A Conspiracy in Belgravia (Lady Sherlock #2) by Sherry Thomas

Charlotte gets a very interesting case.  The wife of the man she loves comes to her office and states that a man she first loved, who was illegitimate and poor, had been coming to a certain spot in the city once a year so they could see each other again.  They didn't talk.  It could stop at any time.  But when it stopped with no word from him on why, the lady thinks he might be ill or dead and she wants to find out.  The interesting thing is that his name is the name of Charlotte's half-brother...

Berkley sent me a copy of this book to read for review (thank you).  It is being published today.

Charlotte has never met her half-brother.  She starts her investigation by trying to learn more about him.  The more she learns about him, she begins to believe he's in trouble.  One death is just the beginning.  This a huge conspiracy with many players.  And one of them happens to be the lady with the missing love.

I enjoy watching Charlotte's mind work.  She's intelligent, doesn't care what anyone thinks about her, likes to eat, and likes to solve problems.  She even gets a marriage proposal to ponder over.  She works well with him and likes him but it appears he won't let her continue her detective work, so...

The case is riddled with many odd characters, lots of undercover work on the conspirators, and some near brushes with danger and death.  As Charlotte solves the other cases she gets, she keeps figuring out the layers of the case she's working on.

There's a very interesting development at the end of the story and the last line is very ironic.  I can't wait to read the next in this series!