Slightly Shady

There's something Slightly Shady about Lavinia Lake. First of all, no decent woman would go into trade, even when an unscrupulous employer leaves her stranded abroad with her young niece. But the capable Lavinia has landed on her feet, peddling dubious reproductions of ancient artifacts in Rome to earn passage home. When a madman ransacks her shop, accusing her of aiding and abetting a murderous gang of thieves, Lavinia and her niece Emeline return to London, where Lavinia once more takes lemons and makes lemonade, becoming a private investigator. In the course of her first discreet inquiry for a wealthy aristocrat with secrets to hide, Lavinia runs into her madman once more, standing over the recently deceased body of a blackmailer. Not exactly your usual beginning for a relationship, but Mr. Tobias March is hardly an ordinary man. In fact, he's quite extraordinary, Lavinia very reluctantly admits to herself. When threats to Lavinia's safety force her into an unlikely partnership with the mysterious Mr. March, the fur--and a petticoat or two--flies. A heady combination of passion and the shared thrill of the hunt for a depraved murderer may lead Lavinia and Tobias to form a partnership of a more permanent kind. Lively suspense with a healthy dose of passion, Amanda Quick's Slightly Shady is truly addictive storytelling. --Alison Trinkle