darkness & desire in victorian england.......another great "quick" book.

Share/Like this Review?

Amanda Quick at her best... a murder mystery to be solved, a dangerous man (is he the villain or the hero?) and the lady herself, a lovely rose waiting to be plucked (once you look past her advanced age of 27 and her spectacles). Great Read!!

Share/Like this Review?

Mrs. Caroline Fordyce has a secret to keep. She lives with her two aunts and makes her living writing thrilling serial novels for one of the London newspapers. Unfortunately, while doing research into for her next novel about spiritualists which are all the rage in Victorian London, the medium with whom she has consulted is murdered ... and the man looking into the murder thinks that Mrs. Fordyce is a suspect. While she knows that she didn't kill the medium, she is afraid that her secret will come out during the investigation, so she decides to do some investigating of her own. This was a good beach read!

Share/Like this Review?

Strong, sassy women...unconventional and flawed...
powerful, determined men... can't help but fall for the women

the usual (and much loved) theme of Amanda Quick's books! One of my favorite authors since the 80's...I have everyone of her books and wait eagerly for her new releases!

Share/Like this Review?

A delightful book, psychics, murder, mystery and love all tied up in a great afternoon read:)

Share/Like this Review?

Amanda Quick novels are the work of Jayne Ann Krentz. This story is a historical romance taking place in Victorian England. I don't read much by Krentz or her alter-ego, Amanda Quick, because I don't find her novels accurate regarding the social mores of the times. The author may have her characters sipping tea correctly, but she never hesitates to have the characters jump into bed -- with the slightest provocation.

However, I had several hours of paper shuffling and a copy of this book on audiotape. It was an opportunity to listen to a lightweight story while engaged in mindless sorting.

Caroline Fordyce is an author of sensational novels (serialized in British newspapers). Mrs. Fordyce is researching mediums and the whole world of seances for her latest story. While at one, she crosses paths with Adam Hardesty. He is a wealthy man who is looking into blackmail and possibly murder. Caroline has a checkered past (through no fault of her own), and she decides to look into the matter of a famous medium's death. Unfortunately, Hardesty might uncover her complicated past and destroy her livelihood and respectable reputation.

Hardesty also has reason to investigate the murder of the Victorian medium, Elizabeth Delmont. Hardesty and his siblings originally came from poor beginnings. He finds out that there is a diary loose with details that could threaten his family. He must find it before London's society becomes aware. By the second medium's murder, Caroline and Hardesty are working together.

Frankly, this is the same type of story as most of the books I've read by Krentz/Quick: interesting while reading but soon forgotten. This story seemed to be a bit south of believable

Share/Like this Review?

Lots of great adventure and suspense in this story. A great afternoon read.

Share/Like this Review?

Another great book from Quick(JAK). If you love your romance with a little mystery then this is the book for you.

Share/Like this Review?

I really like her books for the fact that the women are strong,independant thinkers and do as they please. Great storylines and intrique.

Share/Like this Review?

loved this book Caroline and Adam is a great couple

Share/Like this Review?

From the back cover...

Gentle Reader,

It could have been a scene from one of my novels. As a rule, respectable ladies do not accept calls from Mysterious Gentleman on business of the most grave importance-but I confess that I was possessed by a lively curiosity. The past three years had been so determinedly dull, I hoped Mr. Adam Hardesty would offer a tiny respite from it. Indeed, upon first glance, Mr. Hardesty had such a formidable, thrilling presence, he quickly became the model for the villain in the sensation novel I was currently writing.

Imagine my shock and distress then, when, Mr. Hardesty accused me of being party to a plot of murder, blackmail, ad general villainy! I knew nothing of such occurrences, and proclaimed my innocence. Unfortunately, Mr. Hardesty left unconvinced, and I had an uneasy feeling over what his search would uncover. You see, Gentle Reader, though I live a most uneventful life now, my past contained a Great Scandal that would be ruinous if resurrected. To protect my secrets from Mr. Hardesty's investigation, I concluded that I would need to conduct an inquiry of my own, and if that meant sharing my findings with Mr. Hardesty, so be it. And my course of action had nothing whatsoever to do with the illicit, passionate feelings that he aroused in me-feelings that propriety would definitely frown upon...

Yours most sincerely,
Caroline Fordyce

Share/Like this Review?

Good read. Entertaining and kept my interest.

Share/Like this Review?