“A Pretty Deceit” - Anna Lee Huber

 (Verity Kent book 4)

🛞 Verity and Sydney pay a visit to Verity’s aunt whose estate has fallen on hard times. To make matters worse, there is a missing servant, possible art forgeries, and the small issue of a dead body on premises. As with the last book, the overarching mystery concerning the shadowy Lord Ardmore, continues. Matters are muddied and far from resolved with regards to Lord A. I’m really not sure what to think, which means I must read on to find out!

🛞 I enjoyed the historical elements Huber adds with respect to war reparations for property damaged as a result of government conscription. As you might expect, it was a painfully slow, bureaucratic process.

🛞 Another historical angle that Huber explores in APD is the tragic treatment of women who turned to alcohol or drugs to cope with loneliness and constant anxiety during wartime. Society told these women not to be weak and to simply “keep calm and carry on”.  Add to that, hospitals were so full of soldiers that there was no scope for seeking medical care for such women; they’d be dismissed on the basis that their deplorable condition was their own doing and not a direct result of wartime. Huber highlights the utter lack of compassion these “fallen women” as contrasted with that accorded to war widows.