Lantern for the Dark

This absorbing historical romance combines a fine mystery and a revealing social portrait of 18th-century Scotland. Unmarried Clare Kelso awaits trial in Glasgow in 1787 for the death by poison of her 10-month-old son. The baby's father, Frederick Striker, has vanished. Orphaned and poor, Clare had been taken in by wealthy relatives to care for their three young children, and it was through her ambiguous position as servant and family member that she met the charming, roguish Striker, whose reputation as a womanizer only enhanced his appeal. But Striker has a darker side, a fact that his submissive sister and the judge at the trial know well, each for their own reasons. Rising defense attorney Cameron Adams listens to Clare's story about the circumstances of the baby's death with mounting perplexity, and after some keen detective work he is sure that Clare is lying to protect someone. The author of The Asking Price deploys fully realized characters against the background of a greedy and corrupt society operating under a thin veneeer of respectability. This richly detailed morality tale features a taut trial scene and a cache of surprising secrets that will keep readers totally involved. (June)