Obsession

After suffering a series of miscarriages, Harriet Edgerton, the heroine of this solid Victorian historical from Lorimer (Dead Reckoning), despairs that she and her husband, Brook, will ever have children of their own. While onboard a boat from Liverpool to Dublin, Harriet befriends a destitute mother, Joan Lawson, with five children—the youngest a baby boy. To Harriet’s stunned surprise, Joan abandons the baby into her care, leaving it up to her whether to pass him for her own or send him to an orphanage. Harriet chooses motherhood, and hatches a scheme to deceive her husband about how Charlie, the name he acquires in Dublin, arrived in their lives. The cost of that deceit becomes clear only years later when it leads to a murder plot involving an attractive widow, Felicity Goodhall, who falls for Brook. Mystery fans should be prepared for a book that’s more romance than thriller, as well as a long wait for an actual crime. (Dec.)