A counterfeit suitor

Rosalind Thorne, a disgraced nobleman's daughter who discreetly helps society ladies with their more delicate problems, has her hands full in Wilde's meticulously crafted fifth Regency mystery (after 2020's A Lady Compromised). She's assisting Mrs. Valentina Walford with organizing a charity ball while quietly investigating the suitability of Mrs. Walford's daughter's unsavory new beau, who was involved in an 1814 stock fraud. Rosalind's task is complicated when her own drunken father shows up in London as the "guest" of her bitter enemy, Russell Fullerton, and promptly makes an embarrassing public scene. Attempting to figure out what Fullerton has up his sleeve at the same time she's trying to help Mrs. Walford, Rosalind uncovers plot upon plot--blackmail, political intrigue, faithlessness, family drama--and every question answered inevitably leads to another as tangled as the first. Rosalind is an empathetic, perceptive lead, and her relationships with her caring friends add much to the book's appeal. A plot as complex as a Chinese puzzle box will keep readers turning the pages. Wilde offers a fascinating, richly detailed look at Regency society. Agent: Lucienne Diver, Knight Agency. (Dec.)

Rosalind Thorne's decision to continue living by her wits lands her in deep waters. Having decided once and for all to reject the handsome proposal tendered by Devon Winterbourne, Duke of Casselmaine, Rosalind settles into modest but comfortable lodgings in Little Russell Street with journalist Alice Littlefield, her good friend, and goes back to accepting informal commissions from ladies of London's haute ton to resolve their various domestic dilemmas. Her latest challenge, helping widowed Valentina Walford plan a charity ball while breaking up her daughter's budding romance with unsuitable Horatio Salter, seems an easy enough task for someone of Rosalind's considerable talents. But when a confrontation at the opera fails to move the stubborn Miss Walford, Rosalind suspects that there's more to the problem than Mrs. Walford has revealed. The death of Rosalind's father, a blow that should have ended the Walford commission altogether, only complicates it, since the man arrested for his murder, blackmailer Russell Fullerton, is one of Salter's unsavory associates. Rosalind will need help from her estranged sister, Charlotte, and her dear friend and not-quite suitor, Adam Harkness, a rising star of the Bow Street Runners, to unravel this tangled skein of intrigues personal, professional, and political. Compelling period drama. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.