An Heiress's Guide to Deception and Desire

August 30, 2021
Collins follows A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem with a fun second chance romance between Miss Caroline “Caro” Hardcastle, a manufacturer’s daughter, and Lord Valentine Thorn, the heir to a dukedom. Collins classifies her work as “historical romantic suspense,” but there’s little suspense and a minimum of romantic development here; it’s more a workmanlike historical mystery with romance trappings. Caro, having ended a brief betrothal to Val four years earlier, is drawn into his orbit again when her dear friend and Val’s cousin Frank’s fiancée, Miss Effie Warrington, disappears and Frank falls under suspicion. The estranged couple fall into a squabbling collaboration to find Effie and exonerate her betrothed. Class snobbery spurred their breakup and continues to drive their present conflict: Effie is an actress and deemed unworthy by Val’s family, just as Caro was. The mystery and romance plots unfold in expected tropes from this premise, and period atmosphere is noticeably thin. Still, Caro is feisty and Val is angstily ripe for reform, making for enjoyable banter and a handful of plainspoken confrontations that, if anachronistic, are nonetheless satisfying. Readers are in for a frothy romp. Agent: Holly Root, Root Literary.

September 15, 2021
A formerly betrothed pair rediscovers their feelings for each other when they team up to find a missing woman. When Miss Caroline Hardcastle's friend Effie, an actress, is kidnapped, Caro takes on the case with assistance from friends. As co-author of a newspaper crime column called "A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem," Caro is fully aware of the danger Effie could be facing. Effie's fiance calls on his cousin Lord Valentine Thorn to help with the search efforts. No one knows that four years ago, Val and Caro were engaged. Caro's middle-class upbringing made her unsuitable in the eyes of Val's father, and Caro eventually broke off the engagement. She's been harboring negative feelings toward Val ever since, and matters become more complicated when working on the case leads to their being discovered in a compromising situation, with a marriage of convenience the only solution. Following their wedding three days later, Caro and Val rekindle their friendship and old emotions arise. Opening themselves up to love is difficult, however, not only because of their past, but also because they become increasingly entangled in the case, which could lead to danger. The mystery drives the action while the romance provides the heartbeat of the story, and the two weave together to create a well-plotted, entertaining tale for fans of both genres. Expectations and prejudice based on class and gender are scrutinized throughout, while the leads are witty, fierce, bighearted, and easy to love. A successful and thoroughly enjoyable mix of mystery and romance.

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October 1, 2021
Valentine Thorn has some nerve asking Caroline Hardcastle for help. While it is true that Val once held the key to her heart, ever since she broke off their engagement, Caro has tried to maintain as much social distance as possible between herself and Val. However, when actress Effie Warrington--Caro's new friend and Val's cousin Frank's future wife--mysteriously disappears, Caro agrees to help Val track her down. While pursuing their investigation, Caro and Val find themselves unexpectedly caught in a compromising situation, which then leads to a marriage of convenience. But how convenient will this new arrangement be once Caro and Val realize they still harbor real romantic feelings for one another? After delighting readers with A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem (2020), Collins is back in fine fettle with another fetching mix of sprightly wit, nimble plotting, and engaging characters that is certain to endear her to fans of historical romances and cozier historical mysteries.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2021

The second installment in Collins's Victorian England series (following A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Murder). Caroline Hardcastle is heiress to a sizeable fortune and is also half of the writing duo behind the newspaper column "A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Murder." Indifferent to the snobbish opinions of the aristocracy, Caro makes no apologies for her father's successful food business or the backgrounds of her friends and acquaintances. When her friend, a famous actress, is kidnapped, Caro is thrown back into close contact with Valentine Thorn, the man who broke her heart when he failed to stand up to his family and denounce their classist attitudes towards Caro and her parents. Now Caro and Val vow to work together--in spite of their past--to find the missing actress and her suitor (who happens to be Val's cousin). VERDICT Affable characters and rom-com banter make this an enjoyable read, even if the plot is a bit sparse. For fans of Julia Quinn's "Bridgerton" series or Anne Perry's historical mysteries.--Nicole J. Suarez, Frankfort P.L. Dist., IL

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