A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem is a historical, murder mystery with a romance intertwined with it. I enjoyed reading this book on the whole and found the characters to be engaging, but there were parts that I thought didn't feel authentic to a historical romance and left me wanting a bit more. The mystery element of the story was well written.

England, 1865 : As one of England's most notorious newspaper columnists, Lady Katherine Bascomb believes knowledge is power. And she's determined to inform and educate the ladies of London on the nefarious-and deadly-criminals who are preying on the fairer sex. When her reporting leads to the arrest of a notorious killer, Kate flees to a country house party to escape her newfound notoriety-only to witness a murder on her very first night. And when the lead detective accuses Katherine of inflaming-rather than informing-the public with her column, she vows to prove him wrong. Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham's refusal to compromise his investigations nearly cost him his own career, and he blames Kate. When he discovers she's the key witness in a new crime, he's determined to prevent the beautiful widow from once again wreaking havoc on his case. Yet as Katherine proves surprisingly insightful and Andrew impresses Katherine with his lethal competency.
The first in a new series, which is more mystery than romance. A well written, well paced book with strong characters. I really liked both Kate & Andrew & thoroughly enjoyed how their attraction grew as they worked together. I was kept guessing as to who the villain was. I look forward to more in the series
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

I really loved this book. It was the perfect mix of romance and mystery. The story had some fantastic twists and turns in this. I loved the writing in this and really look forward for any future books in this series.

This book was so much fun. I cannot get over the sheer amount of enjoyment I got from reading it. Holy smokes.

This has become the year of Bridgerton (at least to me…) and although I don’t want to compare every Regency Era Romance, I read to the Bridgerton books – it’s hard not to. But let’s give it a go.

*cast aside all thoughts of spoons and fake romances*


This book had plenty of the angst I’ve become so obsessed with this year, which is what drew me to it – honestly who doesn’t love a ‘love hate’ romance and for some reason Regency Romances do it so well. I loved the

But this one had the added mystery, which kept the plot hurtling forwards.

I enjoyed the feministic approach to the genre; the two central characters accepted their equal partnership and how much they needed each other as opposed to just bickering with each other (although I will admit to loving there bickering as well)

This was one of fastest reads this year. It was wonderful, funny and addictive. I enjoyed it so much and I cannot wait for the sequel – until then I’ll be here twiddling my thumbs.

I thoroughly enjoyed every page. Murder mystery and a romance novel all in one. I can’t wait for the sequel as I already want more

Although the description of this book had me intrigued I am sad to say that for me, this book was slightly disappointing.
The characters lacked any real depth, and the storyline itself didn't gather much pace as the story neared it's conclusion.
I did fine the authors writing style to be interesting, so I would be curios to see if future releases by Manda Collins appeal to me more.

Loved, loved, loved this historical cozy mystery and I read it as fast as I could.
It's a gripping and highly entertaining story that kept me hooked and I thoroughly enjoyed.
Excellent plot and character development, a solid mystery that kept me guessing.
It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

In A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem we meet Katherine the owner of a newspaper who is determined to discover the truth regarding a series of murders. What follows is a combination of mystery and romance.

I really enjoyed getting to know the main characters in this story. There was an element of fun and drama to begin with as Katherine and Andrew clash spectacularly. Both characters have strong personalities so it was definitely entertaining seeing them go up against each other. Especially as they were both sure they were correct in their actions and the decisions they made. Their interactions were fun and lively with a hint of chemistry brewing right from the very beginning! The characters of Valentine and Caro were also a lovely addition to the story. At times I did feel that Katherine and Caro’s friendship came across a little rushed to say they had only recently met. However that was my only slight issue with the story.

The mystery itself was interesting and had me trying to put the clues together myself. The plot moves at a good pace although slightly slower to begin with. However the pace definitely increases when the characters get to the country house party and find themselves in danger. The cosy mystery aspect to the story really appealed to me along with the addition of romance. The time period the book was set in just ended up being the icing on the cake. As I was reading A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem I couldn’t help but think how great a series it would make. Luckily for me there will be another book! This time focusing on Katherine’s friends, Caro and Valentine. I’m already looking forward to it!

It's so wonderful any time a woman defies the standards of society. and I love historical romances with a mystery edge. I liked this but it was a little slow at the start that several times, I picked it up and placed down as it wasn't holding my attention.
A newspaper business has been inherited by Lady Katherine and she decides to write a column to warn other ladies about terrible crimes in the cities. But she has to be careful because she's leading to an arrest and there's always the murderer out there. And it does not help that Andrew, the principal investigator isn't giving her a minute to breathe, Detective Inspector Andrew also wonders why Lady Katherine is bugging him so much, but because the murderer is still loose, he just doesn't have the time to think. Things may not add up, but he certainly gets Lady Katherine's support unwillingly, but it's the strongest......Love ensues.
The Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem is a cute tale of romance, but it begins slowly.

I loved the premise of this book - the murder mystery element and the My Favorite Murder style friendship between the heroine and her new BFF was really fun. However, the romance didn't really spark for me between the hero and the heroine, and the execution of that didn't capture my attention so well. I would be keen to read more from the author as I felt like the promise was there, but it didn't quite work for me.

I am a BIG fan of Victorian fiction so I knew I had to give this a go.

Who doesn't want to read a book about strong women? Kate And Caro don't want to be told what to do and if you try, they'll just ignore you anyway.

A lady's guide... is a tale of murder and the ladies are trying to find out who has dunnit. The police from Scotland Yard are also officially investigating the case. During the story, the two lines of enquiry merge in more ways than one.

I did feel immersed in the era and enjoyed the descriptions BUT some relationships annoyed me

I cannot wait for more installments!

I like a historical romance and throw in two antagonistic leads and a bit of mystery and you have me itching to get stuck in. Unfortunately I struggled to engage with the story’s as much as I’d hoped I would. Kate and Andrew were both interesting enough and the mystery was also fairly intriguing but for some reason I didn’t click with this one. The book is well written and there are a number of good supporting characters including Kate’s friends Caro and Val who have their own little frisson happening. Overall interesting enough and think other readers might enjoy it especially if they like their romance mixed with a good murder mystery.

The minute I started reading this book I knew I was in trouble., I was gripped from the first paragraph and almost raced through the whole book. The characters are very believable and the story was engrossing enough to make you want to keep turning pages.

Lady Katherine Bascomb is a widow who after escaping her unhappy marriage now finds herself with some power in society, as owner of the deceased husbands newspaper she decides that she wants to use the publication to educate the women of society to whom many matters are thought to be unsuitable.

However, when a murderer is on the loose and Scotland Yard are still trying to apprehend the culprit Katherine along with her new friend Caro look to see if they can see anything the police missed, and after publishing their findings they find themselves in a difficult position.

Andrew Evesham is the detective in charge of the case but thanks to the assistance of the ladies he is removed from the case and a fellow officer is put in charge of the case and arresting a culprit within days, but something doesn't seem right with this and Evesham is looking to see if he can solve the puzzle.

The guilt of the arrested party is brought into question when there are similar murders carried out in the country,

Andrew and Katherine travel separately to the country and try to work out who the real guilty party is but are they working together or against each other.

As I said a really great book and will be looking for further books in the series should they appear, a great way to spend a few days.

I was sent a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I absolutely loved it!

I'm not normally one for a story that's heavy on the mystery but I really liked the sound of this book so I thought I'd give it a try... I'm so glad that I did!

I loved Andrew and Katherine, the relationship between them and their strong moral principles. I am eagerly awaiting the next book and hoping desperately that its the story of Caro and Val!

My thanks to Little, Brown Book Group U.K./Piatkus for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem’ by Manda Collins in exchange for an honest review.

England, 1865: Lady Katherine Bascomb has recently taken over running her late husband’s newspaper. She is determined to educate the ladies of London about those who are preying on the fairer sex and begins a column titled: A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem. Her new friend, Miss Caroline (Caro) Hardcastle, is her writing partner in the venture.

After her reporting leads to the arrest of a suspect in the notorious Commandments Killer case, Katherine is filled with doubts. In order to clear her head she accepts an invitation from her childhood friend, Lord Valentine Thorn, to a country house party in the Lake District. Caro also attends.

Then a murder occurs on the estate. Shockingly there are similarities to the Commandments murders. Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham is despatched by Scotland Yard to investigate.

He is no fan of the beautiful widow, especially given that her writing had not only threatened his career but he felt it had inflamed, rather than informed, the public. Added to this is her determination to do her own investigation into the local murder. Given that this novel is listed as a historical romance, their interactions are laced with flirtation.

While this was an easy read, I wasn’t particularly convinced by its central mystery. In addition, apart from Katherine’s reluctance to remarry as it was set some years prior to The Married Women’s Property Act, the dialogue and interactions felt far too modern. I also found the central romantic relationship a bit rushed.

My favourite character was Caro, who started off as a strong support to Katherine. But then it seemed that the author lost interest in developing her further once the heat was turned up between Lady Katherine and D.I. Eversham. Still, I was heartened to see in the End Notes that a second novel is planned for next autumn featuring the delightful Caro.

Overall, I found this an okay read that was a pleasant enough romantic mystery if I ignored its anachronisms. It just didn’t wow me.

A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem grabbed my attention due to the title. It sounded like a light-hearted, fun read, and in many respects, it was.

Lady Katherine is an engaging character, and with much of the story told from her perspective, we get to know her quite well, although some of her true nature is hidden behind the Victorian facade of never showing emotions. The addition of the story-line being told from the perspective of Inspector Eversham adds an entirely different dimension to the story - that of a more disciplined police officer, although it slips quite quickly.

The beginning of the book takes place in London, and I fully expected the action to remain there, but we are abruptly whisked away to the Lake District where the crimes take on an even more sinister nature, and become somewhat more personal.

The author excels here at producing quite a complex case for the main characters to unravel and it did hook me. There were points where I was convinced I had worked out what was happening, only to be wrong. The budding romance between Lady Katherine and Inspector Eversham does feel a little rushed and there were moments where I might have liked more plot development, but overall, it was a fun and reasonably light-hearted read, not because of the content, but because of the way Lady Katherine insists on solving the mystery of who the murderer is.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my review copy.

Although I enjoyed this book, I didn't love it. Mystery meets romance, it sounded like exactly what I needed, but unfortunately fell short.

I love strong female characters, but something about Katherine just annoyed me and made it hard for me to get into the book. I loved the mystery aspect though - a unique serial killer plot with a satisfying ending!

I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem was exactly what I thought it would be; a fluffy romance with a passing glance at the historical with some murder thrown in to give the characters something to talk about. It’s fine, we all know what we are here for and it’s not historical accuracy. Which is just as well.
Our heroine, Lady Kathrine is a terribly modern lady newspaper owner determined to do the Right Thing by her lady readers by discussing important issues of the day in her new column for ladies. Kathrine doesn’t do things by halves she careers through life at a gallop. She meets Caro and is best buddies with her in a week. She meets an angry police detective and is snogging him in the folly within a day or two. It’s fine she’s a widow she can do whatever the hell she wants especially when it comes to interfering with an official police investigation it seems. She stomps all it with no authority whatsoever no wonder Andrew is so grumpy all the time and his career is constantly on the line. Katherine’s a bloody liability.
There is an over emphasis on class structure that was grating. It was discussed on every other page, all behaviour and the results of that behaviour was put down to class in some way or other. Every second character had been disowned because they had married beneath them or had a relative who has. Class is influential yes but it was treated as the only influence a lot of the time. And a bad influence at that.
I also guessed the murderer as soon as they showed up so that was fun. The murder throughout is treated quite blithely in general. Eight people are killed, (eight!) and Katherine and Andrew still find time to snog in alleyways on their way to interview witnesses. I love it. Lust waits for no murderer. This was fun but should eight murders be fun?! Hmmm🤔

Content warnings: murder and death; mention of death in childbirth; quite a bit of discussion of spousal and parental abuse.

I'm not usually a fan of historical romance that also incorporates mystery plots, but I was tempted to this one by the sound of the dynamic between the leads. I ended up really enjoying the sparks between them, but I felt like their romance had so little page time between the various murders! I would have liked a lot more scenes between them as they tried to hide their budding romance from the rest of the characters, and a lot fewer scenes repeating information about the murders. It's definitely not the 'fun and flirty... rom-com' it's billed as. But if you're a fan of the mystery side of things, there's a lot to enjoy here. Three and a half stars, rounded up for NetGalley.

I adore the idea of two people falling in love as they unravel a mystery, and A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem gives you exactly that! It has a fun, quirky writing style and a brilliant rom-com worthy romance. However, it contrasted with gruesome murders in a way that made the tone feel off. Mix that with character's who don't listen to sense and a strange conclusion to the mystery, and I don't think this book was for me.

Lady Katherine Bascomb is a notorious newspaper columnist. She's determined to report and educate ladies on the dangers of society. When her reporting leads to the arrest of a notorious killer, and the demotion of the lead inspector, Andrew Eversham, she flees to the countryside. On her first night, she stumbles across a body. The very inspector she almost cost the career of is in charge of the investigation. After he accuses her of inflaming - rather than informing - the public with her column, she's determined to be involved and set things right.

The writing style was fun and stylised in a way I expect from a historical rom-com. It allowed me to breeze through the book as it transported me into the setting. I loved the slight tilt of humour to it.

Unsurprisingly, the best part of this book was the romance! I was rooting for the characters; I always love a good hate to love! The misunderstanding that began their relationship was solved quickly, leading to a generally fast-paced progression. As long as you don't need a slow burn, you're going to enjoy it! They had a lot of chemistry, and I enjoyed the steamier scenes. A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem is a great choice for a fun romance!

A major downside was the way the characters were developed. There was a noticeable distance between them and the reader; I'm not sure if this is an issue with the writing style, or more generally the lack of detail. We didn't get to see their emotions, or learn about their history, we were told them. We even learn about a character's backstory through their friend, rather than themselves. It leads to being easily frustrated by character decisions because there's no understanding of their thought processes or deeper personality. I'm not the largest advocator for the 'show don't tell' rule, but it might have helped here.

This links to a minor frustration surrounding how women's empowerment was handled. Although completely understanding the point the author was trying to make, and agreeing with it, it was heavy-handed. There's a theme of how women are often 'protected' from even discussing violent acts or crime, even when it's something that impacts them. It asks the question, how are women supposed to stay safe if they aren't allowed to talk about it? The theme was interesting and relevant to the book, but it was dropped after the first few chapters. Instead, we have a character who refuses to do anything a man asks her to do because she's a strong, independent woman who can do what she wants. Even when that's getting in the way of a murder investigation, and placing her in harm's way. Katherine has reasons she might want to be more independent than other people, but with the character distance, this wasn't explored fully. I would have liked the empowerment theme to have been developed, rather than used as a reason for her interference.

Moving onto the mystery, it was the weaker part of the book. I couldn't wrap my head around the rom-com tone alongside gruesome murder. The characters weren't taking it seriously, the book wasn't taking it seriously, so how could I take it seriously? The culprit was so easy to spot I thought they might have been a red-herring. Literally, the only character who's being suspicious from the get-go. Then the explanation of the murders came around, in a big info dump, and it was bizarre. None of the clues added up to anything, the explanation for why they switched locations was weak, and the motivation for the murders was disappointing. I understand the book is predominantly a romance, but I wish I hadn't gone in excited for a murder mystery on top of that.

Although I didn't enjoy this book, I can see other people loving it. If you want a fun historical romance, and don't mind a weaker murder mystery, then I'd recommend giving this book a go.