Frost Fair

About This Book

London, winter 1814. The Thames has frozen solid.

When a gentleman turns up dead on a fishmonger’s doorstep in Regency London, a Bow Street Runner is assigned to the case — a job that would normally suit him fine, except that the dead man’s noble nephew has decided to conduct his own investigation alongside him. Two men with nothing in common, working at cross-purposes, and both increasingly distracted by the fishmonger’s widow, who turns out to know far more than she lets on.

Frost Fair is a Regency historical romance with a mystery at its center — the kind of novel where the murder plot and the love story are equally urgent and neither is resolved until the last few pages. Edith Layton was one of the most decorated writers in the Regency romance genre, and Frost Fair showcases what made her distinctive: male characters who are genuinely interesting, female characters who are neither helpless nor implausibly modern, and period detail that feels lived-in rather than costumed.

The novel is set against the backdrop of the last Frost Fair held on the frozen Thames — a real historical event, when Londoners built stalls and entertainments directly on the ice. That setting gives the story an atmosphere unlike most Regency fiction: instead of drawing rooms and country estates, much of the action unfolds in a cold, temporary city built on ice that everyone knows will eventually melt.

Ideal for readers of Julia Quinn, Georgette Heyer, and Mary Balogh.

Edith Layton (1938–2009) grew up in Queens, New York, and began writing when she was ten years old. She worked as a freelance writer for newspapers and magazines before publishing her first novel, The Duke’s Wager. She won numerous awards beginning in 1984 with the Romantic Times Award for Best New Regency Author, and went on to publish over 30 novels. She also published under the name Edith Felber.