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bananatricky's review
3.0
An excellent Kindle freebie.
This was a bit different from your run of the mill historic romance. Set in the early 1800s in England, London is suffering a spate of murders of prostitutes.
Patrick Hamilton is a barrister with a reputation for defending the undefendable and getting them off. He gets a strange request from one of London's wealthiest merchants to take a significant retainer for no apparent reason. It soon becomes clear that Mr Rand has high hopes that Patrick will take an interest in his daughter Elise.
Patrick has already taken an interest in the beautiful Elise, but thought she was Rand's mistress, not his daughter! In any event, Patrick is on the verge of proposing marriage to a highly suitable and connected young lady whose father will help Patrick enter parliament, albeit as a Tory rather than a Liberal.
Then Patrick's most recent client, a brothel-owner, dies in suspicious circumstances, shortly after telling Patrick that she will pay him the balance of his fees once she has reminded a client of certain deviant behaviour - the clear inference being that she is about to indulge in some blackmail.
Soon Patrick is trying to solve the prostitutes' murders whilst reconciling his growing attraction to Elise with his political aspirations.
This book didn't go where I was expecting (on several occasions)and whilst that was refreshing it was also a little disconcerting at times.
I see this is the third book in a series - not sure whether the books are traditional romances or whether the central story is an investigation by Patrick. Either way I look forward to reading more.
This was a bit different from your run of the mill historic romance. Set in the early 1800s in England, London is suffering a spate of murders of prostitutes.
Patrick Hamilton is a barrister with a reputation for defending the undefendable and getting them off. He gets a strange request from one of London's wealthiest merchants to take a significant retainer for no apparent reason. It soon becomes clear that Mr Rand has high hopes that Patrick will take an interest in his daughter Elise.
Patrick has already taken an interest in the beautiful Elise, but thought she was Rand's mistress, not his daughter! In any event, Patrick is on the verge of proposing marriage to a highly suitable and connected young lady whose father will help Patrick enter parliament, albeit as a Tory rather than a Liberal.
Then Patrick's most recent client, a brothel-owner, dies in suspicious circumstances, shortly after telling Patrick that she will pay him the balance of his fees once she has reminded a client of certain deviant behaviour - the clear inference being that she is about to indulge in some blackmail.
Soon Patrick is trying to solve the prostitutes' murders whilst reconciling his growing attraction to Elise with his political aspirations.
This book didn't go where I was expecting (on several occasions)and whilst that was refreshing it was also a little disconcerting at times.
I see this is the third book in a series - not sure whether the books are traditional romances or whether the central story is an investigation by Patrick. Either way I look forward to reading more.
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