Dangerous to Know (Lady Emily Mystery, #5)

by Tasha Alexander

After escaping death at the hands of a ruthless murderer while honeymooning in Constantinople (Tears of Pearl), Lady Emily is recuperating from her wounds at her mother-in-law's estate in Normandy when, while out horseback riding in the countryside, she comes across the body of a young woman who has been horribly murdered. Her wounds are identical to those inflicted on the victims of Jack the Ripper, who is wreaking havoc across the channel in London. Lady Emily and Colin learn that the victim is the daughter of a high born family of French aristocrats who had been committed to an asylum for the insane. While there, she had given birth to an illegitimate child who was spirited away and may be dead. As Lady Emily pursues a trail of clues (and bodies) to the beautiful medieval city of Rouen and a crumbling chateau in the country, she begins to worry about her own sanity: she hears the cries of a little girl she cannot find and discovers blue ribbons left in the child's wake. Emily is on the verge of solving the mystery, when she is suddenly taken captive by the killer and held in an isolated tower where she once again hears the eerie cries of the lost child.
She has to muster all her courage in a terrifying game of wits against a cold and brilliant murderer or she will be his next victim.

• ISBN10: 0312383797
• ISBN13: 9780312383794
• Publish Date: 26 October 2010
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 15 July 2013
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Minotaur Books,US
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

I liked this book the least of all 5 books so far.  The series presents a heroine with modern ideas in Victorian times.  She's rich of course, smart, independent and has a husband who supports these scandalous ideas of equality.  They investigate mysteries together, along with one or two friends they've made along the way.  It's been fun, mostly.   

Until this one.  This book would have been about 30% shorter and less irritating if someone had just given Emily a flog at the beginning of the book and told her to have at herself.  Events in the previous book have given her a rude awakening about what equality might mean–rightly enough–but she positively wallowed throughout this book and didn't begin to resemble the character I'd enjoyed previously.  Colin too was something of an ass.   

So, the story lumbered and dragged for me.  I disliked pretty much everybody, and I was certain who the killer was.  But then, towards the end, the last 25%, the story got exciting. I still pretty much disliked everyone, but events picked up pace dramatically and I was quite swept away in the excitement of it all.  Add to that I was totally wrong about who the killer was (although I get points for proximity) and the book raised itself up to 3 stars instead of the two I had planned to give it.   Here's hoping everyone pulls their sticks out in book 6.