Skip to main content

Blog Tour: Lady Odelia's Secret (Scott-De Quincy Mysteries #2) by Jane Steen: A Book Review

Lady Odelia's Secret by Jane Steen

Aspidistra Press

Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: Scott-De Quincy Mysteries, #2
Publication Date: March 7, 2022
Source: This book is given to me by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.

   

Synopsis: Do you ever really know your family? 

    In the 1880s a sixth daughter learns not to ask for much, even if she’s the daughter of an earl. Even if she married the richest man in her corner of Sussex. Even if she’s now a widow with a splendid Georgian mansion. 

    Lady Helena Whitcombe is still trying to adjust to widowhood and reconcile her family loyalties with her desires when her artist sister Odelia makes a startling suggestion. Why not make her mark on the house that’s now all hers, by commissioning a magnificent work of art from one of London’s most celebrated painters? 

   Lady Odelia invites Helena into the seductive world of medieval fantasies and fairy tales she has inhabited since Helena was a child. But when a shocking series of events exposes the destructive reality of a great artist’s unusual lifestyle, Helena and her lady’s maid Guttridge are called on to help—or is it to interfere? 

    Looming danger, the risk of scandal, and competing loyalties force Helena to re-evaluate her relationship with the sister she’s always loved the most. 

   What is Lady Odelia’s secret? Find out in this gripping continuation of the Scott-De Quincy Mysteries, a story that blends mystery and historical detail with Downton Abbey-style saga as the truths about Helena’s aristocratic family unfold. Read it now before the secret gets out!


My Review: Lady Helena has inherited a beautiful Georgian mansion. Her sister, Odelia, has advised her to decorate it with beautiful art paintings. She suggests a famous London painter. Lady Helena agrees. However, she discovers shocking secrets about the painter she has commissioned. These secrets lead to a rift with her sister. Can Helena’s relationship with her sister survive after she figures out the  secret?


One of the criticisms I had with the first novel was how Lady Helena was mostly a passive character and that she barely investigated. In this sequel, she has certainly become more active. She does much more investigation with her assistant. Therefore, she was definitely given an upgrade to her character. Lady Helena also seems more independent and in control of her life. She definitely seemed happier in her new position. I also liked her romance with the French physician more in this novel. This is because we learn new details about him. Therefore, Lady Helena was more of a likable character in this novel.


Overall, this novel is about scandals, secrets, and love. I found all the characters to be very fascinating in this novel. The mystery itself does not happen until late in this novel. However, there was more action, suspense, and drama than in the first novel! The drawbacks of the were that it can be slow moving throughout most of the book, and there were some scenes that made me uncomfortable. Still, this was a better written story and featured more developed characters than in the first novel. The ending kept me interested enough to at least continue the series. I recommend Lady Odelia’s Secret for fans of Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark, The Gilded Shroud, and An Infamous Betrayal!


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Amazon | Barnes and Noble

About the Author

    Jane Steen writes series set in the late Victorian period, with an unputdownable blend of mystery, family saga, romance, and the real-life issues facing women of the era. She is an indie author who began her career while living in Illinois, later moving with her American husband to her native England. When not working, she can be found walking through the green and muddy Sussex countryside, getting her cobwebs blown away on the nearby beaches, lovingly tending her garden, or sticking her nose into yet another book. 

    For more information, please visit Jane Steen's website. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Goodreads.

Blog Tour Schedule

Monday, April 4 
Review at Coffee and Ink 
Interview at Novels Alive 
Review at Gwendalyn's Books 

Tuesday, April 5 

Wednesday, April 6 
Interview at Passages to the Past 

Thursday, April 7 

Friday, April 8 
Review at Novels Alive 
Review at View from the Birdhouse

Giveaway

9 winners will receive an eBook of Lady Odelia's Secret and the main prize winner will receive a $10 Amazon Gift card & eBook of Lady Odelia's Secret. The giveaway is open to the US only and ends on April 8th. You must be 18 or older to enter. 




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interview with Paula Margulies

     Today, I have the opportunity to interview Paula Margulies. She has recently wrote a novel about Pocahontas called Favorite Daughter, Part One , which won an Editor’s Choice Award at the 24th Annual San Diego State University Writer’s Conference. The story creates a different perspective to the American heroine. It is told in first person narrative, and it is how Pocahontas at a young age embarks through the many changes of her life. By doing so she transforms into a strong, courageous, wise woman. I am very pleased that she took the time to grant me this interview and to generously donate a copy of her novel to the giveaway. I look forward to reading her books in the future, and check back for my review of Favorite Daughter’s Part One soon. This interview is to give readers insight about her and her novel. Thank you, Mrs. Margulies. 1. Where and when do you write?  In my home office mostly, although I try to sneak away to artist residencies whenever ...
8 comments
Read more

La Belle Creole: The Cuban Countess who Captivated Havana, Madrid and Paris by Alina Garcia-Lapuerta: A Book Review

La Belle Creole: The Cuban Countess who Captivated Havana, Madrid and Paris Author: Alina Garcia-Lapuerta Genre: Nonfiction, Biography, History Publisher: Chicago Review Press Release Date: September 1, 2014 Pages: 320 Source:  Netgalley/publisher in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: The adventurous woman nicknamed La Belle Creole is brought to life in this book through the full use of her memoirs, contemporary accounts, and her intimate letters. The fascinating Maria de las Mercedes Santa Cruz y Montalvo, also known as Mercedes, and later the Comtesse Merlin, was a Cuban-born aristocrat who was years ahead of her time as a writer, a socialite, a salon host, and a participant in the Cuban slavery debate. Raised in Cuba and shipped off to live with her socialite mother in Spain at the age of 13, Mercedes triumphed over the political chaos that blanketed Europe in the Napoleonic days, by charming aristocrats from all sides with her exotic beauty and singing voice. She m...
8 comments
Read more

The Medea Complex by Rachel Florence Roberts: A Book Review

The Medea Complex Author: Rachel Florence Roberts Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller Publisher: CreateSpace Release Date: 2013 Pages: 272 Source: This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis:   ****BASED ON A TRUE STORY***      1885. Anne Stanbury - Committed to a lunatic asylum, having been deemed insane and therefore unfit to stand trial for the crime of which she is indicted. But is all as it seems?      Edgar Stanbury - the grieving husband and father who is torn between helping his confined wife recover her sanity, and seeking revenge on the woman who ruined his life.      Dr George Savage - the well respected psychiatrist, and chief medical officer of Bethlem Royal Hospital. Ultimately, he holds Anne's future wholly in his hands.       The Medea Complex tells the story of a misunderstood woman suffering from insanity in an era...
Post a Comment
Read more