PRAISE FOR THE LADY DARBY MYSTERIES “[A] history mystery in fine Victorian style! Anna Lee Huber’s spirited debut mixes classic country house mystery with a liberal dash of historical romance.” —New York Times bestselling author Julia Spencer-Fleming “Riveting. . . . Huber deftly weaves together an original premise, an enigmatic heroine, and a compelling Highland setting.” —New York Times bestselling author Deanna Raybourn “[A] fascinating heroine. . . . A thoroughly enjoyable read!” —National bestselling author Victoria Thompson “Reads like a cross between a gothic novel and a mystery with a decidedly unusual heroine.” —Kirkus Reviews “Includes all the ingredients of a romantic suspense novel, starting with a proud and independent heroine. . . . Strong and lively characters as well as believable family dynamics, however, elevate this above stock genre fare.” —Publishers Weekly “[A] clever heroine with a shocking past and a talent for detection.” —National bestselling author Carol K. Carr “[Huber] designs her heroine as a woman who straddles the line between eighteenth-century behavior and twenty-first-century independence.” —New York Journal of Books “[A] must read. . . . One of those rare books that will both shock and please readers.” —Fresh Fiction “One of the best historical mysteries that I have read this year.” —Cozy Mystery Book Reviews Titles by Anna Lee Huber The Anatomist’s Wife Mortal Arts A Grave Matter A Study in Death A Pressing Engagement (an enovella) As Death Draws Near An Artless Demise A Stroke of Malice A Wicked Conceit BERKLEY PRIME CRIME Published by Berkley An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC penguinrandomhouse.com Copyright © 2021 by Anna Aycock Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader. BERKLEY and the BERKLEY & B colophon are registered trademarks and BERKLEY PRIME CRIME is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Huber, Anna Lee, author. Title: A wicked conceit / Anna Lee Huber. Description: First edition. | New York: Berkley Prime Crime, 2021. | Series: Lady Darby mysteries Identifiers: LCCN 2020050723 (print) | LCCN 2020050724 (ebook) | ISBN 9780593198445 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780593198452 (ebook) Subjects: GSAFD: Mystery fiction. Classification: LCC PS3608.U238 W53 2021 (print) | LCC PS3608.U238 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020050723 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020050724 First Edition: April 2021 Cover art by Larry Rostant Cover design by Emily Osborne This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. pid_prh_5.6.1_c0_r0 This book is dedicated to the medical workers of the COVID-19 pandemic and all previous pandemics: the physicians, surgeons, nurses, respiratory therapists, speech and language pathologists, technicians, researchers, scientists, janitors, midwives, apothecaries, and more, who risk their lives, stepping into the unknown—into the front line of the battle—to save lives and search for effective treatments and a cure. Thank you. Contents Cover Praise for the Lady Darby Mysteries Titles by Anna Lee Huber Title Page Copyright Dedication A Brief Note About Pandemics Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Historical Note Acknowledgments About the Author A Brief Note about Pandemics When I first began writing the Lady Darby Mysteries back in 2010, and decided to set the first book in August 1830, I always hoped the series would last long enough for the characters to reach the year 1832. But while I was aware that my characters would eventually have to wrangle with the cholera pandemic that struck Britain beginning in late 1831, I had no idea I would be writing about it while experiencing a new pandemic in our time. That being said, the methods used for controlling a pandemic and treating a disease like cholera in 1832 were very different from those we now use in 2020. Our science and medical knowledge have progressed immensely in the 188 years since then, and so readers should be aware that the methods and thinking described in this book will not resemble what we have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prologue Be sure to taste your words before you spit them out. —Scottish proverb February 1, 1832 Edinburgh, Scotland I blamed it on the salmon mousse. That, and my preoccupation with the stilted conversation around my sister’s dinner table that evening. If my stomach hadn’t been struggling to digest all the rich food I’d ingested and my mind hadn’t been turning over my uneasy reconciliation with my sister, I felt certain I would have noticed the man before he stepped out of the shadows. My husband, Sebastian Gage, pulled me to a halt, for the man clearly wasn’t a servant employed by the town house from whose stairwell he had emerged. The night was too cold, and the likelihood of someone wandering by too slim for him to be a thief waiting for some hapless victim to stroll through this part of New Town. Most of New Town’s inhabitants would have been huddled inside their carriages to travel to and from their evening entertainments. Gage and I had decided to walk because our home on Albyn Place was less than five minutes by foot from my sister’s in Charlotte Square. Not only did using our equipage for such a short journey seem more of a fuss than was necessary, but at seven months heavy with child, I welcomed the chill of a brief evening stroll, and the benefits to my constitution, especially after a large meal. I clutched my ermine-trimmed claret pelisse tighter around me, my arm unconsciously coming to rest over my rounded stomach in protection. Even when the man rounded the railing which separated the stairwell leading downward from the
