Lilly Long Mysteries, Book 2 - Though This be Madness

That persistent red-headed actress is back in her second mystery, as author Penny Richards provides another captivating adventure of actress-turned-detective, Lilly Long.

Though This be Madness, taken from a line in Shakespeare's Hamlet, gives readers the perfect mystery, filled with murder, greed, lies, secrets, and even a little voodoo thrown in for good measure.  Oh, and let's not forget some of that romantic tension that we saw between Lilly and McShane in the last book - it definitely intensifies in this book, particularly since they are sent on an assignment together, posing as husband and wife!

The mystery comes to the Pinkerton Agency in the form of a letter from a wealthy widow in New Orleans - her grandson's former widow has been committed to a psychiatric institution for the insance, and the family matriarch believes her new husband had her committed solely for the purpose of gaining control of the family fortune.  To make matters worse, one of the grandson's daughters was brutally murdered shortly after the grandson's former wife gave birth to a stillborn child.  From any outsider's point of view, it would seem only natural the grief was so much, she was overcome and needed psychiatric help.  The matriarch, LaRee Fontenot, does not believe this is the case.  So, it is up to Lilly and McShane to work together, posing as newly hired help on the Fontenot plantation in New Orleans, to uncover the truth, one way or another.

As with any good mystery, Richards throws in a few hiccups along the way.  First, there's the distrust between Lilly and McShane, neither of whom wish to be paired with the other for an investigation. Then, there's the matter of young Robert Jenkins, a street urchin and pickpocket who has a past with McShane that neither will reveal, who shows up as Lilly and McShane are traveling to New Orleans and who ends up having to pose as McShane's younger brother to help with the investigation. And we can't forget the vile Henri Ducharme, who is the current husband of Mrs. Fontenot's granddaughter-in-law - a self-absorbed man who believes he runs the house and the family - but who Lilly notices becomes unusually uneasy any time his step-daughter's husband, Preston Easterling.

Lilly's acting skills are put to the test in this mystery - not only is she forced to assume an Irish accent and humble herself as a housekeeper and maid for the Fontenot plantation, but she must also deal with the fact that as "husband and wife," she must share a room with a man she has conflicting feelings about.  On the one hand, he is arrogant and demeaning, and she would much prefer to have been assigned this case on her own; on the other hand, she continues to find herself drawn to him and he is able to teach her things about the field that she still needs to learn.

With this mystery, it's not so much about the whodunnit? part, but more about the "did he do it?" part and "what's really going on at the Fontemont plantation?"  Lilly, McShane, and Jenks (the name by which Robert Jenkins prefers to go by) actually make a great team, and their family dynamic works well in solving the crime(s).  I readily confess, reading 260 pages has never been so easy, when you an author draws you into the tale like Richards does.

RATING:  10 hard boiled eggs dyed red out of 10 for creating an investigative "family" that is engaging and entertaining to read.