London, 1907: When the Season's most accomplished and elegant debutante, Victoria Goldsborough, collapses and dies at her engagement ball, the great and good of London Society prepare to mourn the tragic loss of an upstanding young woman. But all is not what it seems, and after a toxic beverage is revealed to be the cause of death, the king himself instructs Lady Emily and her husband Colin Hargreaves to unearth the truth.
Who would want to harm one of the most popular women of the year? Is it her fiancé with whom she had an unusually brief courtship; a rival for his affections bitter at being cast aside; her best friend who is almost certainly hiding a secret from Colin and Emily; a disappointed suitor with a hidden gambling habit; or a notorious jewel thief who has taken a priceless tiara from the Goldsborough home? When a second debutante succumbs to poison, the race is on to find a ruthless killer.
Emily and Colin’s investigation leads to a centuries old tomb in the center of London with a mysterious link to another death dating back to Roman times and the violent reign of Boudica, ancient Britain's fearsome warrior queen. As the stakes rise and the clock ticks down, Emily must find the killer before they strike again.
Tasha Alexander’s The Sisterhood is another richly atmospheric entry in her long-running Lady Emily mystery series, blending Edwardian murder intrigue with deep historical resonance. When a celebrated debutante collapses and dies at her engagement ball in 1907 London, Lady Emily and her husband Colin Hargreaves are summoned to untangle a web of jealousies, secrets, and society expectations as they race to unmask her killer.
Alexander’s hallmark is her beautifully detailed research, which grounds both timelines in vivid authenticity—from the manners, customs, and politics of London’s Season to the distant echoes of ancient Britain under Roman rule. In this novel, the dual timelines serve more than stylistic flair: alternating chapters between Emily’s investigation and life in the time of Queen Boudica create a parallel epiphany about women’s expectations and roles across centuries. The contrast between women navigating suffocating societal constraints in 1907 and those fighting for identity and agency in the Iron Age underscores how enduring and universal these struggles are.
While the interplay between timelines occasionally feels more thematic than plot-integrated, the result is a layered narrative that enriches both the mystery and its meditation on female resilience throughout history.
Overall, I rate this novel 5 out of 5 stars.
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