I loved this outing of Charlotte and Thomas Pitt, both behaving at their best solving another murder that implicates the wealthy and the powerful. I thought the high society party descriptions were especially fascinating, both for the fashion details and the etiquette. The secret relationship tangle that ultimately reveals the motive was not a shocker, nor even a surprise to me… I felt Perry telegraphed its probability early enough in the book that I picked up on all the cues and clues that kept emerging. However, there were still aspects to the reveal - the quality of the emotions involved - that did give me a jolt at the end. That was fun. I loved Drummond as a sympathetic supporting character falling hopelessly in love with a suspect’s wife. The police force overall had a fine outing; there were many characters I wanted to know better. This story set a high bar for the series for me.