Anne Mallory Daring the Duke

Daring the Duke

Anne Mallory

Avon, Aug 2005, $5.99, 384 pp.

ISBN: 0060762233

The Duke of Marston Stephen Chalmers failed to catch Hermes the thief who apparently retired until now. For an unknown reason, Hermes has committed six robberies in a week, but this time Stephen knows that the long assumed male thief is a she, Audrey Kendrick; once he has her accomplices he will send her and her team to Newgate.

Audrey detests the blackmailing Travers who has her sister Faye as a hostage to force Hermes to do his bidding. Travers is upset to see Stephen "Bloody" Chalmers with Audrey and warns her to stay away from the gentleman spy. However, it is difficult to avoid someone who seems to be everywhere you are. As Stephen sets up his final trap to capture the entire Hermes gang, he finds his admiration for Audrey's courage and daring grow and his desire for her interfere with his thought process. Audrey falls in love with the forbidden fruit of an aristocrat who wants to send her to Newgate, Australia, but Faye's safety must come before her betraying heart.

Though readers know who the thief, her "handler" and the sleuth are from the start, DARING THE DUKE is a fabulous Regency romantic suspense due to a terrific triangular cat, rat, and mouse game between the key threesome. Fans will enjoy Stephen's dilemma as he has fallen in love with the obsession he wants to send to prison. Audrey is a brave individual who sub-genre fans will emphasize with about her dilemma, hoping that somehow she overcomes the impossible with Stephen at her side.

Harriet Klausner