#a minus

Really Great Not as great as Hereditary but still great  I give it an A minus 

SUMMARY: A cousin of Georgia’s dear friend, Lady Phyllida Monthalf, is brutally murdered in her home during the theft of blueprints of a new battleship designed by her husband—who now stands accused of her murder…and treason. The Duke of Blackford, in service to Whitehall, enlists Georgia and the Archivist Society to assist in the investigation. Playing the part of the duke’s new paramour, Georgia gains entry into the upper echelons of London’s elite, where amidst elegant dinners and elaborate parties a master spy schemes to lay hands on the stolen plans.

The duke is no stranger to the world of international espionage, but Georgia is out of her element in more ways than one. She must not allow her genuine attraction to the duke—or her obsession with finding her parents’ killer—to distract her from her role. But when a mysterious stranger threatens to expose her, the counterfeit lady may be in real trouble...

I didn’t know how Kate Parker would redeem herself in this 2nd book. The 1st book was quite predictable, and there were aspects of it that I had to roll my eyes over. But I decided to give this series another chance because I did love the characters with their unique backgrounds, and the setup of a bookseller and a duke running around London to solve mysteries together with capable side characters was just too much to resist.

And I regret nothing upon finishing this book! This sequel has the markings of what I love about most espionage plots and mysteries. It’s also in Parker’s favor that she used this national security conflict to further develop the romance between Georgia and Blackford.

Besides that, the plot is also unique! It knocked my socks off indeed. I love how complicated it was, and unlike its predecessor, I couldn’t predict who the villain was at all. The twists were amazing, and I’ve flipped the page faster than I could probably blink.

This book is not perfect, however. Georgia still makes some silly decisions and thoughts. She’s so devoted to her bookshop that, really, it’s no wonder why she gets easily discovered by some people, and that’s one of the things I wish she wouldn’t keep on doing. She’s just so stubborn about the things you don’t usually think about if you have common sense. So it does take some great suspension of disbelief to take this aspect of her seriously. What happened to creating disguises? Even if that may grow tiring (wearing wigs and costumes), it’s still a better way of hiding where you are and preserving the secret you have. So on that point, it still doesn’t make sense to me how she could go on working in her bookshop and expecting she could go investigate another place without being known.

Despite the niggling faulty logic, this book wow-ed me. It’s many times better than the first, and I’m glad I didn’t give up on this series just yet.