A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman

 Frances Wynn was an American Heiress who married an English Count in need of her money.  He was unfaithful and eventually died of a heart attack in his mistress's bed. Luckily, the prenuptial agreement allows Frances to keep her inheritance despite all her in-laws' attempts to seize it to bolster their failing finances. With a title and an fortune she decides to move to London where she is enlisted by her mother to host her sister, Lily, and sponsor her first London season.  As Lily starts to acquire potential suitors, there is also a rise of thefts among their social circle.  At the same time, an anonymous letter is sent to the police accusing Frances of murdering her husband. Luckily, she has a dashing next-door neighbor who happens to be her best friend's brother who is willing to help Frances investigate her husband's deaths, her sister's suitors (are they only fortune hunters) and the local thefts. 

After reading a couple of teen and tween fantasies it was fun to get back to my most frequently visited genre, clean historical romance.  This is a new author I haven't read before, and I ended up liking it pretty well.  The pacing is a little slow, and there are not the trilling instances of peril we found in Brentwood's Ward , but it suited the mood I was in.  Frances is clever and doesn't make the stupid mistakes some women characters in historical romances make.  The love interest, George Hazelton, is supportive and protective, but doesn't really play the role of "knight in shining armor."  They are more like a team and he allows Frances to take reasonable risks. This is the first of a series, so they are just starting their relationship.  I also thought Freeman did a decent job with portraying the complex social structure of the Ton. I will certainly be reading the second in the series at some point in the future. (2018, 272 p.)