Bookish Quotes: Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis

Today my bookish scrollish quote comes from Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis, the fifth book in the Marcus Didius Falco series of mysteries which is set in Ancient Rome. Marcus's voice often reminds me of a hard-bitten gumshoe detective but when you make that setting Rome it means that we get really fun reads! The fact that the voice and characterisations are so well drawn in the series, I can see myself reading all 20 books in the series in due course!

The quote comes from page 129-130

The judge lived in an impressive house of the type I could easily covet. Worse, his house might even convince me to aspire to his rank.

It was a detached town villa just off the Vicus Longus, not too large and not too small; it had some fine rooms for impressing public visitors, but was arranged for decent privacy. Marponius never went down to Petro's meagre guardhouse; he had felons brought here for interviews. He had a social conscience. He wanted lags like me to discover the urge to reform through seeing what could come from more legitimate types of crime. Compared to speculation and usury, mere theft and murder began to look unprofitable and quite hard work. Even being an informer seemed a dead-end job.

I presented my person at a ponderous marble portico. The elaborate studs and shiny bronze door furniture were overdone to my mind, but as an auctioneer's son I had seen that much of the world has unsubtle taste. Under the frippery, it was a solid hardwood door. The judge simply belonged to the group that likes to ruin good material.

Marponius and I would never agree on decor. I was a spare-time poet with a refined nature, whose occupation called for a sensitive, humane approach. He was a dull thug from the middle rank who had made himself rich, and therefore significant, by selling scientific encyclopaedias to New Men. By New Men I mean ex-slaves and foreign immigrants; people with overflowing coffers but no education who want to appear cultured. They could afford to buy literary works by weight - and more importantly, they could fit themselves up with ranks of literate slaves to read the works aloud. In the shifting social strata of Rome there was plenty of scope for applying gloss to upstarts. So if a treatise was Greek, incomprehensible and came in twenty scrolls, Marponius had his team of scribes copy it out. He used best-quality papyrus, black gall ink, and highly scented sandalwood for the end pieces. Then he supplied the slaves with refined voices too. That was where the money lay. It was a neat trick. I wish I had thought of it.

Lucky in Love by Jill Shalvis

Yay! A New Lucky Harbor book! And two more to come after this one! Let me dampen down my excitement for just a few minutes while I try and tell you a little bit about this book!

In the first Lucky Harbor trilogy, the author told us about three sisters who come to the small town of Lucky Harbor and then find each other, love and a home. This time, the focus is on three friends. Mallory is the town sweetheart, Amy is a bit of a bad girl and Grace has just arrived in town. Together they pledge to form the Chocoholics because nothing is better than sharing your issues with good girlfriends over chocolate cake - girls after my own heart!

One night while all three girls are at the diner where Amy works and there is a fierce snowstorm. Thanks to tree branches coming through windows and power going out, the girls are stranded there together. They are very surprised to find an injured man on the doorstep of the diner.

Mallory is an ER nurse and so she does what she does best - emergency care! It is only once they can see him properly that they realise that the man is Mysterious Cute Guy (MCG for short) - a stranger who has been seen around town recently but no one knows anything about him. Without really even being fully conscious MCG is talked into accompanying Mallory to a charity auction that is to be held in a few days time.

Whilst Mallory is known as a good girl, she comes from a family of rebels and she is being encouraged by her friends to loosen up a little. She has always felt responsible though, ever since the death of her sister when Mallory was 16 years old.

Mallory has a dream to open up a health clinic which aims to help those people who are often hidden in the community - the people battling depression or addiction for example - people like her own sister. There is some opposition within the community but Mallory is determined that there is a need and it needs to be met. The charity auction is being held to raise funds for the clinic. Mallory is sure that MCG is not going to remember that he agreed to the date and so she is surprised not only that they turn up, but that good girl Mallory behaves in a way that is very foreign to her! Thank goodness for a conveniently placed couch!

Mallory and MCG know that they aren't getting into a relationship but they really just can't seem to stay from each other. It does however make it difficult to be low key when the whole town is spying on their 'relationship' and any developments are making the town Facebook page on a regular basis. Whilst the Facebook stuff is entertaining, I don't know how realistic it is. Would small towns have that kind of gossip page? Almost makes me glad to live anonymously in a big city.

For MCG - okay, he really has a perfectly good name so I should probably use it. For Ty Garrison, this time in Lucky Harbor is temporary only. He is recovering from injuries sustained in a plane crash which left his friends and colleagues dead, and Ty was not only physically injured but is also mentally scarred. He hasn't practiced his actual profession since then, instead working in a dangerous role that has him facing risks every day. Once he gets the all clear from his doctor though, he is out of here!

One of my favourite parts of the book was Ty realising that even without trying he had put down roots in the town of Lucky Harbor - that he had reasons not to leave town. The way that realisation came over him was really well done.

Whilst this is the fourth book in a connected series, the characters from the previous three books are rarely seen which does mean that you could read this book without feeling as though you are missing out on background. I am pretty sure though that if you start with this book you will want to go back and read the earlier ones.

Personally, I loved the glimpses we saw of Amy and Matt and can't wait to read their story next, because woah, there is some tension already simmering there!

Since reading my first Jill Shalvis novel in July last year, I have read more than a dozen of them. Her books are perfect for taking to bed to read at night and then just keep on reading them until you finish the book! With this book I started it late at night (bad move - should have known better) and just kept reading until I finished it at 2.30am!

Whenever I pick up one of her novels I know that I am going to get a fun read with a bit of sexiness and a great read and this book is no exception! Bring on the next one.

Rating 4/5

Synopsis

Mallory Quinn has had enough of playing it safe. As a nurse and devoted daughter, she takes care of everyone but herself. And as the local good girl, she's expected to date Mr. Right. But for once, she'd like to take a risk on Mr. Wrong. And who could be more wrong than Ty Garrison? The mysterious new guy in town has made it clear that he's only passing through, which suits Mallory just fine. Besides, his lean, hard body and sexy smile will give her plenty to remember once he's gone . . .

For the first time in his life, Ty can't bear to leave. Helping this sexy seductress-in-training walk on the wild side is making him desire things he shouldn't- including leaving the military for good. As their just-for-fun fling becomes something more, Mallory and Ty wonder if they could really be this lucky in love. After all . . . anything can happen in a town called Lucky Harbor.

Library Loot: 30 May to 5 June

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

My branch of our local library service is trialling a new system for picking up hold requests, and I am really not happy with it.

Previously, all the hold requests were put on the shelves in numerical order. I always knew pretty much exactly where my holds were going to be because I know my library card number off by heart, all the books were together so you could walk in and walk straight out again.

With the new system, there are a series of numbered hutches. You walk in and scan your library card, then print out a receipt which tells you which hutch your books will be (and they could all be in different hutches if you are picking up several books). It wouldn't be quite so bad if that was all you had to do to borrow, but then you still have to go and scan your card to do the self checkout business as well!

It is only on trial at the moment so I am hoping it isn't a permanent fixture! I guess it will save time for the librarian's because they won't have to worry about getting the books in the right order, but as a patron I don't really like it!

Then again, I am conscious that our library service is pretty darned fabulous so this is a small thing to complain about really!

Here's the loot that I got this week:

Children of the Storm by Elizabeth Peters - I loved the story arc of the last few Amelia Peabody books and yet I haven't actually read one of them for what feels like forever - maybe 18 months or so. Beth posted about a book from the series the other day and I was reminded that I really need to get back to the series.

Jasmine Nights by Julia Gregson - I really liked both East of the Sun and The Water Horse by this author so when I heard she had a new book I requested it straight away. I was then offered a copy but haven't actually seen it in the postbox yet so I am not sure if it is coming or not. The setting also sounds like something I would love!

Until I Die by Amy Plum - I read the first book in this series last year and quite liked it! Even if I hadn't, my attention would have been caught by this totally gorgeous cover!

The Last Boyfriend by Nora Roberts - Next book in the Boonsboro Inn series. I wasn't blown away by the first book in the series, but it is La Nora and if nothing else it will give me a good Friday night read.

The Emperor's Spy by M C Scott - I have had quite a good week for publicist's contacting me really. One of the author's I was contacted about was Manda Scott which is this author with a slightly different name. I loved her Boudicea books and was somewhat surprised to find out that she had the third book in her next series coming out. I seem to have lost track of her. This book is the first in my attempt to catch up again.

Fables 2 by Bill Willingham - I read my first Fables story a couple of weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed it so I am looking forward to this one now!

Letty's Christmas by Alison Lloyd - The next Our Australian Girl story about Letty. This is the fourth and final book about her.

What loot did you get this week? Leave your link in Mr Linky below so that we can all come and have a look!

The Unseen by Katherine Webb (includes international giveaway)

Last year I read and really enjoyed The Legacy by Katherine Webb. When I saw that the author had a new book I was very happy and looked forward to reading it. 

When Cat Morley is sent from London to the small village of Cold Ash Holt, it is a chance for a new start for her. Whilst her new mistress, Hester Canning, knows something of Cat's recent past, she has decided that the rehabilitation of Cat will be her new pet project and so keeps the details to herself, which prompts plenty of speculation amongst the villagers as to what crime it was that she committed. Hester has been married to her husband for some time but things are not as they should be and the only person that she can confide in is her sister who has her own marital issues to deal with.

Albert is very interested in theosophy and when he believes that he sees some elemental spirits in the meadow, an 'expert' in the field, Robin Durrant, comes to stay at the vicarage and settles in for an extended stay. The longer that Durrant stays the more tensions rise in the house. Albert becomes more obsessed further neglecting his wife, Cat distrusts Durrant from day one and he isn't above stooping to blackmail to get  her to do what he needs her to do.

Hester is an extremely naive young woman. She knows that things are not as they should be but she can't seem to reach her husband emotionally in one crucial aspect of married life. Albert is a cold fish and Robin is smarmy and duplicitous from the first page that he appears on.

Whilst none of the characters are particularly likable, the most interesting character in the book is Cat. She has been in service at a big house in London but really she doesn't really fit fully within the servant class but she certainly is not a lady either. When she becomes involved in the suffragette movement she finds imprisoned and the reader is exposed to some of the terrible conditions that Cat and others like her were exposed to as they fought for a right that most of us take for granted - the right to vote. Cat was then freed to work as a Hester's servant but she finds it difficult to settle back into normal life. The only place that Cat can find solace is with George the barge man but even with him she cannot trust enough to not feel trapped or imprisoned.

The blurb talks about a murder, and there is one, but I was kind of surprised at how late in the book it occurred. Part of the reason is because this isn't a traditional mystery in that the reader is trying to figure out who done it, although that is part of the story, but more the feel of the story is related to the spiritualism elements and the strange goings on in the vicarage at Cold Ash Holt.

The story unwinds both in the present time and in the past. I am usually a big fan of the dual narrative storyline! I love seeing modern characters discover what was going on in the past at the same time as we are learning what is happening too, but it can be difficult at times to get the balance right. It is a very good author who manages to make you care about both story lines at the same time. Unfortunately for me, the balance between the two strands was all wrong and I think that in some ways that is even reflected in the book blurb where there is not a single mention of the modern storyline.

The opening premise of the modern story line was a good one. Leah is a journalist who has answered a call from her old boyfriend to go to Brussels. He works for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and they have uncovered the well preserved body of a soldier from World War I and he has two interesting letters sent to him by a H Canning. Leah's journey takes her from Belgium to the small town of Cold Ash Holt to try and discover who this man is. In Cold Ash Hold she meets a man who is the grandson of Hester and Albert Canning. Mark (I think it that was his name) is extremely distrusting of journalists. The reason for this is explained in due course, but could have been quite interesting but because the modern storyline felt tacked on, almost like an afterthought, none of the issues that were raised were explored as much as I would have liked.

While this book was interesting, I never really felt that I was caught up in the time and place and the book seemed to drag a bit as well. In summary, this book has the potential to be a really compelling read but it unfortunately did not live up to that potential for this reader.

Rating 3.5/5

Synopsis

England, 1911. The Reverend Albert Canning, a vicar with a passion for spiritualism, leads a happy existence with his naive wife Hester in a sleepy Berkshire village. As summer dawns, their quiet lives are changed for ever by two new arrivals. First comes Cat, the new maid: a free-spirited and disaffected young woman sent down from London after entanglements with the law. Cat quickly finds a place for herself in the secret underbelly of local society as she plots her escape. Then comes Robin Durrant, a leading expert in the occult, enticed by tales of elemental beings in the water meadows nearby. A young man of magnetic charm and beauty, Robin soon becomes an object of fascination and desire. During a long spell of oppressive summer heat, the rectory at Cold Ash Holt becomes charged with ambition, love and jealousy; a mixture of emotions so powerful that it leads, ultimately, to murder.

Tour and giveaway details

My copy of this book came from the local library but I requested it so that I could participate in this blog tour!

To visit other stops on the tour, check out the blog tour schedule here. It's interesting to note that this author has no web presence at all. Whilst I understand no Facebook, Twitter, blog etc I would have thought that a website would have been a basic requirement in these days.

If you think, though that this is something that you might be interested in reading, I am pleased to be able to offer up a copy of this book and the giveaway is open internationally! To enter leave a comment   including your email address so I can contact you if you are the winner!

The giveaway closes on June 7.

Winner of State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Congratulations to

Beth from Too Fond

who won the giveaway of State of Wonder by Ann Patchett!

Hope you enjoy the book when you get it Beth!

Sunday Salon: Antici....pation!

I have so many things to talk about todayl I started off with two things and then added more and more. I hope I haven't forgotten anything.

Shadow of Night is coming soon!

At the beginning of the year when I named my most anticipated release for 2012 Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness was at the very top of the list! With the book coming out in July (I could do a countdown of weeks but I will resist), we are starting to see some of the PR starting to happen. I was very excited this week to wake up to an email with some of the details and so now I am going to share them with you! And  shhhhh..... don't tell anyone, but I will be hosting a giveaway closer to release date but there are also chances to win copies of the book before then!

Details below adapted from the publicists email to me!

Every Friday from June 1st to July 6th, four winners will be selected to receive an advance copy of SHADOW OF NIGHT signed by Deborah and sample bottles of two perfumes specially selected to represent the scents of Matthew and Diana. To enter, readers can click on this link to the contest page starting today.

Also, if you haven't read A Discovery of Witches yet, Amazon is offering the e-book as their “Deal of the Day” on June 10th, where readers will be able to buy it for just $2.99 on that day only. Then you will be ready to read SHADOW OF NIGHT when it hits stores!

Calling all Australian Terry Pratchett fans

Tickets to Nullus Anxietas IV, the Fourth Official Discworld Convention to be held in Australia have recently gone on sale! If you get in early, you will get super special discounted early bird prices! To find out more about the ticket prices follow this link.

The con is going to be held in Melbourne on the weekend of March 8 to 10, 2013.

There are various places where you can find out more

Website
Nullus Anxietas IV on Twitter
Nullus Anxietas IV on Facebook
Nullus Anxietas IV on Google+

Nullus Anxietas IV Fundraisers

There are a number of different fundraisers that will be running over the couple of months (including a tournament of games today at Blackburn - see this link for details)  but one that is coming up soon is a showing of Joss Whedon's Cabin in the Woods. There are only going to be a limited number of big screen showings of this movie and we have tickets to one of them!

If you are in Melbourne on June 14 and want to see Cabin in the Woods, join us at Cinema Nova in Carlton. You can find out more details here.

Reminds me....I need to buy my ticket!

Want to participate in a Google+ hangout with Julia Quinn

Julia Quinn is one of my go to favourite romance authors and, thanks to the Australian Romance Readers Association,  you can win the change to spend time on a Google+ hangout on Saturday June 9. This will hopefully be the first of many hangouts with many of our favourite romance authors!

All the details on how to join the contest to win your chance to participate and how you can watch along if you aren't one of the lucky ones can be found here.

I would put my contest entry in except that is on the same day that I am intending to be at the following event.

Continuum 8: Craftonomicom

This year not only is the Victorian spec fic convention on, but it is also hosting the 51st Australian National SF convention. It is running over the weekend from 8-10 June in Carlton.

I have ummed and ahhed for months as to whether I am going to go to this or not, but the child minder has been arranged. Now I just need to hurry up and buy the tickets.

There are quite a few Aussie authors and bloggers that I am looking forward to meeting over the weekend, once I get over my "standing on the outside looking in" mentality!

Need to hurry up and buy the tickets for this one too!

Calling all Melbourne Book Bloggers

Stephanie from Read in a Single Sitting and some friends are organising a Melbourne bookish type get together on June 9. The plan is to meet at the Astor Theatre and see a double bill of The Artist and My Week with Marilyn. There seems to be quite a few people going (we won't talk about the abysmal attempt when I attempted a Melbourne book blogger get together last year. I try not to take these things personally).

It is an open invitation and you can find all the details here.

I am a maybe at this stage. It will really depend on how exhausted I am after a full day at Continuum.

Coming Soon

I am hoping over the next couple of weeks to bring exciting news for Australian historical fiction authors and fans!

I was going to talk about Jennifer Egan tweeting a novel too but I think this post is possibly already way too long so instead, here are my current and upcoming reads

Currently Reading

The Long Shadow by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Up Next

Eric by Terry Pratchett and Poseidon's Gold by Lindsey Davis

Weekend Cooking: The Red Spice Road Cookbook by John McLeay

A couple of years ago I went for dinner at Red Spice Road restaurant here in Melbourne. We were there on a Friday night, the restaurant was packed with happy diners and the food was delicious. Every time I get an email from them saying they have this event or that event on I think I really must go back but haven't got there yet. One day.

I don't normally browse much at the library. I head straight for the hold shelf where I pick up the books that are waiting for me and then I love. The hold shelf is, however, right near the cook books section so I do find myself stopping and having a quick look if something catches my eye. A couple of weeks ago I was rushing in and out but glanced over and say a red cookbook facing out and so I was drawn to go and have a look and it turns out it was this one, so it was a no brainer to grab it and take it home.

As an object, this cookbook is beautifully presented. If you look at the image that I have included above you may noticed that there is a deeper red stripe down the middle and that the name of the book looks a little fuzzy. That is because rather than being printed directly onto the glossy hardcover, the title details are actually printed onto a strip of fabric (maybe silk?) which is then attached to the book. How practical that is for a messy kitchen is a question that I didn't like to think about, but it does look very striking. The pages of the book are also edged in black so the whole book is encased in those very classical Asian colours of red and black.

In addition there is a red ribbon that you can use as a bookmark. I don't know about you, but as soon as I see a hardcover book with a ribbon it automatically suggest to me that it is a better quality book. Yes, it's the simple things that make me happy.

The gorgeous production values continue inside the book with lush photos of all the recipes as well as photos of the distinct decor of the actual restaurant as well. I also really appreciated that the font that is used is a decent size which hopefully you will be able to tell from the photo below. No squinting to see what comes next as you are trying to put your dish together.

Enough about the book though. It's all very well to have a gorgeous object if you aren't actually going to cook out of it, so let's talk about the content.

If you are a fan of South East Asian food you will really like this book. There are a variety of different nationalities influences featured throughout the book and the recipes run the whole gamut from seafood to meat to dessert and there is even a section on cocktails that feature Asian inspired flavours. One of the more surprising inclusions in the book was the recipe for Pork Belly with Apple Slaw and Chilli Caramel which I was expecting they would want to keep the recipe to themselves. In the intro to the recipe, John McLeay says 'This is by far the most popular dish on our menus; we go through a ridiculous amount and it seems like the oven is always full of pork belly. If I ever took it off the menu I would have a lot of irate customers!"

The dining philosophy when you go to eat at Red Spice Road is that you would go with a group and everyone would choose a selection of dishes that would then be shared - a kind of communal eating. This philosophy is extended into the book so a lot of the recipes state that they serve 4 as part of a shared meal. How practical this is if you are wanting to cook a family meal, I am not sure. I know I would be a bit frazzled if I was going to need to cook three or four different dishes in order to serve up a reasonable meal to a group of guests.

If I owned this cookbook, I think the section that I would refer to  the most would most likely be the basics section. In there, the author shares recipes for many of the flavours that are used in later book like chilli caramel and Asian chicken stock. What was more surprising though was the recipes for things that I have never even contemplated making from scratch, for example, red and green curry paste and sweet chilli sauce. I would always have just used bought sweet chilli sauce in recipes. It would never have even crossed my mind to make my own.

I am pretty sure I could convince the boy to try some of the milder curries. I think Lamb meatball and potato Penang curry sounds really good as does Rockling green curry, but I think that there are other flavours that he wouldn't be as willing to try. One recipe that I do think that I could quite easily get him to eat would be this one, although I might cut back on the chillies a bit!

Click to enlarge

Chicken with chilli and basil

30ml peanut or vegetable oil
400g chicken thigh fillets, chopped finely
3 shallots, peeled and sliced finely
2 large red chillies, seeded and sliced
5 small red chillies, seeded and sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 teaspoon caster sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 cup basil leaves
4 kaffir lime leaves, sliced finely

Heat oil in a wok or frypan until it's smoking. Add the chicken, shallots, chilli and garlic, and stir fry until chicken is cooked. Add a little water if you feel the mixture is burning

Add remaining ingredients and stir fry a further 30 seconds.




On the restaurant website there are links to three of the recipes that are in this book -  Garfish with cucumber, avocado, chilli and basil, Ox cheeks with star anise, mushrooms and hot mint and finally Lamb wrapped in betel leaves.

As an object, this is a lovely book. As a cookbook it is one I could see myself using occasionally but I don't think it would be an everyday type book.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post. 

Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal by Grace Burrowes

I am going to preface my thoughts about this book by saying that I did actually like it. I just want to get that out there because there may be times when it might sound differently.

Maggie Windham is an illegitimate daughter of  the Duke of Moreland, however she has been formally adopted by the Duke and Duchess and so has grown up as part of the large extended Windham family. She has, however, always known that she is different from her brothers and sisters. She is both part of the family and set apart from it by the circumstances of her birth. She knows that, for her, there will be no brilliant marriage match and so she has instead sought to make herself completely independent. In doing so Maggie has shown good intuition when it comes to the making of money and so is independently wealthy.

Benjamin Hazlit is an investigator who has been hired to perform various tasks for Maggie's family. He too knows what it is like to be both part of and apart from his family and in this aspect, he and Maggie are a good match! Another reason for this is because Benjamin is a man with big secrets of his own, and Maggie has been hiding a very big secret from her family for years.

Maggie hires the investigator after her reticule goes missing from her house and Maggie is terrified that the wrong people may get hold of it. She must do anything she can to avoid more scandal for her family. To be honest, I found this a flimsy pretext to start the story on and thought that the mystery of what exactly was in the reticule was unravelled far too slowly. Once the big secret is revealed, I understood why Maggie was scared but it took way too long to get to that point.

Benjamin is determined to give Maggie some relief from her self inflicted isolation and so he slowly and surely begins to seduce her, but along the way he also begins to understand that he must open himself up to his loved ones as well. One of the things that I appreciate about Burrowes' writing is that she does do the slow, intense build up between her couples so well. Page by page, moment by moment the tension builds.

While I liked Benjamin a lot, I did wonder about the practicalities of his super-secret identity. I just don't see how he could have kept his secret for as long as he did without drawing attention to himself. This is just one example of where Burrowes' stretches the bounds of historical accuracy within her books. To be honest, I go into her books expecting historical accuracy to be one of the casualties, but the way she builds the characters and tension make up for that. In my review for the previous book in this series I said "There is no one else that I am reading in historical romance at the moment that has that kind of mellow tempo and fluidity that Grace Burrowes has in her books whilst still having sizzling chemistry between the characters." Aside from the issue that I am quoting myself... I would still stand by this exact sentiment!

The bad guys were very bad and as such a bit two dimensional, and to be honest the resolution of the suspense sub plot was a bit flat too. It turns out that one or two decent conversations with the duke and duchess could have completely changed everything in relation to this story, but Maggie is so darned busy being a martyr in trying to protect those around her that she can't see the forest for the trees.

Where the characterisations are much better is in the secondary characters. Benjamin's business partner, and heir, is his cousin Archer and the scenes featuring the two of them were filled with fun banter and definitely helped draw a fuller picture of the man that Benjamin really is. The Duke and Duchess are also a real treat to read. I wasn't all that fond of the Duke in the first couple of books that he appeared in, but now I almost anticipate the next scene that the two of them will appear in!

Like the other books I have read by Burrowes, there are both positives and negatives. Regardless, I will be looking forward to when the next book in the Duke's Daughters series comes out.  Lady Louisa's Christmas Knight is due out in October!

Rating 4/5

Synopsis:

Maggie Windham, oldest of the Windham sisters and a by-blow from His Grace’s pre-marital wild oats, finds herself in desperate needs of an investigator to help her retrieve a missing reticule. Benjamin Hazlit knows the Windham family secrets, and can be trusted to keep them to himself, so Maggie turns to Benjamin, though it means ignoring his too-broad shoulders, his too-knowing smile… and his too-skilled kisses. As Benjamin starts the search for Maggie’s missing purse, he realizes two things: First, whatever was in that purse, its loss has Maggie not just rattled, but terrified. Second, Benjamin will go to any lengths to see Maggie’s peace of mind restored, even if it means he must keep himself in very close proximity to the shy, secretive lady who says she wants nothing to do with him.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the review copy I read.