Behind the Shattered Glass: A Lady Emily Mystery (Lady Emily Mysteries Book 8)

I discovered Tasha Alexander's Lady Emily Ashton mysteries quite by chance a few years ago. Now they top my must-read list. This is the seventh in the series and it does not disappoint. To set the scene without revealing any of the great plot lines, Lady Emily, daughter of an Earl, married Phillip, Viscount Ashton, primarily to escape her mother's incessant pressure to marry before she lost her looks along with her status as an attractive candidate for marriage to a wealthy young peer.A month after their marriage, Phillip leaves for an African safari -- and never returns. Emily inherits a not inconsiderable fortune, including his fashionable town home on Berkeley Square, an exceptional library, a well-stocked wine cellar, a ready supply of quality cigars, and a discerning discrete butler of the finest quality -- Davis.Eighteen months after Phillip's death, Lady Emily's mother begins talking out of both sides of her mouth, espousing redecoration of Phillip's town home on the one hand and chastising Lady Emily for not adhering to the finer points of mourning etiquette. Lady Emily, on the other hand, has come to realize that her position as a widow allows her a greater range of options than she had as a debutante or would have had as the wife of a peer.Widowhood suits Lady Emily's bookish, solitary inclinations.When the circumstances of Phillip's death become clouded with uncertainty and suspicion, Lady Emily is drawn into an ever more complicated search for answers, both as to Phillip's death and his interest in antiquities.In this, the eighth of the series, Lady Emily's life has evolved considerably and her meticulous, incisive, and inspired investigative skills have been finely honed. The setting this time is an English country manor and the mystery is who killed the neighboring peer and why. The title comes from the fact that the victim entered the story by crashing through a set of french doors and collapsing -- dead -- on the drawing room carpet. Some reviewers have loved this book and some believe it falls short of Tasha Alexander's previous books. I, for one, am an avid fan of Lady Emily and probably not as discriminating a reader. I loved it, and am eagerly anticipating the next chapter in Lady Emily's life.

I've been a big fan of the Lady Emily series since day 1, and while I waffled about getting the last book for well over a year, I ended up really enjoying it. So when I saw that this book was coming out so soon after I'd read the last one, I was really excited. I wasn't ready to leave Lady Emily's world. I will start by stating that I enjoyed the book. I read it all in one day, pretty much, even picking up dinner so I could avoid cooking and wasting time I could have spent reading the book. So I'm not sad that I spent the money. However, I am really disappointed by Behind the Shattered Glass, as I felt it had the potential to be so much better. I did not expect the killer to be who it ended up being, but the build up to discovering who it was was jarring and really inconsistent. There was too much in the this book that felt rushed and undeveloped. ****Beware, spoilers may be ahead!*****For example, Lord Flyte. We are supposed to believe that he's a kind man who a maid would easily fall in love with, but he's never really given much character development, aside from being handsome, able to paint and a fan of singing maids. Lily is beautiful, fond of drawing and loves to sing. And she loves her job. There was no real nuance to her character. She felt like a lazy, sloppy portrait of a person who we are supposed to root for because she seems innocent and pure. And we are supposed to buy that someone like Lord Flyte would miraculously fall in love with her. And we're supposed to buy their relationship because the novel is heavy handed with Colin and Emily expressing antiaristocracy views- despite the fact that Colin works for the crown and Emily is friendly with the Queen.I would have bought it, as I'm all for flights of fancy and suspending my disbelief, but it was too tidy and too easy. Too lazy. And that's what disappointed me. This felt more like the unpolished work of an amateur writer, not someone who has crafted more clever mysteries with fantastic characters you learn to care about.However, it hasn't put me off the series altogether. I'm just somewhat disappointed. I wanted more and got less.

I enjoy the Lady Emily series and think that the last book, Death in the Floating City, was the best of the series so far. This new book is enjoyable, however there are flaws which I found slightly irritating in one case, and far-fetched in another.If you haven't read Death in the Floating City yet, don't read on.1). I found it somewhat incredible that Emily and Colin would actually tell both their families and servants that baby Tomasino was the son of a murderer. Thereby ensuring that both the servants and Emily's Mother resented the baby. This knowledge would of course now follow him to school and through his later life.2).The author has hereditary peerage and entail in England mixed up with Scotland. In England entailed estates and peerage titles pass through the male line only. An entailed estate and title would not pass to a daughter, sister, female cousin, or a daughter's, sister's, female cousin's son. That has only ever happened once and it took special dispensation (Duke of Marlborough's son and heir was killed in the Peninsular wars and his sister's son was given the title etc). A woman in England would not inherit a peerage in her own right. She could be made a peer however, in the monarch's birthday honours. However, in Scotland a woman can inherit a title and estate.3). I thought that the situation between the maid Lily and Lord Flyte, very far-fetched and unrealistic.Summary - young Lord Montagu bursts through the French doors of Colin's estate and collapses dead, bashed over the head. Everyone seems to like Montagu and thinks him a fine upstanding fellow, so who would kill him? Then Colin and Emily find out that Montagu wasn't as spotless as formally portrayed. Indeed, he seems to make a point of seducing as many innocent young girls as possible.What I particularly like about this series is the relationship between Emily and Colin.

I liked this series

Great book

There are always lots of twists in Tasha Alexander's stories and this one is no exception. A great read

A light, intriguing series set around Victorian times. Very enjoyable.