The Crimson Cavalier

Miss Georgiana Grey is not quite the proper gentlewoman everyone thinks she is in Clarke’s enchanting debut set in late 18th-century London. When a ruthless magistrate is found murdered, all signs point to the local highwayman, the Crimson Cavalier, as the culprit, but Georgiana knows differently and vows to discover the truth. The growing list of suspects includes her own brother, who’s officially involved in investigating the crime, and the keenly astute Max Lakesby, guardian of a young woman whose mother was trying to arrange her daughter’s marriage to the victim. By delving into the lives of the rich and the titled, Georgiana puts her own life in jeopardy. Clarke captures the flavor of the period and the hypocrisies of the socially prominent with flare while treating the less fortunate with sympathy. Readers will be eager for the next installment in the series. (Feb.)