Death at the Wedding Feast

Starred review from October 17, 2011
Set in 1768, the pseudonymous Lake’s excellent 14th mystery featuring real-life apothecary John Rawlings (after 2009’s Death and the Black Pyramid) defers the violence the title promises until relatively late in the book, but patient readers will be amply rewarded. Rawlings has just managed to carbonate water, an innovative process that promises to provide another source of income. Meanwhile, he’s looking forward to joining his mistress, Elizabeth di Lorenzi, who’s expecting their first child, in Devon. When Rawlings explains to his psychic young daughter, Rose, why she must remain in London, she warns him that a “horrible old woman in a brown dress and bonnet” poses a mortal threat, a prediction borne out by the bloodshed that mars a May-December wedding in Devon. The unexpectedly brutal murder serves to showcase Rawlings’s deductive prowess. Lake (historical novelist Dinah Lampitt) imbues her lead with equal parts smarts and compassion.

November 15, 2011
When a bridegroom and several guests are murdered in front of him, an intrepid sleuth goes into action. February 1768: John Rawlings, apothecary of Shug Lane, Piccadilly, has finally succeeded in carbonating water. His friends, including the blind magistrate Sir John Fielding, all encourage him to bottle his new invention and sell it commercially. First, however, Rawlings must hurry off to Devon to be with his passionate, opinionated older lover, the Marchesa Elizabeth di Lorenzi, who's about to bear his child. Once his friends help him find a down-on-her-luck lady capable of starting up the new business, he dashes off to discover Elizabeth and her newborn twin boys at the home of her friend Lady Sidmouth. Lady Sidmouth's cousin, snippy Miranda Tremayne, is engaged to marry the Earl of St. Austell, a suitor 52 years her senior with a dreadful reputation. Since he cannot convince Elizabeth to leave her home and his daughter Rose is about to leave for school, Rawlings shuttles back and forth between Devon and London. Before she departs, Rose, who is psychic, warns him that if he sees two old ladies dressed in brown, he must fall to the floor. Sure enough, at the wedding of Miranda and the Earl, two ladies dressed in brown enter. They shoot and kill the Earl and two other people. It's obvious that they were men dressed as old women, but nothing else about the case seems straightforward. Luckily, a fully recovered Elizabeth comes to Rawlings' aid as they work to unravel the crime. The latest in Lake's long-running series (Death and the Black Pyramid, 2009, etc.) continues to mix period detail and a sound mystery with a hint of romance.

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December 1, 2011

Apothecary John Rawlings's (Death and the Black Pyramid) uneasiness about a wedding match proves prescient. Lake brings Georgian England vividly to life in her 14th historical series title.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2011
Apothecary John Rawlings has finally succeeded in producing carbonated waterquite a feat in 1768. But his exciting discovery must be put aside when he is called to Devon to be with his mistress for the birth of their child. As he leaves London, his young daughter, Rose, cautions him to beware of evil old ladies and to lie flat if he sees any. Although his daughter has had premonitions like this before, Rawlings is too elated by his carbonated water and the imminent birth of his child to pay much attention to Rose's warning. Staying in Devon after the birth, Rawlings is invited to attend the wedding of his friend Lady Sidmouth's daughter, Miranda, who is to marry the Earl of St. Austell. The earl is 50 years Miranda's senior and a known womanizer, so John fears for Miranda's happiness. But when a terrible tragedy takes place at Miranda's wedding feasta tragedy that sees Rose's prediction come trueRawlings is pulled into a dark mystery. Historically accurate, with engaging characters, sparkling dialogue, and a meaty plot, Lake's latest is sure to please a broad range of readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)