It's 1936, Spain is on the verge of civil war, the Nazis are threatening Europe's stability and Lord Edward Corinth is coming to terms with the decline of his own titled class in England—made all too clear by the murder of three of his Eton classmates. This intriguing second book in Roberts's series (Sweet Poison) reunites the wealthy, genteel and idle Edward with plucky journalist Verity Browne when she asks for his help in freeing her former lover, the communist ideologue David Griffiths-Jones, from jail in Spain. It appears Griffiths-Jones has been framed for the murder of another Communist Party member working to resist Franco's military rebellion. Although Edward's investigation does eventually lead to Griffith-Jones's release, personal matters call him home before the mystery is fully resolved. Edward almost forgets about Spain. But when a banker friend is murdered in his London home, Edward begins to suspect a link between these two deaths and a third—an African safari mishap of another classmate. Edward and Verity, political opposites but alike in many ways, dodge their attraction for one another as they toggle between Spain and London seeking the connection. This complex story of class division and political ideas resists a neat and tidy resolution. Even so, a few logical inconsistencies in motivation and switches in point of view—not to mention Edward's own too perfect, treacly family—undercut a compelling historical filled with distinctive, gritty characters and literary allusions. (Oct. 1)
