The Saint Who Stole My Heart

Sloane (The Sinner Who Seduced Me) awkwardly melds romance and mystery in the fourth Regency Rogues installment. Bluestocking Elena Barnes arrives at the home of Dashiell Matthews, viscount Carrington, whose dazzling looks and reputation for stupidity mask a sharp intellect and a secret career as a spy. Expecting only to catalogue Dashiell's library, Elena is lured by her lively chaperone into fashionable society and predictably drawn to the handsome viscount and his unauthorized pursuit of a figure code-named the Bishop, who killed Dashiell's friend's mother many years before. Despite steamy encounters, Sloane fails to make either the growth of the emotional relationship or the intrigue surrounding Dashiell's investigation particularly convincing. A detour into the victimization of women forced into prostitution feels forced, and Sloane's grasp of Regency custom and language is irritatingly uneven. Agent: Jennifer Schober, Spencerhill Associates. (May)