Description (from cover):'In this thrilling new addition to the New York Times bestselling series, Lady Emily Hargreaves and her dashing husband Colin travel to Paris, where they struggle to unmask a murderer amid a case of assumed identities and shadowy figures.
After an odd encounter at a grand masquerade ball, Emily becomes embroiled in the murder investigation of one of the guests, a sometime actress tying to pass herself off as the mysterious heiress and world traveler Estella Lamar. Each small discovery, however, leads to more questions. Was the intended victim Miss Lamar or the imposter? And who would want either of them dead?
As Emily and Colin try to make sense of all this, a larger puzzle begins to emerge: No one has actually seen Estella Lamar in years, as her only contact has been through letters and the occasional blurry news photograph. Is she even alive? Emily and Colin's investigation of this double mystery takes them from London to Paris, where, along with their friends Cecile and Jeremy, Duke of Bainbridge, they must scour the darkest corners of the city in search of the truth.'
My thoughts:
Alas, it seems to be the curse of a series going to pot. I really used to enjoy this series and the main character, but this book was an odd one. Normally, I cannot wait to read one of the books in this series, but I found myself to be bored and confused and just really apathetic as to what happens. It was a struggle to finish this one and I was always hoping that it would get better, but it really just didn't. I really do hate that I feel this way, but I just couldn't get into this one like I did with the others. I am not quite ready to give up on the whole series, but this one was just confusing and hard to keep up with. It goes back and forth between the mystery and Estella Lamar's story and I was so confused about the timeline of things and where the plot was going.
I usually tend to keep it together, but when I was going back and rereading previous chapters even after reading them before, it was a sign that this was one that was just not that appealing to me. It seemed that I could never stay focus on the storyline and that other things were interfering. I never have to go back and reread things, unless I fall asleep reading or something. I had to so with this book because I couldn't keep track of what had happened before. Honestly, I thought that the author's historical note at the end of the book was the best part of this book. I hate that I feel this way, I really do, as I have enjoyed reading this series over the years.
There was just something about this book that really put me off. I want to say that it was the lack of the mystery and the thrill of the chase that the others in this series seem to have in abundance. Maybe, it's because I have come to expect that and was let down, that it put a damper on the whole book for me? Who knows? I am just hoping that the next installment returns my love of this series and that I can write this one off as a one-off.
Overall Rating: 2
Title: The Counterfeit Heiress
Author: Tasha Alexander
Series: Lady Emily Mystery #9
Publisher: Minotaur
Publication Date: October 14, 2014
Pages: 304
Genre: Historical Mystery
Get It: Amazon; Barnes & Noble
Disclaimer: This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for my honest review. I reviewed this book without compensation of any kind. All thoughts and opinions are solely mine.
