by Alison Goodman
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers Australia, 2025
Review
by Rachel Nightingale
This is the second book featuring twin sisters, Ladies Julia and Augusta (Gus) Colebrook, feisty spinsters who never let the rigid expectations of Regency society define and limit them. The sisters move in high social circles, but beneath the surface whirl of gatherings and gossips is a dark, seamy underworld that they are unable to ignore.
I have to admit from the outset that I’m a big fan of Gus and Julia, who first appeared in the book The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies. Their original adventures begin when, bored with the constraints of Regency society, they hatch a plan to rescue a young woman from a violent marriage. Clearly Gus and Julia have found their new calling in life, as in Ladies Road Guide they continue to find ways to provide aid to women who are at risk of terrible treatment by the men who believe they have every right to behave in such a manner.
In Ladies Road Guide the stakes are even higher than their first adventure. Their efforts to expose the exploitation of young women take them into some very dark places, including depraved murder and trade in corpses – a plot line that had the Horrible Histories Burke and Hare song running through my brain as a constant soundtrack. Danger of all kinds hovers around the brave ladies, from the visceral and violent to social exposure and downfall, but they are indomitable in the face of it all.
In a continuation of the first book, Gus is still trying to clear the name of Lord Evan Belford, her exiled love, so they can be reunited. Much rides on his restoration, including the safety and wellbeing of his sister. Through masterful plotting this mission weaves in and out of the ladies’ other purpose, with some very satisfying plot twists related to how the two might be linked.
Goodman is a writer of consummate skill. Both books immerse the reader in Regency England, its social mores, witty dialogue, and everyday existence painted with loving, layered detail. Characters are brought to life with a deft hand. Julia brings heart and empathy to the duo, as well as a heartbreaking frailty. As the protagonist, Gus is an admirable woman of strength and stubbornness, but also passion, with a razor wit and backbone of steel. Her actions drive the narrative at an exciting pace. Other characters are equally as fascinating – I particularly love Gus’s unflappable servants, who don’t blink an eye at being handed fake whiskers or being asked to prepare a firearm for a quick exit.
If you haven’t encountered the ill-mannered ladies yet, you are unfashionably behind. With plenty of adventure, crime and action as well as a splash of romance, The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin is an absolute delight.
Publisher’s blurb
In Regency England, the eccentric Colebrook sisters are amateur detectives who use their wits and invisibility as ‘old maids’ to fight injustice in this delightful and fiercely feminist novel of mystery and adventure from New York Times bestselling author Alison Goodman.
To most of Regency high society, forty-two-year-old Lady Augusta Colebrook, or Gus, and her twin sister, Julia, are just unmarried ladies of a certain age – hardly worth a second glance. But the Colebrook twins are far from useless old maids. They are secretly protecting women and children ignored by society and the law.
When Lord Evan – a charming escaped convict who has won Gus’s heart – needs to hide his sister and her lover from their vindictive brother, Gus and Julia take the two women into their home. They know what it is like to have a powerful and overbearing brother. But Lord Evan’s complicated past puts them all in danger. Gus knows they must clear his name of murder if he is to survive the thieftakers who hunt him. But it is no easy task-the fatal duel was twenty years ago and a key witness is nowhere to be found.
In a deadly cat-and-mouse game, Gus, Julia, and Lord Evan must dodge their pursuers and investigate Lord Evan’s past. They will be thrust into the ugly underworld of Georgian gentlemen’s clubs, spies, and ruthless bounty hunters, not to mention the everyday threat of narrow-minded brothers. Will the truth be found in time, or will the dangerous secrets from the past destroy family bonds and rip new love and lives apart?