Daring Duplicity

Adventures of a Lesbian Victorian Detective (The Wellington Mysteries, Book 1)

By: Edale Lane

Narrated by: Jennifer Lewis

Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

Solving mysteries is her business. Finding love is her dream. Will combining the two get her killed?

Daring Duplicity: Adventures of a Lesbian Victorian Detective (The Wellington Mysteries, Book 1) is a collection of five sequential novellas, each encompassing its own exciting mystery while furthering the story of Stetson’s life in London.

Victorian Era England. Stetson revels in being unconventional. So when society shies away from her independent nature, the bold woman creates an imaginary boss and opens her own detective agency. And her keen observational skills, convincing disguises, and Holmesian methods quickly bring in a string of tough-to-crack cases.

Struggling to squeeze a personal life in around a series of hazardous investigations, Stetson worries she'll never find a woman of like-passions. But with her heart set on true love despite the risk, she carries on hunting for the perfect relationship.

Will her clever escapades lead to death, or delight?

If you enjoy crime dramas, Victorian era fiction, or a sweet lesbian romance, then you’ll love award-winning author Edale Lane’s Daring Duplicity. Order yours today!

©2022 Melodie Romeo (P)2022 Melodie Romeo

A Treat for WLW Victorian Lovers

The narration, pacing, verbiage, and story were stellar! Any lover of romance with women will find something in this series of loosely connected vignettes. The glimpse into the grit and true depravity of that era not all of us get to be familiar with is a breath of fresh air, as is the presence of well-written women supporting one another through gruesome murders and sultry trysts.

Gender Reversed Sherlock

Absolutely adorable reimagined sapphic Victorian private investigator with a great big loving heart of gold. I loved private detective Xavier/Stetson! I can’t wait the next book to continue her story. If you’re in the mood for historical romance on the streets of London, this sweet book is for you. Shout out to Jennifer Lewis who masterfully performs the accents of London.

A worthy addition to the Victorian detective genre, with a twist

The author has done an admirable job portraying Victorian England and the characters who live in it. The character Stetson is eminently interesting and likable, as are the recurring minor characters. While the mysteries aren’t terribly twisty, they are fun to read.

The narration by Jennifer Lewis is superb.

Absolutely Delightful

I adored these stories. Stetson was fantastic, her cases interesting, and her romances sweet.
While it would be rather hard to miss Stetson is a lesbian, I appreciated that it is not the predominant fact about her in the story. Mostly she’s a brilliant detective, a suburb actor, and someone who knows how to hold her own in a scrap, as well as when it’s best to retreat to fight another day.
The romance story lines are secondary, but important, with the love interests well fleshed out.

Jennifer Lewis did an amazing job as narrator, slipping effortlessly between not only all the usual characters, but also all the roles and accents Stetson puts on throughout the book, all while still managing to keep Stetson a recognisable voice for the listener.

I’m very much looking forward to more adventures with Stetson!

Historical mysteries

Stetson Goody is the female Sherlock Holmes, but she may have more friends and associates (and a better love life than I recall Sherlock having). She’s a master of disguises because she has to pretend to be male often. This volume is a series of five separate novellas that go in chronological order. I enjoyed the stories but I was often perplexed at how quickly she knew who the criminal was. It all made sense each time as she explained it to her audience, but I expected her to have to work harder at finding the culprit. I was also puzzled by her memories of Jewel who appeared in the first story. In a later story when Stetson refers to Jewel, their relationship seemed to be longer than it was in the initial tale. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this. It will be a good replacement series for her Night Flyer series. I was pleased to see there is already a second volume.

Although I previously purchased the ebook, I received an audiobook from the author. I enjoyed the narrator’s version. Her voice (and her accent) brought a different feel to the stories from how I read them. She made the location feel more real to me and that much more enjoyable

Lovely, gentle audiobook

I expected it to be much more centered around mystery solving and while each case was at the forefront of the story they were all pretty easily solved.

I am not one who is particularly driven by the mystery but rather the character journey so I enjoyed it.

This is such a wonderful way to write a selection of short cases that give the reader an idea of the life of this extraordinary woman while telling the story of her quest for companionship and love.

The narrator was also really good. The timing, vocal inflections and way the story was told kept me a happy listener who was always eager to get back to the story.

Both the author and narrator were new for me and I will happily return to them both for future stories

Good "beach" book

Short stories easy to listen to, relaxing book.
I thought the narrator was excellent!

Great storyline!

I loved how the storyline continued in the series. When you want to know what happens next there’s another whole story. Its full of action, love, and culture. Jennifer Lewis does an amazing job of narrating this multi-character, action packed series. Highly recommend!

Refreshing

I love a good cozy mystery series and I love the queerness represented in these stories. I enjoyed the series immensely.

Move over Sherlock…

There’s a new sleuth in town and she’s good, very good! I tead the book a while back and really got pulled into the many mysteries Stetson solves and then noticed on my Amazon) I think that’s where I got the suggestion) that the audiobook was available. I bought because I enjoyed the book but the audio version made me love it even more! Excellent narration! I was immersed in the stories and looked forward to listening to each one. I tried to pace myself to make it last but alas I finished it in a few days ( with work and sleep getting in the way 😄). I am moving to book 2 and can’t wait to see book 2 on audio! I highly recommend!!