Silk Is for Seduction

A saucy dressmaker ensnares a duke in this deliciously witty 1830s trilogy launch loosely tied to Chase's Carsington Brothers series (Last Night's Scandal, etc.). Born into a noble but ramshackle family, the three devious Noirot sisters start a London dress shop and are soon engaged in fierce competition for the business of society ladies. When the sisters discover that wealthy Gervase Angier, duke of Clevedon, is about to become betrothed to his childhood friend, Lady Clara Fairfax, Marcelline Noirot heads to Paris to catch Clevedon's eye and encourage him to send Lady Clara to her for a wedding dress. With a sharp eye for both upper-class society and the cutthroat world of high-class London mantua makers, Chase mixes snappy dialogue, erotic tension, and the fanciful styles of the era into a sparkling love story as Marcelline's strategy ensnares not only Clevedon's patronage but his heart. (July)