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With an effort, Patrick walked back to the hired coach and thrust the puppy inside. Then, catching the door frame, he pulled himself up after. "You, my miserable little whelp, are a sad case indeed," he told the cowering creature. "But I think I know someone who will doubtless welcome you."
Posted for The Friday 56, which is hosted by Freda's Voice
This novel is set in decadent Regency England. Elise Rand is the only child of a very wealthy merchant, Bart Rand. Patrick Hamilton is a rich and ambitious merchant. When Bart Rand is accused of murdering a prostitute, Elise goes to Patrick to defend her father. Patrick refuses to do that but agrees on one condition that she will give herself to him. Elise agrees to it.
However, there is more to it. Elise is a reformist. She is not above helping poor girls who have been forced to sell their bodies. She goes out of her way to get medical help for them. She is not from the nobility but she can stand on her own. She believes her father to be innocent although he refuses to reveal the truth. Patrick is not convinced of Bart's innocence. Yet he agrees to fight the case.
In the midst of the case, we find out that many other prostitutes too have been murdered. Now who is the culprit? The novel keeps the suspense alive till the end. This novel is more like victorian suspense then a romance and that suits me fine!
Neither of us knew the rate of bribing a goaler at the Old Baily. My friend Daniel Suter was two steps below me on the way down to cells. He'd fought his way through the crowd to get there, pushing aside men twice his weight with bruiser's faces, ignoring jeers and curses. In those two steps he'd crossed the boundary of civilized modern building of the Central Criminal Court and the centuries-old misery of the passageway connecting it to Newgate prison next door. Freshly plastered walls gave way to damp brick and a smell of choked drains.
"I want to see her." Daniel said to the goaler's broad back.
He looked terribly out of place there, a slim and elegant hat in hand. That was one of the reasons they were jeering at him.
"How much?" said the goaler, half turning.
A Dangerous Affair by Caro Peacock
Our heroine Liberty Lane is all alone save for a brother who is serving in India. He gives his blessings to her to marry Daniel Suter, who is a very good friend of hers. She likes him but marriage is not in her agenda. She barely makes through by giving music lessons.
A well known dancer, Columbine is murdered by poison. A young dancer is arrested for the crime. Daneil is heart broken as he has fallen for that girl. Liberty takes it upon herself to get to the bottom of the crime. Now, a young politician, Benjamin Disraeli had asked Liberty to find out all about Columbine before she was murdered. Columbine was a notorious woman, with many liaisons. She had more enemies than friends.
Liberty is hot on trail and in the way she finds the murky way the royalty works. The novel has rich imaginative settings and a likeable protagonist and a good plot. All these elevate the novel.
