From Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, a sweeping, romantic
compulsively readable historical saga about a Duke's daughter--the
perfect Victorian lady--who secretly moonlights as an amateur sleuth for
high society's inner circle.
Victorian London was notorious for its pickpockets. But in the country
houses of the elite, gentleman burglars, art thieves and con men preyed
on the rich and titled. Wealthy victims--with their pride and reputation
at stake--would never go to the police. What they needed was a society
insider, one of their own, a person of discretion and finely tuned
powers of observation, adept at navigating intrigue.
That person was Lady Mary Montagu Douglas Scott, the youngest child of
Queen Victoria's close friends the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch.
Bookish, fiercely intelligent, and a keen observer, Mary has
deliberately cultivated a mousey persona that allows her to remain
overlooked and significantly underestimated by all. It's the perfect
cover for a sleuth, a role she stumbles into when trying to assist a
close friend during a house party hosted by her parents at their stately
Scottish home, Drumlanrig Castle.
It is at this party where Lady Mary also meets Colonel Walter Trefusis,
a distinguished and extremely handsome war veteran. Tortured by memories
of combat, Walter, like Mary, lives a double life, with a desk job in
Whitehall providing a front for his role in the British Intelligence
Service. The two form an unlikely alliance to solve a series of
audacious crimes--and indulge in a highly charged on-off romance.
Pacy, romantic, and fun, A Most Intriguing Lady documents one
remarkable woman's ability to be both the perfect lady, and a perfectly
talented detective...and, of course, to find love too.
