Touch of a Thief-Mia Marlowe

Touch of a Thief
Mia Marlowe
Kensington Brava, May 1 2011, $14.00
ISBN: 9780758263520

In 1856 Lady Viola Preston turns to stealing to keep her family from falling into financial ruin. She is terrific at opening any lock, her income maker is robbing jewelry. However, her problem with taking jewels is that when she touches a gem with her hands, she sees visions. Thus she uses gloves.

In India, a felon takes a priceless red diamond from a temple. Fearing the violent repercussion when the theft becomes known by the local populace, Captain Greydon Quinn seeks the gem to bring it back to its rightful place. He needs a thief to catch a thief so he keeps a diligent eye out for a certain cat burglar. His surveillance works as he catches Viola and blackmails her into retrieving the purloined jewel from a deliveryman. Their trek takes them onto the continent and back to London as the clues prove false, but their attraction proves true.

This entertaining Victorian romantic suspense grips the reader even before the lead couple meets, but takes off once they do. The story line is fast-paced as the action moves from India to Europe, but it is the characters who make the plot exciting fun as the thief steals the line officer’s heart while they hunt the stolen diamond.

Harriet Klausner