AN HEIRESS'S GUIDE TO DECEPTION AND DESIRE

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.