"A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem" by Manda Collins

A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem is a mystery novel with some romance elements set in Victorian England. Our main character Lady Katherine Bascom is a young widow who owns a newspaper. She and her friend Caroline Hardcastle (or just Caro) decide to start a new column called "A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem" which would focus on topics that are traditionally off-limits to women. Their inaugural column would cover a string of murders in London by a so-called Commandments killer. As they start interviewing witnesses, the two ladies find themselves in the middle of the investigation.

This novel did have many of the elements that I usually enjoy in a book: a feisty heroine, a murder mystery, a period setting, etc. However, I would caution readers that the book is not strictly "of the time period". It is definitely written for the modern audience. In addition, the mystery aspect was not well developed. Lots of clues were discovered by chance. In fact, Lady Katherine just happened to travel to the Lake district at the same time that murders moved there from London, and she just happened to stay in the mansion tied to the killer. 

Overall, it is an enjoyable enough novel, but I don't think I will be continuing with the series. I do think the author did a good job with the romance plot line but the mystery aspect was rather weak.

3 out of 5 stars. An e-ARC was provided by NetGalley.com