D'Alessandro's latest historical romance (after Not Quite a Gentleman
) features an engaging murder mystery and a heroine refreshingly free of title and rank. While attending Lord Malloran's soiree, London fortune teller Madame Alexandra Larchmont fears that Viscount Sutton, Colin Oliver, may recognize her as the woman who picked his pocket four years earlier. Hiding in a study, Alex overhears partygoers detailing a murder plot. She flees the party by leaping from a second-floor window, only to come face to face with Colin, who hasn't forgotten the beautiful pickpocket. When, just hours later, two men turn up dead in the room from which Colin saw Alex leap, he becomes intent on and tracking her down. After Colin finds and confronts Alex, he reluctantly decides to believe her story of the overheard murder plot, and the two get to work installing her at Lord Wexhall's, where the murders are meant to take place. The romance between Alex and Colin scintillates, and the whodunit murder mystery makes good use of a beguiling cast of characters, as each come under the scrutiny of the sexy sleuths. (Aug.)
