The Alexandria Affair by Ashley Gardner
The Alexandria Affair is the eleventh book in the Captain Gabriel Lacey Regency Mysteries series by Ashley Gardner. My housemate and I have been fans of Captain Lacey since the first book, The Hanover Square Affair. And his adventures are ones we drop everything to read when they come out. The only one we had to wait for was The Sudbury School Murders, which came out while we were on “hurrication” as a result of Hurricane Katrina and the Barnes & Noble in Little Rock did not stock that series. It was one of the many, though admittedly quite minor, problems Hurricane Katrina brought.
The Alexandria Affair takes place in Egypt, primarily in and around Alexandria and the Great Pyramids, but also along the Nile and in Cairo. While I enjoy Captain Lacey’s adventures in London, it’s nice to see him out and about as well. And it was wonderful to have the familiar characters Grenville, Matthias & Bartholomew, and Brewster. New friends were introduced, and while they are denizens of the Nile, one hopes they may come back home to England and reappear in Lacey’s & Grenville’s circle.
Overall the murder mystery aspect of this adventure was a bit disappointing and bland, and, if I’m completely honest, inconsequential to the plot and the overarching story arc. The main action and mystery of the book was centered around Captain Lacey’s backstory and continued from the previous book in the series, The Thames River Murders. It was an interesting continuation of that story, which was not concluded in this volume.
Readers who are not familiar with Captain Lacey should not begin with this one. This is definitely one the series where it is important to read all the books and read them in order. Skipping books or starting out of order will only serve to confuse new readers, who will be left with a bad taste for Captain Lacey and his friends. And that would be a big mistake. Because the books are well worth reading and enjoying. Visits with Captain Lacey and Grenville are too fun to not enjoy, so read the series from the beginning!
I thoroughly enjoyed The Alexandria Affair. It was worth it, though as I mentioned the murder mystery aspect was not at all necessary to the plot. It would have been just as good a book without the murder. Lacey and Grenville had other mysteries to keep them busy in the Egyptian desert. It was definitely one of the books I was sorry to see end, and one of those books I needed to recover from before picking back up the book I was reading when Captain Lacey's latest adventure hit my Kindle.
One Bear’s Opinion: Four Cups of Turkish Coffee with a huge plate of Turkish Delight for sharing
Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver
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