Dying for a Duke

The Regency Romance Mysteries, Book 1

By: Emma V. Leech

Narrated by: Gerard Marzilli

Straightlaced, imperious, and morally rigid, Benedict Rutland - the darkly handsome earl of Rothay - gained his title too young. Responsible for a large family of younger siblings that his frivolous parents has brought to bankruptcy, his youth was spent clawing back the family fortunes. Now a man in his prime and financially secure, he is betrothed to a strict, sensible, and coolheaded woman who will never upset the balance of his life or disturb his emotions....

But then Miss Skeffington-Fox arrives. Brought up solely by her rake of a stepfather, Benedict is scandalized by everything about the dashing miss. But as family members in line for the dukedom begin to die at an alarming rate, all fingers point at Benedict, and Miss Skeffington-Fox may be the only one who can save him.

Review - "An Intriguing murder mystery and romance set in Regency-era England! Emma V. Leech is proving herself a superb author not only in the realm of fantasy and paranormal romance but also in regency romance and historical fiction and has sealed the deal with Dying for a Duke, adding a twisting plot with a good old fashioned whodunnit to the delight of this murder mystery fan. A definite must read for both historical fiction romance and murder mystery readers!" (Lady Bookapple Blog)

©2017 Emma V Leech (P)2018 Emma V Leech

Such a fun and well written read!

Emma V Leech is brilliant!
Her paranormal romance novels always leave me breathless, so it comes as no surprise that her regency romance is just as alluring!!

I really enjoyed this story, and devoured every twist and turn all the way to the very last chapter. Intriguing and fast-paced, I was constantly on the edge of my seat. The characters are truly well developed. Our heroine, Phoebe is delightfully refreshing. Ben, of course, is everything a woman dreams of. I even liked Lizzie, to be honest. The plot is well thought out; the writing, in typical Leech fashion, is elegant as always.

The only negative to my entire review was the narrator. He sounded great, but I really wanted a different tone for each character, as you have with most audiobooks. It was hard at times to distinguish between characters. Other than that, I absolutely loved this book. Cannot wait for the next in this series!

Not bad

Phoebe started out fun and funny and iconoclastic but her personality kind of got subsumed in the story and the love was too pat and way too fast. I read regency romance all the time and can tolerates the love at first sight ones but somehow this missed the mark. Her obsession with Benedict just doesn’t ring true and he doesn’t really loosen up that much. The mystery and the bodies dropping everywhere and the suspension on the hero makes it hard for either character to really develop, which is unfortunate. It actually could have been longer with hero and heroine following clues, checking alibis and doing things together and developing their relationship and it would have worked a lot better. All that said, it is an easy listen and I like when there is some suspense thrown in. I am not sorry I used a credit, although I wish I’d found it in the library:)

Romance and mystery

Well narrated and written fun story. Good character development. I will look for the next in the series.