen's intelligence officers. It turns out that Beecham is the brother of Petra's lady's maid, Annie, and Petra's beloved aunt Ophelia may be a suspect, lending further urgency to their investigation as Colonel Wolston, the highest-ranking officer of Windsor Castle's Coldstream Guards, seems determined to convict Beecham. This cozy's beautifully described Regency-era frame with baking details, plot twists, and a smart, feisty, competent, ahead-of-her-time heroine will please historical mystery fans.

Connally's workmanlike third Regency-era historical featuring Lady Petra Forsyth (after All's Fair in Love and Treachery) begins in the kitchens of the plucky sleuth's London mansion. The cook, Mrs. Bing, has received an invitation from Queen Charlotte to spend a week at Windsor Castle competing against nine other cooks in a baking competition for the royal couple's 54th wedding anniversary. Lady Petra, meanwhile, has been invited to participate as one of the judges. Nearly 150 guests arrive to board at the castle, with hundreds of others lodging at two nearby royal residences. When one of Lady Petra's fellow judges is found dead, chauffeur Oliver Beecham--brother of Lady Petra's faithful maid--is accused of the crime. Certain of Oliver's innocence, Lady Petra vows to ferret out the true culprit among the guests. Connally adorns the plot's standard cozy beats with a few exciting fistfights and a dash of heart-fluttering romance between Lady Petra and a handsome royal intelligence offer, but there are few surprises on offer, and her cast of characters is strictly two-dimensional. There's little here to separate this from the pack. (Nov.)

An 1815 contest among the most talented bakers of the ton turns deadly when the chief judge is found strangled. It takes some time for Lady Petra Forsyth to persuade her talented cook to participate in a bake-off to be held at Windsor Castle, sponsored by none other than Queen Charlotte. But once she assures Mrs. Bing that a blind competition would not require her to be stripped of her eyesight, Petra looks forward to the festivities surrounding the bake-off. For one thing, her good friends Caroline and Lottie will also be there, and for another, she expects the celebration will give her opportunities to spend time with her lover, Duncan Shawcross. Once at Windsor, though, Petra's hopes for a jolly old time with friends are quickly dashed. Sir Rufus Pomeroy, the former royal chef, is found in the small library, a black silken cord knotted around his neck, and his valet, Oliver, tugging on it. Oliver is quickly arrested. Because the valet turns out to be the secret brother of her maid (Annie), Petra has every incentive to find another perpetrator. But the more she learns about the circumstances of Sir Rufus' death, the more suspicion falls on her own dear Aunt Ophelia--a solution that would be personally devastating to Petra--and Queen Charlotte's son, the Prince Regent--a solution that would be politically disastrous for her. ThinkBridgerton meetsThe Great British Baking Show. Lots of plot twists, and lots of fun joining plucky Petra as she navigates them. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.