Sapphires Are an Earl's Best Friend

January 20, 2014
Galen’s third and final Jewels of the Ton Regency romance (after 2013’s If You Give a Rake a Ruby) will mostly appeal to series fans. Lily Dawson is the Countess of Charm, a notorious courtesan. She’s also a spy for the Foreign Office, assigned to seduce the Duke of Ravenscroft and find out whether he’s a traitor. Lily has secretly been in love with Andrew Booth-Payne, the Earl of Darlington, for years, but he only notices her when she begins flirting with his father, the duke. Andrew’s interference quickly changes to welcome kisses, leaving Lily to walk a careful line between two amorous men while she races an unscrupulous spy-killer to the evidence she needs. The plot moves along and there are a few interesting turns, but despite some solid chemistry, the unsympathetic characters and thin veneer of menace make this story the weakest of the set. Agent: Joanna MacKenzie, Browne & Miller Literary Associates.