Thursday, April 23, 2015

Good Rake Is Hard To Find - Manda Collins

Good Rake Is Hard To Find
Manda Collins
St. Martin's Paperbacks, Mar 31 2015, $7.99
ISBN: 9781250061065

One of the Lords of Anarchy four horsemen Jonathan Craven substantially leads another club member Frederick Lisle in a carriage race from Basildon to Dartford.  However, a third coach catches up to the former Napoleonic War veteran and as Jonathan tries to escape he crashes to his death with his last thoughts on letting down Nora.

His grieving sister Leonora believes her brother did not die in an accident, but instead was murdered due to his Lords of Anarchy association.  She wants to investigate but knows a woman will receive no cooperation.  Thus she makes her case with her former fiancé Frederick who agrees to help her infiltrate the club; but for Leonora to gain entrance they must pretend they are patching up their broken relationship.  As they work the case closely together, both know they remain in love; but Nora owes Freddy an explanation as to why she ended their betrothal.

The first Lords of Anarchy romantic mystery is a rousing Regency in which Manda Collins adroitly ties together the suspense and second chance at love subplots.  The fully developed amateur sleuths turn this into a tremendous historical as they work the dangerous case while feeling déjà vu of falling in love all over again.


Harriet Klausner

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