We have again Inspector Sebastian Bell and Gemma Tate had planned a lazy Sunday! But Sebastian got an urgent missive to go aboard the “Prince Regent” ship to investigate a murder!
The murder was of one Lord Anthony Blackstock a very abusive and arrogant English Lord who tormented and abused his wife and any women under his care!
He is was found locked in a Midevial torture device and suffocated! He was completely naked with the word pig written on his chest!
There are several suspects and his wife is missing! With an indisposed Captain and a ship docked with a time line to meet their contract Sebastian is racing against the clock! Once the ship docks the Passengers will scatter to the four winds!
When Atl the clues finally point in the same direction the suspects will fight tooth and nail to be free!
Sebastian is again injured and so is Gemma! But Sebastian has made on his mind to make it official but never has a couple been so thwarted in a romance! It is justice for now there are two murders and a conclusion but for Gemma and Sebastian only the beginning! Bravo well done! I love the conclusion to a very bizarre mystery!
I received an ARC copy for my unbiased opinion!

This Victorian London-set series is consistently excellent, and this latest book is no exception. Much of this one is set on a ship where a murder is committed just before it docks in London from New York. The author does a great job conveying the tight quarters, and the effect is almost like that of a locked room mystery. Sebastian and Gemma are quickly drawn in to a case with many strands but no apparent pattern. The plot moves quickly and is well constructed, and as always in this series the action is nicely blended with developments in the relationships among the regular characters. Sebastian and Gemma themselves reach some important conclusions, and I’m looking forward to the next book. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy. All views are entirely my own and offered voluntarily.