Celeste Connally

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord

*A feminist historical mystery that didn’t deliver as expected*

ARC provided by St. Martin's Press/ Minotaur Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m always on the lookout for more historical mystery series. So when I was offered an egalley of 

 my interest was piqued. Unfortunately, I did not find it to be quite the “delightful feminist romp” that was promised.

The story is told in third person, past tense from POV of Lady Petra: an aristocratic lady who pisses off the ton with her declaration that she will never marry. Unfortunately, Petra, came across as notably shallow and petty particularly in the beginning of the story. She spent her time gossiping and judging. And she was so petty about her grudge against her childhood friend. Overall, she acted like a spoiled brat. So while I empathized with Petra’s struggles to gain control over her life, I did not like her. And the story started out slowly introducing many characters. So I had trouble engaging with the story in the beginning.

Then there was the potential love interest, Duncan: the aforementioned childhood friend who has suddenly reappeared in Petra’s life. His character had potential, but he had zero character development.

The murder ended up not being the focus of the book. It was just a catalyst for other events, and this really did not feel like a whodunit. Plus the synopsis gives a lot away.

Rather than the murder mystery, the main focus of the story is the lack of women’s rights. But classism, homophobia, domestic violence, and racism were also touched upon (in a “let’s cram every social injustice into the story” kind of way). Despite Petra being a judgmental product of her times in so many ways, she was anachronistically forward-thinking and supportive of all discriminated groups. While her fight against the patriarchy was understandable, it simply was not believable that someone that sheltered and self-centered would be so caring and supportive of so many causes.

I have to admit that part of my lack of enjoyment was that I felt the advertised story did not match the reality. I expected more of a Cozy Mystery. And while the murder (and lack of blood and gore) matched up with what you typically find in a Cozy, the violence against women was much more prevalent. The misogyny in this book was fairly suffocating. And while it was historically accurate that women had no rights and could easily be forced into insane asylums by the men in their lives, it made this a depressing story overall. I’m going to add content warnings for sexism, domestic violence, drugging and kidnapping, forced institutionalizing, torture, sexual assault, homophobia, gaslighting, mental illness, and torture/sadism. While this was by no means the most graphic descriptions I’ve read, it was still far more violent that I expect in a Cozy Mystery.

This story also did not feel empowering since so much of the story focused on women being powerless. I did not feel like the ending offset the amount of seemingly hopeless misogyny that dominated most of the book. Though the story started off with Petra’s declaration never to marry, she did so in a naïve way with no expectations of the repercussions – showing again how spoiled and guileless she was. The titular phrase of “act like a lady, think like a lord” did not appear until much farther into the book. And her declaration of that intent was ridiculously short-lived and unsuccessful.

The ending felt rushed. There was the clichéd villain monologue followed by an overly speedy, overly neat wrap-up. It wrapped so easily and cleanly that it felt like it invalidated all of the struggles that came before. Nevertheless, up until the very end, I was going to give this 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars. But then Connally threw a bunch of stuff into the epilogue that ruined it. First there were changes between characters that had no development, happened off page, and were explained away in a couple of flat sentences. Then there was the “twist” thrown into the epilogue. It was painfully obvious that it was only thrown in there to provide conflict for the next book – which is a gimmick I absolutely abhor. So that instantly bumped my rating down to 3 stars. It was exactly the sort of lazy, cheap copout that drives me nuts.

The bottom line is that the book is fine but not particularly memorable or enjoyable for me. I will just have to keep searching for my next enjoyable mystery series.

Characters and Character Development: 2 Stars

Colleen

3 Stars

*A feminist historical mystery that didn’t deliver as expected*

ARC provided by St. Martin's Press/ Minotaur Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.


I’m always on the lookout for more historical mystery series. So when I was offered an egalley of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord, my interest was piqued. Unfortunately, I did not find it to be quite the “delightful feminist romp” that was promised.

The story is told in third person, past tense from POV of Lady Petra: an aristocratic lady who pisses off the ton with her declaration that she will never marry. Unfortunately, Petra, came across as notably shallow and petty particularly in the beginning of the story. She spent her time gossiping and judging. And she was so petty about her grudge against her childhood friend. Overall, she acted like a spoiled brat. So while I empathized with Petra’s struggles to gain control over her life, I did not like her. And the story started out slowly introducing many characters. So I had trouble engaging with the story in the beginning.

Then there was the potential love interest, Duncan: the aforementioned childhood friend who has suddenly reappeared in Petra’s life. His character had potential, but he had zero character development.

The murder ended up not being the focus of the book. It was just a catalyst for other events, and this really did not feel like a whodunit. Plus the synopsis gives a lot away.

Rather than the murder mystery, the main focus of the story is the lack of women’s rights. But classism, homophobia, domestic violence, and racism were also touched upon (in a “let’s cram every social injustice into the story” kind of way). Despite Petra being a judgmental product of her times in so many ways, she was anachronistically forward-thinking and supportive of all discriminated groups. While her fight against the patriarchy was understandable, it simply was not believable that someone that sheltered and self-centered would be so caring and supportive of so many causes.

I have to admit that part of my lack of enjoyment was that I felt the advertised story did not match the reality. I expected more of a Cozy Mystery. And while the murder (and lack of blood and gore) matched up with what you typically find in a Cozy, the violence against women was much more prevalent. The misogyny in this book was fairly suffocating. And while it was historically accurate that women had no rights and could easily be forced into insane asylums by the men in their lives, it made this a depressing story overall. I’m going to add content warnings for sexism, domestic violence, drugging and kidnapping, forced institutionalizing, torture, sexual assault, homophobia, gaslighting, mental illness, and torture/sadism. While this was by no means the most graphic descriptions I’ve read, it was still far more violent that I expect in a Cozy Mystery.


And if it makes me a madwoman to wish to make decisions for myself, for my home, my body, and my money, then so be it.


This story also did not feel empowering since so much of the story focused on women being powerless. I did not feel like the ending offset the amount of seemingly hopeless misogyny that dominated most of the book. Though the story started off with Petra’s declaration never to marry, she did so in a naïve way with no expectations of the repercussions – showing again how spoiled and guileless she was. The titular phrase of “act like a lady, think like a lord” did not appear until much farther into the book. And her declaration of that intent was ridiculously short-lived and unsuccessful.

The ending felt rushed. There was the clichéd villain monologue followed by an overly speedy, overly neat wrap-up. It wrapped so easily and cleanly that it felt like it invalidated all of the struggles that came before. Nevertheless, up until the very end, I was going to give this 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars. But then Connally threw a bunch of stuff into the epilogue that ruined it. First there were changes between characters that had no development, happened off page, and were explained away in a couple of flat sentences. Then there was the “twist” thrown into the epilogue. It was painfully obvious that it was only thrown in there to provide conflict for the next book – which is a gimmick I absolutely abhor. So that instantly bumped my rating down to 3 stars. It was exactly the sort of lazy, cheap copout that drives me nuts.

The bottom line is that the book is fine but not particularly memorable or enjoyable for me. I will just have to keep searching for my next enjoyable mystery series.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 2 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord

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