In the latest installment to the rollicking Jack Absolute series (after The Blooding of Jack Absolute
), Humphreys borrows from Sheridan's The Rivals
to tell a highly successful adventure story with a large dose of romance. After surviving the Battle of Quebec and a long winter in the New World, Jack is ready to return to England and rejoin the 16th Light Dragoons. Aboard the slave ship Sweet Eliza
, Jack befriends Red Hugh McClune, an Irish grenadier with mysterious intentions. Once in England, Jack and McClune travel to Bath, where McClune's unattached cousin, the lovely Laetitia Fitzpatrick, piques Jack's fancy. Their courtship proceeds smoothly until Jake finds himself unwittingly lured by Laetitia into a seditious conspiracy, and when Jack's superiors dispatch him to go undercover in Rome, the truth about those he thought he knew becomes tragically apparent. With his way with words and swords, Jack proves once again to be a dynamic hero—an honorable spy with a soft spot for love—and a bangup leading man for what is fast becoming a rousing, must-read series. (Nov.)
