The Finer Things

Bestselling author Joyce (Captive) puts a spin on the Pygmalion story in this Victorian-era romance about a gutsy orphan who sets out to become a lady. As a ragged, hungry child, Violet Cooper falls in love with nobleman Theodore Blake when she catches a glimpse of him. Years later, she marries an elderly knight and enters the fringes of society as Violette Goodwin, only to discover she finds Blake even more stunning when they meet for the first time. Blake, still suffering from rejection by his first love, tries to suppress his response to this upstart, even after Violette is widowed. When she's falsely charged with murdering her husband, however, he feels compelled to help, even to the point of marrying her. Likable characters and an intriguing murder mystery go off course toward the book's conclusion when a series of contrived plot twists separate the hero and heroine; the murder subplot is dropped abruptly, then resolved by an anticlimactic confession. (Apr.)