A Masquerade in the Moonlight: A Masquerade in the Moonlight

Michaels ( The Bride of the Unicorn ) packs this historical romance, set in England in the early 1800s, with nostalgia and transparent mystery, but she manages to keep the narrative engaging. At the age of 18, Marguerite Balfour comes to believe that her father's death six years earlier was a suicide. Going through his journals she learns of the Club, a group of five men who lured Balfour into an unwise business investment. The Club gave him the chance to recoup his losses by murdering their political adversary; Balfour apparently chose instead to take his own life. Soon after, Marguerite makes her debut in London and plans the downfall of the Club. Its members are negotiating the covert, and treasonous, sale of ships and supplies to the U.S., which is slowly moving toward war with England. Thomas Joseph Donovan, the headstrong Irish-American sent to London to investigate the deal, encounters Marguerite at a ball and quickly realizes he's met his match. Marguerite is at first suspicious of his involvement with the Club, but ultimately decides she can have both love and revenge as the two unite against unforeseen danger. (Jan.)