Phoebe Hillier never really wanted to marry her betrothed,
but that does't stop her from being mad when he calls off
the engagement, claiming he has money troubles and must
leave the country. When the prime minister of historical
England is assassinated the next day, Phoebe suspects there
was more going on that what her ex-finance told her. The
Duke of Wittaker, James, is also out to discover what really
happened with the prime minister, and when he and Phoebe
cross paths, they know they have a better chance of solving
the mystery together...that is, if they don't fall in love
first.
Michelle Diener does an excellent job writing historical
fiction with superb mysteries and witty romances, and A
DANGEROUS MADNESS does not disappoint. Though there are some
familiar faces from one of her other books, A BANQUET OF
LIES, this story focuses on James and Phoebe, two people who
are both sick of putting up society's pretenses. I love how
they complement each other so well and work together to
figure out what really happened in the prime minister's
assassination.
Though the mystery and suspense in the novel is
page-turning, I do wish there had been more romance between
James and Phoebe. As individuals, they are strong characters
that are so intelligent, and I love how their brains spark
as the clues add up. For mystery lovers, I don't think it
will be an issue, but I just love this couple so much that I
would have liked to have seen a little more focus on them
than the mystery.
Overall, A DANGEROUS MADNESS is a fabulous novel for any
historical fiction fans to pick up. Diener has a strong and
noticeable voice as an author, and I never get tired of
sitting down and reading her works.
He’s been spying on the dissolute, discontented noblemen of
the ton, pretending to share their views. Now he’s ready to
step out of the shadows and start living a real life...but
when the prime minister of England is assassinated, he's
asked to go back to being the rake-hell duke everyone
believes he still is to find out more.
Miss Phoebe Hillier has been living a lie, too...
All her life she's played by society's rules, hiding her
fierce intelligence and love of life behind a docile and
decorous mask. All it's gotten her is jilted by her
betrothed, a man she thought a fool, though a harmless one.
But when she discovers her former fiancé was involved in the
plot against the prime minister, and that he's been
murdered, she realizes he wasn't so harmless after all.
And now the killers have set their sights on her...
The only man who can help her is the Duke of Wittaker--a man
she knows she shouldn't trust. And she soon realizes he's
hiding behind a mask as careful as her own. As the clock
ticks down to the assassin's trial, the pair scramble to
uncover the real conspiracy behind the prime minister's
death. And as the pressure and the danger mounts, Phoebe and
Wittaker shed their disguises, layer by layer, to discover
something more precious than either imagined–something that
could last forever. Unless the conspirators desperate to
hide their tracks get to them first.
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