A young lady of good family and her maid leave in a carriage to visit her friend.  When the carriage arrives at its destination, neither of the girls is anywhere to be found, though the coachman claims he never saw them leave the carriage on his rather slow drive through the crowded streets of London. 

Months later, Captain Gabriel Lacey, a cashiered officer of the cavalry, passes through the affluent Hanover Square where he finds a mob of angry people trying to storm a house.  A platoon of cavalry officers arrives to break up the mob and a distraught man begs them to question the owner of the house who he claims has abducted his daughter and is holding her prisoner. When he throws himself at the door, he is shot in the back by one of the officers.  Captain Lacey intervenes and sees the badly injured man home.  Being a natural born detective, he decides to look into the disappearance of the young women.  Join him on his adventurous journey through the streets of Regency London, from the slums to the homes of the highborn, interviewing Lords and streetwalkers alike at considerable risk to himself, as he seeks the truth!

A fascinating history/mystery, Ashley Gardner's Hanover Square Affair takes you on a comprehensive tour of London in the early 1800’s.  From the glitter and snobbery of Regency "Society", the squalor and poverty of the back streets, to the sordid and dangerous lives that not only common prostitutes, but respectable young women of good family are forced into, this novel draws you along to the end at a fast and exciting pace!  Abduction, rape, duels, betrayals and the "ruination" of young girls by thoroughly debauched villains makes for a page-turner all the way through to the rather unexpected conclusion.  The murderer was unexpected.

Our hero, Captain Gabriel Lacey, is a natural born detective who has obviously led a rather colorful, far from sheltered life, up to and including being cashiered out of the cavalry.  Although far from wealthy, he circulates in the very best of society, prompting one to wonder how he can ever reciprocate -- though it was considered perfectly acceptable to "sing for one's supper" in those days.  Hostesses liked to invite lots of engaging, attractive and eligible young men to their soirees but Lacey doesn't strike me as any of those.  Just a somewhat threadbare "Sherlock", penniless, priggish and rather hot-headed!  In other words, a very complex, well-written, conflicted character with many wounds, physical and psychological.  Believable!  One can imagine this character involved with almost all of the others in many different storylines.  There are several other complex characters in this book -- many whose motivations are not readily apparent but the further you read, the better you understand them.  Grenville, for instance, whose motive is boredom;  Louisa Brandon, a charming iron fist in a velvet glove and her husband, Aloysius, who seems mainly driven by shame and regret at having betrayed his friend and fellow officer.

A rich blend of intricately woven characters ranging from the supercilious young men, the "fops", of Regency London, rather sad young streetwalkers and actresses inevitably dependant on the "kindness of strangers", and a wealth of servants from scullery maids to valets and footmen, combine together to brighten up the pages of what turned out to be a very interesting book, as well as an entertaining and vivid history lesson.

Anyone who has read the many Georgette Heyer novels, or "adult fairytales" as we used to call them, will appreciate this book, an earthier more meaty piece of fiction.  I understand that this is to be the first in a series.  I can't wait to see the next!