In the world of British spies, James Locke has a
reputation as a master safe cracksman, which makes him a
very valuable commodity in the Great Game between England
and Russia. However, on the night he breaks into the safe
of a Russian sympathizer, hoping to find a list of British
operatives which contains his name at the top, he is
stunned to witness a valuable necklace remove itself from
the safe and then float out of the house. He gives chase,
and tracks the necklace to the home of the Havershaws, a
family of women who have recently moved to London and who
only accept visitors during daylight hours. Intrigued,
James returns the following day in disguise, and learns
that Lusinda Havershaw, the oldest of three sisters who
lived with their Aunt Eugenia, helps people to recover
items which have been unlawfully taken. James hires
Lusinda under false pretenses, and then sets a trap in the
study of his home, determined to figure out what tricks
she uses to achieve her mystical thievery.
Lusinda isn't certain that she trusts the man who
has hired her to recover his watch, but her talent for
invisibility which she inherited from her mother, a member
of the race of Nevidimi from Russia, has allowed her to
keep food on the table ever since her parents died eight
years earlier. Her caution is proved justified, however,
when James traps her with a net when she ventures into his
home in search of the stolen watch. James at first thinks
she is a magician of sorts, until his hands encounter a
flesh and blood woman who is completely naked. With her
secret revealed, Lusinda decides to flee London with her
family, but James offers her a second option; become a
British operative and use her talents to help him with his
work and in exchange, he will provide amply for the needs
of her family.
Lusinda knows that her unusual ability prevents
her from the possibility of a normal life, but she's
determined to help her aunt and sisters, so she
reluctantly accepts James's offer. Her one condition is
that no one is to know her true identity or the nature of
her invisibility, which is brought on by exposure to
moonlight. But over the next few weeks, Lusinda is
dismayed to realize that she's falling in love with James,
the first man who has understood her secret and still
finds her beautiful, both in the moonlight and out. She
finds herself yearning for a future which can never be,
for James has told her that he will never marry because of
the danger inherent in the life of a spy and besides, what
man would want a wife he can't see? Is Lusinda destined to
forever live a lonely existence, just because of a little
trouble with moonlight?
THE TROUBLE WITH MOONLIGHT is an entertaining
story which allows the reader to indulge in an intriguing
game of "what if". The difficulties inherent in
invisibility are deftly handled by Donna MacMeans, both
from a physical and emotional standpoint, and James,
Lusinda and Aunt Eugenia are wonderful characters. I would
have enjoyed a little more depth in the characters of
Lusinda's sister Portia and James's friend Marcus, and the
moments of intimacy between James and Lusinda were largely
glossed over, as if the author wished to avoid writing
love scenes, but taken as a whole, the story was
intriguing and fun to read. A good choice for a warm
summer night filled with moonlight.
In the midst of a moonlit safecracking mission, British
spy James Locke witnesses a ruby necklace spirited away as
if by conjurer's trick. Following the jewels leads him to
Lusinda Havershaw, who's inherited the talent of turning
invisible in the moonlight—at least, the parts of her that
are unclothed. Locke trains Lusinda in espionage, even
while he finds her close proximity bewitchingly
distracting. And as their mission to track Russian spies
grows treacherous, they'll find that the heart behaves
even more mysteriously than Lusinda in the moonlight
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