The Counterfeit Lady by Kate Parker is the second in the Victorian Bookshop Mystery series, and the sequel to A Vanishing Thief. Georgia Fenchurch is an antiquarian bookseller in London, and is also a member of the Archivist Society, a group that investigates matters brought to them by concerned parties. In the course of the first book Georgia made more than a passing acquaintance with the Duke of Blackford, who had an interest of his own in the case she was pursuing. This time, Blackford reappears and requests Georgia's assistance with another case- this time involving Britain's national security.
This case has a personal stake for Georgia as well. A woman has been murdered- and the woman is a relative of Phyllida Monthalf, who is a friend of Georgia's and was herself rescued by the Archivist Society years ago. Georgia promises they will get to the bottom of the murder, but it is a race against time as the murdered woman's husband is a ship designer- and some crucial plans have gone missing. The husband is the prime suspect, but Blackford suspects foreign spies are at work, trying to get a copy of the highly sensitive plans. Blackford decides that Georgia must impersonate a high society lady to gain access to the gossip and secrets that are swirling around the case... and not only that, she must pretend to be his paramour as well. Georgia would like nothing more than to spend time with the duke- but when it becomes clear that someone knows her true identity and will stop at nothing to obtain the plans, Georgia must decide how far she will go to find the killer... but will her own heart be broken in the process?
This book is just a lot of fun. Georgia is a great heroine, and there are twists and turns galore as the plot plays out. Blackford of course seems a little too perfect but Georgia is resourceful and can take care of herself, thank you very much. They have a great relationship, full of sexual tension (but this is Victorian times so everything is kept very appropriate). My absolute favorite part of this book was the repartee between Georgia and the various nobles and titled women she comes in contact with. The dialogue and banter are the strength of this series. I think I enjoyed this one every bit as much as I did the first one, and will be looking forward to the next book.
This book sounds great!! I am so in the mood for these type of little cozy mysteries - I will have to read this one!
ReplyDeleteI've never actually heard of this book or series, but now I'm glad I read your review! :O I love mysteries, and this one sounds like a series I could get into. Great review, Greg!
ReplyDeleteI'm behind on my blog visiting so I'm just now getting to this review. I've been waiting for your review since you first started mentioning this book and I'm glad to see it didn't disappoint. I'm going to have to see if my library has the first one. Regardless I think this series is going on my wishlist. Thanks for sharing! This is a series that I would've hated to miss!
ReplyDeleteBy disappoint I mean the book not your review of course. All the allergy medicine is making me forget to use the actual nouns!
DeleteThanks for waiting, and reading the review! I really do like this series a lot, and highly recommend it. Definitely read the first one, I think it's great, but this one is good too. The characters are great, dialogue is great and the relationship between Blackford and Georgia is fun to read- they are separated by social class but both obviously want to be together, so the frustrations of dealing with that add a lot to the stories.
DeleteI'm glad there's a third one in the works too.
Like Katherine, I've been waiting for your review and then it took me a few days to get here. It sounds delightful and I'm glad I already put it on my wish list. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're going to read it, I think you will enjoy it. It's a world I've enjoyed visiting anf was a little sad to leave, just like the first one, and I look forward to the third one to see where the Duke of Blackford and Georgia go.
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