A thoroughly delightful historical mystery set in Regency England with the author throwing in many historical details, which makes it even better! A delightful journey full of wit, adventure and proving Lord Evan had been imprisoned falsely, bring this story full circle, leaving you with only wanting more!

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie

Note: Sexual abuse of women and girls is mentioned several times but not detailed

This novel, set in 1812 England, captured and held my attention. The author is adept at designing characters who quickly become almost real to the reader. The scenery, whether wooded or in the countryside, in the best or worst parts of town, came to life through scents, sounds, and visuals. The same can be said for the homes of those in different levels of society and the less-reputable businesses.

It sounds as if this era in England was a terrifying time for many women! Married women had no rights, and unmarried women were often under the “protection” (thumb) of their father or brother. Men could hold their wives/ family members as prisoners, abuse them, commit them to asylums, or do almost anything short of murder. I cringed at Lord Duffy, the imperious younger brother of our two protagonists, and several other, similar, men in this novel.

Lady Augusta “Gus” and Lady Julia are fraternal twins in their early forties, unmarried, and living in a home previously owned by their father. Julia was once engaged to be married, but her betrothed died in a hunting accident two years ago.

Gus and Julia set out on three intriguing “adventures” after helping a dear friend, Charlotte, handle a matter requiring utmost discretion. Each adventure is a life-and-death challenge. Despite Julia suffering from an illness that has already claimed two of their family members, she joined Gus on the adventures of helping women get out of horrible situations.

The sisters are in their carriage on the way to remove Caroline, one of Charlotte’s goddaughters, from her husband’s country estate. There, he held her prisoner, medicated and fearing for her life. Highwaymen stopped their carriage. Gus, holding a loaded pistol when the coach is jostled, accidentally grazed the man at their window. Julia recognized him as Lord Evan, incarcerated in Australia twenty years ago after the man he dueled with died. They couldn’t leave Evan on the side of the road, as he would be hung if recaptured, so he became a part of their first rescue.

Lord Evan is a likable rogue who calls himself Jonathan Hargate. Gus falls in love for the first time, a love doomed for heartache. She wants to help absolve him of the murder charge as Evan and his second in the duel know he barely nicked the man. He has something more important to handle before he leaves London for good. Gus could never leave her twin, especially with her illness.

The next adventure is more difficult. Weatherly, their butler, is a benefactor to a young woman who takes in orphaned and abandoned girls, preparing them to make an honest living. One of her girls, only twelve, goes missing. It is suspected that she was taken by a bawdy house owner from another town.

Their third adventure is equally challenging. Evan’s sister, Lady Hester, was committed to an asylum by his brother. Hester’s lady friend has tried for two years to get her out. Evan grieved for not having been there to protect her. The only way to get in was for Evan and his “wife”, Gus, to acquire positions acting as a working-class porter and housekeeper, under an assumed name. One of London’s Bow Street Runners is now after Evan, as is a “thief-taker”.

Gus, Julia, Weatherly, and Evan are engaging people I would want on my side in a crisis. All are described very well through realistic conversations and behaviors. At times, Gus could be considered “ill-mannered”, but she is blunt whereas Julia is kinder and soft-spoken. Some situations were so well written about that I could feel their fear, disgust, or happiness.

The only unresolved situation was finding information to acquit Evan for the death of the man two decades ago. He couldn’t stay in London. Even if he was found not guilty, he would still be on the hook for becoming a highwayman to survive while seeking his sister. I wanted Evan and Gus to pursue a life together, but it doesn’t look possible. This is a fascinating set of adventures, very intriguing and suspenseful. I highly recommend this first in a new series!

A unique Regency-era story that focuses on twin sisters Augustus "Gus" and Julia Colebrook. Dubbed old maids by societal standards, they use their financial independence to help women in bad situations. There is sleuthing, romance, intrigue, and a great deal of insight into the Regency era's unromantic, unglamorized, problematic areas. Divided into three cases, the book explores three different situations that women faced during the time period and, as readers, we root for Gus and Julia to intervene successfully so that the women can live safely.

Goodman crafts a very well-researched story. Based on the cover, title, and blurb, I think I was expecting a lighter romp through the era, but this book got decidedly dark. Once I got over the surprise of the subject matter, I enjoyed the story, but I want to flag this shift in expectations.

The structure of the novel made it feel a bit repetitive, but overall it was an engaging read with rich characters. While this story was a bit of a departure from my usual historical fiction reads, I really enjoyed it.

Absolutely delightful historical mystery!

I fell in love with Lady Augusta (Gus) Colebrook and her twin sister, Lady Julia, in the first chapter of this novel set in Regency London. Both are unmarried ladies of a certain age and have been dismissed by most of the ton as old spinsters. Despite their younger brother's efforts to control them, the ladies put themselves into the position of rescuing women in distress. Their adventures are both dangerous and require clever ruses to outwit those who would hinder their efforts. Along the way, Gus meets her new partner in peril, Lord Evan Belford, shortly escaped from his prison sentence and on the run from Michael Kent, of Bow Street.

The plot was great, and the narrative was full of great details and dialogue. I liked the main characters and those associated with them as well. Truly an enjoyable read with just enough romance though the three different situations that Gus and her sister get involved in were dark, suspenseful, and dramatic. I believe this is the first in a new series that I will be following as I wait for the second installment with high anticipation.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend. Don't miss this if you enjoy intriguing historical mysteries with unlikely heroines.

Not all Regency stories should be about blushing, young debutantes, and the introduction of an older, tart-tongued heroine is most enjoyable. And not just any heroine, but a determined 42-year-old who is sick to death of being ignored. She determines to use her "invisibility" as a spinster to help other women and people shunted to the sidelines in the rigid system of the Regency. Lady Augusta Colebrook, “Gus,” and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, are beguiling heroines whose adventures make it hard to put this book down. A real keeper. (I received an advance e-copy via NetGalley. Opinions mine.)

One of my favorite books this year! This book is the perfect mix of adventure, mystery, and romance. I laughed out loud on several occasions, and thoroughly enjoyed being whisked away on one of Gus and Julia's heroic endeavors in this novel. Below is a link to my discussion with Alison Goodman on the Feminist Book Club podcast.

This was a lot of fun a clearly made by someone who knows their stuff about the regency era. Plus, the mystery was fun!

This was a fun book to read with enjoyable characters. I like that Gus and Julia are older spinsters so they have a little more freedom then younger ones. I liked how they were willing to help people out even if they had to do it in maybe a not as legal way. I thought they were fun to read about as they went on their adventure. I also liked the contrast between the two sisters. I loved that they were the complete opposite of each other but worked well together to accomplish what needed to get done. I thought the writing style was well done. I also thought the author dealt with difficult topics well

I received a complimentary book from publishers, publicists, and or authors.  A review was not required and all opinions and ideas expressed are my own.

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman is an incredible historical fiction featuring epically fierce women that not only defy the norms of society, but also seek to right the wrongs & protect those often forgotten by society. I was in awe of the spirit of them & the way they tackled difficult & dangerous situations. This book is really neat because it is divided up into the multiple cases that the women take on & the treacherous events that the mysteries cause.

The dedication was top tier & set the tone of the book in such a lovely & bold way. I loved the fact that this was a historical fiction & it had 40 something women at the helm. That is something that is unfortunately rare in even contemporary fiction, but it is truly needed!

It does an incredible job of showcasing important issues that require finesse, morality, strong ethics & so much more & deals with then in a truly impressive & inspiring way. Itstories of hardships, wickedness & evil but thankfully, there’s the strong, badass sisters that counter it with fearless protectiveness, goodness & triumph.

I also appreciated the simmering romance that took place as well the drama that takes place within the family & the high society & the ripples their actions create.

This is entertaining historical fiction caked full of thrilling mystery, splendid action, unquestionable gumption & inspiring strength that all takes places with an undercurrent of hope through fighting back in the midst of dark times.


Massive thanks to NetGalley & Berkley Publishing for the free arc, which I voluntarily read & reviewed.

Content Warnings: This book mentions &/or contains violence, gore, death & abuse.

The cover of this book screams Holly Hobbie innocence to me, thank goodness what I found on the pages of this book was strong women bucking the status quo, breaking rules and standing up for themselves.
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The Benevolent Society of Ill Mannered Women was just what I love about Regency Era stories, women who are not complacent to be totally controlled by men and thought of as pure ornamentation and mothers.
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The wonderful twin sisters that are the protagonists of the story, Lady Augusta and Lady Julia, set out to help women in need. There is danger, adventure and excitement as they solve three “cases” and make their way in the world where most men feel they don’t belong. I loved these sisters and their individual attributes and abilities that the author highlighted beautifully.
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The author, Alison Goodman, researched the time period thoroughly and it shows in a very well written look at the interactions of the characters, their daily activities, and the social norms of the day. It was a fun beginning to further adventures in the secret lives of these twins.
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🌸𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖🌸

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗜𝗹𝗹-𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗟𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀
𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗻
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Thank you @berkleypub & @prhaudio for the gifted copies.

📖 Lady Augusta is an amateur detective in Regency London. With the help of her twin and an unlikely ally, she uses her position in high-society and her invisibility as an 'old maid', to help other women in need.

💭 I knew from the dedication that this would be one I'd enjoy!

Dedication: "This book is dedicated to all the women out there who no longer have the patience or desire to put up with any nonsense." 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Yes, ma'am!!!!

This was magnificently clever, wonderfully feminist, and not at all the cozy historical mystery it looks to be by the cover. It delves into some dark corners of women's history, but does so with wit, charm and humor. I loved every second.

I read this in a mix of print, ebook and audiobook, and recommend all formats. The audiobook performance (by the insanely talented Kristin Atherton) is absolute PERFECTION!

***Review posted to my IG on pub day.***

Long past the days when a lady is considered as a potential wife, a determined woman fired with feminist fervor and her sister set out to aid other women in desperate situations when no one else can or will help. A historical mystery not in the traditional sense with non-traditional heroines set against the well-drawn backdrop of the Regency era world.

I’ve already enjoyed an earlier book by Alison Goodman so knew I was in for a colorful and exciting reading experience though this time there are no supernatural elements woven in.

Lady Augusta ‘Gus’ Colebrook has had it up to here with insipid High Society and its rules that put women at the mercy of unworthy men and she is not daunted by the darker underbelly of the glittering wealth. She knows full well what getting involved means for her feminine reputation, but she has a heart and fire in her that can’t turn her eyes from others’ plights. Gus decides to enlist her grieving twin sister and go to the rescue.

Along the way, they have an encounter with a highwayman that has a bizarre twist to the story in that he turns out to be a surprising new ally and a man with a criminal past. They operated in secret and I enjoyed pursuing the various types of mysteries they worked on from the first case of abuse to a horrid mental institution

I ended up having to make some mental adjustments when I read this one. First, I had it in my head that it would be lighter- more cozy and bantering- than it was. Once I realized that this would deal with social ills and mysteries that were darker like human trafficking, abuse, and cruel mental asylums, I was fine with what I got. And, secondly, this is actually a story broken into three parts based on three different cases the sisters, Gus and Julia, and Lord Evan are working on with the aid of their loyal serving staff and a Bow Street Runner. It is also not an end all, but the spring board for further books in a series- at least I hope that’s why the end was somewhat abrupt.

It was frustrating for Gus that men wouldn’t heed her and Oys, I wanted to smack her spiteful brother for her the way he acted toward her. Gus and Julia might be considered past it by society, but they were smart and used their spinsterhood to advantage. They also had Twin Power- or at least a fun and helpful way of silently communicating that aided them in their work. The mysteries were great, but I loved that there was a romance brewing for Gus, too. Lord Evan was a fab tarnished hero who wasn’t the criminal that all of society thought him, but he was on a mission about all that and helping the sisters, too.

All in all, this was a good start to the series and I want more Gus, Lord Evan and their team hot on the trail of social injustice and misery in their Regency times. Historical mystery fans who like it a bit grittier and darker with social injustice elements and bold characters should give this a go.

This book didn't grab me like I hoped it would. Twin sisters who are considered to be old maids at age 42 back in the 1800's in London, They become secret agents and try to rescue abused women. This book was just ok for me so I am rating it 3 stars out of 5. Sometimes I have a hard time connecting to books during this time frame for some reason so maybe it's just not for me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance copy. To be published June 2023.

When you see a book called The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies, you immediately pick it up. Or, you do if you’re me. How can you not? What’s better than ladies not doing what’s expected of them? And oh boy, do they act well beyond the rules of society!

Allison Goodman tells the story of Augusta and Julia Colebrooke. The two twin sisters are considered spinsters due to their age and lack of husbands, but they are still very much part of high society.

And after saving a young woman from her tyrant of a husband, they become the women people go to when someone is in need.

Julia is still grieving her betrothed who died in a riding accident and Augusta has never had much thought of marriage. That is until she meets Lord Evan Belford. They meet him on the way to save the woman from her husband, and he throws a wrench in their plans.

The thing that set this book apart from others to me was the fact that it was a historical mystery separated into three parts. In each part, Augusta seeks to solve different, unrelated crimes. I’ve read books where there are multiple mysteries to unravel but none where they were clearly ever divided. By that description you might believe it was a set of novellas however the character’s interpersonal problems are played out throughout the story.

My favourite aspect of Ill-Mannered Ladies was that the novel takes a modern sort of feminist approach to historical fiction and features crimes committed against women that you might not immediately expect from a “detective” type novel. Augusta is content with her spinsterhood and sort of falls into her new trade of detective work quite naturally. Her love interest is equally untraditional as he used to be a society man but has instead been found guilty of a crime, banished, returned and now a highwayman.

This book would be the equivalent of a lovechild between a traditional historical romance and a historical detective novel. While the format made for an interesting change it tried to take on a lot. There were three separate mysteries to be solved, a domineering brother, a sick sister and a romance to unfold. I have never seen a book attempt to tackle so much. This book appears to be the first in a new series and I’m not sure all of the subplots that were introduced were required here and could have been introduced in later novels in order to dedicate more time to each.

Thank you to Berkley for providing an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

This story is set in 1812 in London. It's not a mystery, though it might qualify as a suspense if you happened to care for the characters. It just exasperated me as it was self-inflicted danger caused by lack of planning. Augusta was arrogant and self-righteous. She didn't really plan things out but trusted to luck, her quick thinking (which wasn't always the best thinking), and Evan to get her out of the trouble she constantly rushed into. She thinks she's so smart, but she's not. At about halfway through, she needed to find one girl in a brothel, knew that there were several girls that could be brought to her, and didn't even bother to get a description of the girl. Seriously?! She's also a hypocrite: her brother surprised her with something so she couldn't argue or say no and she was extremely angry, but then she did the same thing to her sister and felt justified. The other characters (even her sister and Evan) weren't really developed enough for me to care about them, one way or another. And she's massively infatuated with Evan, declaring her love for him after just a few hours total around him.

The author exhaustively researched the time period (wonderful!) but felt the need to put in so much detail that it slowed the action. And she often chose details I didn't want, like a long description of agonizingly popping a dislocated shoulder back into place or the graphic details of a woman who had her breast surgically removed. Augusta didn't believe in God (mostly, it seemed, because she felt she could do a better job than God). Okay, but the author made a point of giving her the current politically correct attitudes. For example, she's friends with a mature man whom everyone knew was attracted to male youths.

The cases: paying a blackmailer for the return of a friend's indiscrete love letters and helping an abused woman escape her husband. The next one could have been handled by the legal process as it involved a kidnapping of a 12-year-old girl from an orphanage. But Augusta wanted save the girl herself even if it meant cutting her hair, dressing as a man, and going unarmed into a brothel that offered every sort of sexual abuse. The last case involved rescuing a woman from an insane asylum.

The only real mystery was what happened at Evan's duel (still not solved) and why he returned (which rumor said had something to do with his sister running off with another woman). He won't tell her anything and warned her not to snoop, but she did anyway. There were no sex scenes (though plenty of mentions of people's sexual preferences). There was a fair amount of bad language.

First in the series of Ill-Mannered Ladies, this Regency romance introduces readers to twin sisters Lady Augusta and Lady Julia Colbrook. Filled with Lords, letters, and the unspoken language of twins with midlife attitudes, the narrative is divided into three unique “cases.” Determined to be “useful, defiant, occasionally ill-mannered, and completely indomitable,” the sisters get involved with Lord Evan Belford, a gentleman-pirate, policies of coverture, and prisons for the insane. Even with a thread off dread featuring early nineteenth century gruesome surgery methods, readers are treated to delightful analogies and sarcastic, clever dialogue in some very stressful and intriguing antics- “every nerve ablaze!” This is an exhilarating read chocked with a divisive wedding, impending murders, and eyebrow raising masquerades. The letters and madness continue, leaving readers awaiting the next case involving The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies.

A thoroughly delightful historical mystery set in Regency England with the author throwing in many historical details, which makes it even better!

Two spinsters, Lady Gus and her twin Julia are on the path to aid young women from getting into situations with men, all with a feminist twist.

Setting out to help a friend's goddaughter from a brutal husband, the set off to her country estate. Of course they run into a highway man and shoot the brute only finding out he is Lord Evan, recently returned from prison.

A delightful journey full of wit, adventure and proving Lord Evan had been imprisoned falsely, bring this story full circle, leaving you with only wanting more!

I don't read much historical fiction, but I plan on hand selling this book a lot this summer! I felt completely immersed in Regency England because the prose was so detailed. I had innumerable joys looking up the different fashion pieces and historical items mentioned. What these "ill-mannered" women were up against was stomach churning, but I couldn't stop reading. I learned so much by reading the author's note at the end. I was cheering for our heroines through all three dangerous rescue missions. I would say that this is for fans of the Veronica Speedwell series and Enola Holmes. Come for the mystery, and stay for the romance.

Review coming 6/5/2023 on Austenprose.

Thanks to the author, Berkley, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Opinions are mine.