Wednesday, June 4, 2008

My Lord and Spymaster-Joanna Bourne

My Lord and Spymaster
Joanna Bourne
Berkley, Jul. 2008 $6.99
ISBN: 9780425222461

When she became wealthy, she became respectable. So Jess Whitby wonders what happened that she has to use her pre-affluence skills of pick-pocketing. However, her objective is lofty as she needs to steal something from Captain Sebastian Kennett that will prove her dad innocent of the seditious crime of selling state secrets to Napoleon that he is being accused of doing.

At the docks, Kennett rushes to the aid of a woman being assaulted. He takes Jess to his vessel, but wonders what depths of deception this feisty female hides as she smells of perfume and lies instead of the streets of Katherine Lane, where she used to work the trade of urchin pickpocket. As they are each attracted to one another, Jess wonders could her heart betray her and her dad by falling in love with a traitor.

This is an engaging fresh Regency romance filled with plenty of action, a bit of a mystery, and two wonderful battling adversaries in love. The story line is fast-paced from the first encounter at the docks and never slows down as the spymaster lord and the former pickpocket tangle while trying to uncover the identity of who is the traitor in light of evidence that hangs her father.

Harriet Klausner

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