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A review by elusivity
Cut to the Quick by Kate Ross
3.0
Julian Kestrel is a Regency dandy with a mysterious past, fine intellect, and empathetic heart. Hugh Fontclair is being forced into marriage with Maud Craddock, but invites Julian as best man after meeting the young man once and in gratitude for saving him from a gaming hell.
At Bellegarde, everyone is harboring one large secret, and smaller secrets of their own.
An extremely-intricate plot which unravels with reason and clarity, lightly but comfortably Regency. Hugh is a sympathetic main character. However, I found the whole thing rather bloodless -- the horrifying lacking horror, the sweet lacking sweetness. A good read for a leisurely afternoon.
Recommended.
At Bellegarde, everyone is harboring one large secret, and smaller secrets of their own.
Spoiler
When an unknown young woman is found murdered in Julian's bed, Julian swears he would suss all these secrets out in order to save his man Dipper from the gallows. The big secret is, Hugh's uncle, the Colonel, revealed military secrets to his French mistress during the war, who then sold it for money. Mr. Craddock found these letters at a pawn shop, and blackmails the Fontclairs into asking for his daughter's hand in marriage. The young woman turns out to be mistress of the Colonel's son, Guy; yet also, the daughter of the French mistress, who had idolized the Colonel and traveled to England to seek out when her mother died. She is killed by Isabelle, the poor-relation, because she is desperately in love with Guy and hated all his women.An extremely-intricate plot which unravels with reason and clarity, lightly but comfortably Regency. Hugh is a sympathetic main character. However, I found the whole thing rather bloodless -- the horrifying lacking horror, the sweet lacking sweetness. A good read for a leisurely afternoon.
Recommended.