The Perfect Mistress

August 1, 1995
Gabrielle LeCoeur, the illegitimate daughter of a duke and a celebrated courtesan, needs a nominal lover; the jaded, libertine earl of Sandbourne, Pierce St. James, needs help gathering evidence against the prime minister-so they strike a bargain that for all its pragmatic beginnings soon evolves into something entirely different. As in The Last Bachelor (Bantam, 1994), Krahn uses a light touch to address a serious social issue (i.e., the vulnerability of women in Victorian society), combining wit and whimsy with a high degree of sensuality in a gracefully written, well-plotted, and occasionally unpredictable story.