At her friend Ivy's behest, Emily reluctantly agrees to attend a party at the sprawling English country estate of Lord Fortescue, a man she finds as odious as he is powerful. But if Emily is expecting Lord Fortescue to be the greatest of her problems, she is wrong. Her host has also invited Kristiana von Lange, an Austrian countess who was once linked romantically with Emily's fiancé, the debonair Colin Hargreaves. What Emily believes will be a tedious evening turns deadly when Fortescue is found murdered, and his protégé, Robert Brandon—Ivy's husband—is arrested for the crime.
Determined to right this terrible wrong and clear Robert's name, Emily begins to dig for answers, a quest that will lead her from London's glittering ballrooms to Vienna's sordid backstreets. Not until she engages a notorious anarchist in a game of wits does the shocking truth begin to emerge: the price of exonerating Robert can be paid only by placing Colin in deadly peril. To save her fiancé, Emily must do the unthinkable: bargain with her nemesis, the Countess von Lange.
So I wanted to strangle Emily a bit in this book for all her internal quibbling over whether Colin was going to run off with the Countess - it was obvious that Colin was smarter than that and that he was madly in love with Emily. So that was a sticking point. Other than making Emily a bit of a ninny of a man (this after she pretty much makes it clear that she was going to stand up to Lord Fortescue - which, in hindsight, did give her a motive that only she knew about), this was a fun mystery with a lovely section set in Vienna. The Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) is a character and Tasha Alexander renders her beautifully (this takes place after the tragedy of Mayerling). Going to Vienna had the added bonus of getting Emily away from her crazy mother (even if she did take the annoying Bainbridge with her).
Now, I have to go find the Emily and Colin wedding scene floating around on the Internet before reading book four.
Dear FTC: I bought a copy of this book on my Nook.
No comments:
Post a Comment