Susanna Ward, in 1809, is engaged to marry Lord James Ravenwood. It's an ideal match and Susanna waits, impatiently, for James to return to her uncle's estate, Rutherford Hall, to complete the wedding plans. She receives, instead, 'two' letters. One from James, postmarked from his estate in Derbyshire, declaring his undying love. The other, from Aunt Sophia, who informs her niece that she has just seen her finance, James, flirting openly with a very beautiful, notorious woman at Almack's in London.
Susanna is not a woman to sit around and stew over what is, or isn't true, and makes a deal with another aunt, Ruth Maryvale, to accompany her to London so she can discover what's amiss. From the moment they alight in the City perplexing events begin to take place. Susanna's first glimpse of her betrothed is one of him aiding in a robbery with a band of French rogues. As the plot deepens Susanna and Aunt Ruth find themselves entangled in a nefarious network of spies and scoundrels.
This book is a fun read if you don't mind stretching the imagination. A single woman, gadding about London unescorted, and in the finery of the day sets about aiding her beloved in his plot to foil foes of the King. Climbing trees, creeping down dirty alleyways, flirting with dangerous men - can it get any better?
