Whew. I take back my recommendations for the order of reading this series. Apparently the author just published another of the series and chronologically it fits somewhere amongst all the other three. This one is a bit more convoluted and darker than the others, but I like the series and I sticking with it! ( )

This book was really a mixed bag for me. The basic elements of the story were good. Charles and Melanie are great characters; I like them and enjoy spending time in their company. But this sequel did not live up to the standards of the first in the series. It was just too much.

The shift in time was too abrupt, switching to events that happened a few years before the first book with no warning. It was not handled well and it took me about 30 pages to adjust my mind to the change, a rarity for me. There were too many characters, too many red herrings and dead ends, too many shocking revelations. There were too many instances of a character not being the biological son/daughter of their supposed parents. Too many times a character would say & do things, but wait, he/she has a secret, end of chapter, subject dropped and not picked up for several chapters, if at all. The whole thing was choppy and disjointed. I realise that it's fiction and escapist fun, but credibility was strained to the breaking point. The first book was a fun, silly adventure. This book crossed the line into bad soap opera.

Bottom line? Because of my affection for the characters, I'll try the next in the series, albeit with reservations. But if the next one is like this one, I'm done with Tracy Grant. ( )

Charles and Mélanie Fraser appear to be a typical Regency couple moving in the glittering world of London society. However, their shared past is significantly more complex: both of them were involved in espionage during the Napoleonic Wars, and now one of their former contacts desperately needs their help. Their encounter with this man leads to the knowledge that Charles’s childhood friend Honoria Talbot might be in danger from a sinister pro-French organization called the Elsinore League. When Honoria is subsequently murdered at a house party in Scotland, it’s up to the Frasers to capture her killer and possibly to unveil a traitor in their midst.

Having devoured Grant’s previous novel Secrets of a Lady (a.k.a. Daughter of the Game), which also featured the Frasers, I was excited to read this prequel. However, this book isn’t quite what I expected. Given Charles and Mélanie’s involvement with intelligence work, I thought the story would primarily be about political intrigue. Instead, the vast majority of the plot revolves around who is sleeping with whom. Essentially, this book is a Regency soap opera with gasp-inducing twists and turns on virtually every page. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the book – in fact, I found it compulsively readable. The plot is extremely convoluted, though, and in the end I’m not sure that the mystery was wrapped up satisfactorily. Still, I found this novel an extremely compelling read and look forward to reading Grant’s remaining books.

Historical fiction, 19th century, England, murder mystery

There were just way too many characters in this story. The book read like a romance yet there really wasn't a romance.

Melanie and Charles were likeable but the rambling plot took away from much of my enjoyment ( )