The Counterfeit Lady

June 16, 2014
At the outset of Parker’s engrossing second Victorian Bookshop mystery (after 2013’s The Vanishing Thief), Georgia Fenchurch, self-described “middle-class bookshop owner,” learns of the murder of Clara Gattenger, a cousin of the close friend she calls “Aunt Phyllida” (aka Lady Monthalf). Clara’s husband, the naval architect Kenneth, has been hauled off to London’s Newgate Prison, though Lady Monthalf is sure the devoted Kenneth is innocent. That Kenneth’s plans for a new ship went missing the night of Clara’s death raises the stakes. Could a spy, intent on passing state secrets to Germany, have been the killer? To get to the bottom of things, Georgia must go undercover and infiltrate high society, posing as the lover of the Duke of Blackford, the very man for whom she secretly carries a torch. The promise of possible romance entices, Georgia’s clever sleuthing satisfies, and the cliffhanger ending will have readers eagerly awaiting Parker’s third historical cozy. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyons Literary Agency.

August 1, 2014
A bookseller in Victorian London leads a sub rosa life as a sleuth. Georgia Fenchurch is a member of the Archivist Society, a secret group of investigators with varied skills and backgrounds. Having already helped crack one case (The Vanishing Thief, 2013), she'd dearly love to solve a far more important mystery: the murder of her parents. While she's waiting for a lead in this case of a lifetime, murder continues to stalk the eminent Victorians. A woman named Clara Gattenger, who's the cousin of Georgia's friend Lady Phyllida Monthalf, has been killed in her own home. The blueprints for an important new battleship designed by her husband, Kenneth, have disappeared, and he's been arrested for his wife's murder. The Duke of Blackford, who's aiding the government, enlists the help of the society. Lady Phyllida, who's painfully shy, is willing to endure a return to society life to avenge Clara and prove Kenneth innocent. Georgia agrees to pose as her widowed relative Georgina Monthalf, recently returned from abroad. Accordingly, Lady Phyllida and Georgia set up house, complete with new wardrobes so they can travel in the upper-class circles of the suspects, who range from rival shipbuilding companies to society ladies. The duke and Georgia, already intensely attracted to each other, easily set up a flirtation as they try to prise secrets out of a German baron they suspect of arranging the theft of the blueprints. During a house party in the country attended by the whole group, another murder raises the stakes. A decorous period background, a plucky heroine, a darkly handsome romantic hero and enough suspects to keep you guessing.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.