The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin
by Alison Goodman
The Ill-Mannered Ladies - Book 2
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: May 6, 2025
Reviewed by Nancy
To most of Regency high society, forty-two-year-old Lady Augusta Colebrook, or Gus, and her twin sister, Julia, are just unmarried ladies of a certain age. But the Colebrook twins are far from useless old maids. They are secretly protecting women and children ignored by society and the law.When Lord Evan—a charming escaped convict who has won Gus’s heart—needs to hide his sister, Hester, from their vindictive brother, Gus and Julia take Hester and her lover into their home. But Lord Evan’s complicated past puts them all in danger. Gus knows they must clear his name of murder if he is to survive the thieftakers who hunt him. No easy task—the fatal duel was twenty years ago and a key witness is nowhere to be found.
In a deadly cat-and-mouse game, Gus, Julia, and Lord Evan must dodge their pursuers and investigate Lord Evan’s past. They will be thrust into the ugly underworld of Georgian gentlemen’s clubs, spies, and ruthless bounty hunters, not to mention the everyday threat of narrow-minded brothers. Will the truth be found in time, or will dangerous secrets from the past destroy family bonds and rip new love and lives apart?
Nancy's Thoughts:
The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin combines mystery, romance, and social commentary into an enjoyable story. Some elements of the plot carry over from the prior book, The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies. While this story can be read as a standalone, the character conflicts may resonate more with readers who’re familiar with the first book.
Gus and Julia are fortunate in having inherited enough money to live independently. They participate in salons, attend social functions, and ride in Hyde Park. Unfortunately for them, their brother, the Earl of Duffield, disapproves strongly of this independent lifestyle. He and his class-conscious, very traditional wife, are constantly trying to force his sisters to give up their own home and live, for all practical purposes under his thumb. The resulting tension between the siblings causes unpleasant encounters from time to time.
This difficult relationship also complicates their efforts to keep Lady Hester safe because Duffield is a friend of Lady Hester’s elder brother and guardian, the Marquess of Deele. The sisters cannot afford to have their brother learn they are sheltering—harboring, to Duffield and Deele—Lady Hester and her lover, Miss Elizabeth Grant. Deele disapproves of the relationship and has gone so far as to have Hester incarcerated in a brutal insane asylum. His attitude raises the stake in the effort to clear Lord Evan’s name. Until he was convicted of killing someone in a duel and was transported, he was Marquess of Deele. If he can clear his name and resume his title, his sister and her lover will be safe.
The search for a possible witness to the duel and the other party’s death leads Gus and Evan to The Exalted Brethren of Rack and Ruin, a private men’s club that makes the Hellfire Club look like an afternoon tea party. Investigating the Brethren, they discover extensive abuse of women from the streets. They also uncover what they hope is evidence.
Their quest is complicated by a brutal thieftaker named Mulholland who is hot on Lord Evan’s trail. Gus is certain he doesn’t plan to arrest Evan but to murder him—if he can catch him.
Julia and Gus, afraid Deele or Duffield will discover that the sisters are sheltering Hester and Elizabeth, first visit a friend, who agrees to take them. They devise false identities for the two fugitives as a widow and her sister. Unfortunately, other guests create complications that force them to move on.
They then seek sanctuary with two women who live together as a couple in Wales. They hope the women will shelter Hester and Elizabeth. On arrival, they’re chagrined to learn that Beau Brummell and his friend Lord Alvanley, two leaders of the ton, are having dinner with their hostesses. Will they support Lady Hester against her brother? Or will they side with Deele?
This was also the era of the Luddite riots against the use of machines in textile mills, which put them out of their jobs. Militia in the area increase the risk to Lord Evan, who has followed Gus, Julia, and his sister to Wales. With him is a Bow Street runner, Mr. Kent, who has agreed to aid him in clearing his name and who is in love with Julia.
I was pleased to see that Julia and Gus’s relationship evolves in this book. They aren’t static characters. Nor are Lord Evan and Mr. Kent. The author presents an unusual view of Beau Brummell as involved in certain intrigues, but it works.
I have one minor quibble with the story and one major one. The minor one is a mistranslation of the Latin phrase Ex Deo as being For God. Gus does this in an effort to throw off another character. If there had been an internal comment hoping the other wouldn’t realize she was using it incorrectly, I would’ve been fine with it. But there was nothing to that effect, which leaves the impression that Gus thinks ex translates as for. It actually translates as from or out of. This won’t bother readers who never took Latin. I did, though, and it yanked me out of the story.
The bigger quibble, which I’m hoping will change in future adventures, is that Duffield and his wife are one-dimensional characters. They’re completely adversarial and unsympathetic. Even when he does something that helps his sisters, he turns out to have done it to protect his social standing. Duffield’s greatest wish is to compel his sisters to return to their family estate and live as he wishes. He couches this in concern for them but also admits, in what is clearly his primary motive, that their independence embarrasses him and his wife.
For the most part, though, the characters are likeable. Julia’s relationship with Mr. Kent progresses, and his character has to make some life-altering decisions. Gus and Julia’s Black butler, Weatherly, is sympathetic and helps his employers. The author takes enough time with the friends who shelter Gus, Julia, Hester, and Elizabeth, to make them seem real.
The climax of the story is an action-packed confrontation with the Mulholland and his comrades in the woods at night with Lord Evan, Kent, and Gus in danger. I don’t want to spoil it, but the ending is satisfying.
The story moves at a good pace, and the social commentary is woven through the story, affecting the plot, and not dropped in as an annoying aside. As a whole, the threads of the story fit well together. I recommend this book.
4 Stars
~Nancy
Readers, have you read Alison Goodman yet?
Do you enjoy books that weave action and social commentary throughout the story?
One person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, May 24 will receive a print copy of The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin.
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