Agatha Award winner Stevens's latest recounting of Beau Brummell's sleuthing activities (after 2002's The Bloodied Cravat) bears signs of being executed in haste, and executed in haste is just what the Beau's friend, Lieutenant Nevill, will be if the Regency's "Arbiter of Fashion" doesn't find the real killer of Thomas Jacombe, "trusted friend of Earl Spencer and a long-time official in the Home Office." At Watier's Club one evening, Nevill accuses Jacombe of cheating at cards, and Brummell agrees to serve as second for the duel the two men agree to. But the night before the duel, Jacombe's body tumbles over the Grand Cascade at Vauxhall, ruining the Prince of Wales's gala. Spotted with a gun in his hand, Nevill is promptly arrested. Brummell, however, knows that Nevill's accusation of false play was well founded. In his search for other suspects, Brummell discovers that the seemingly upright Jacombe had wronged many people besides the young lieutenant, of whom the Beau is very fond. Exactly why he's fond of Nevill is hard to judge, because only the Beau, as narrator, has any character at all. Poorly drawn secondary characters, a contrived plot and an unlikely denouement—it's hard to imagine the murderer caring enough about anything to do Jacombe in—mar this effort. A wonderful description of the Grand Cascade at Vauxhall serves to remind readers that Stevens, the author of several Regencies (Crime of Manners,
etc.), is capable of better. (May 6)
