Cathy Maxwell, A Seduction at Christmas

A Seduction at Christmas

Cathy Maxwell

Avon, Nov 2008, $7.99

ISBN: 9780061350986

In 1809 an angry Hester Bowen tells the woman she is two minutes late before realizing that the person she hired Annie Jenkins did not arrive. Fiona Lachlan explains Annie could not make it as she ran off with a soldier so she came instead. Hester wants Fiona to slip a potion into the drink of Lord Belkin. However, instead of meeting Belkin at the inn, she is escorted to the room occupied by Duke Dominic Lynsted who is expecting Andres Ramigio. His first reaction at seeing the beautiful woman who entered his room is that of a vision he had almost a decade ago that warned him to 'beware innocence'.

However all hell breaks out soon after she entered his room when assassins arrive to kill him. Fiona and Dominic escape through the window heading to his family estate. Pretending to be his ward, Fiona assists Dominic on his quest to find a stolen ring and locate a Spaniard expatriate who vanished without a trace while eluding paid killers. As they fall in love, she wonders how an innocent like her became embroiled in 'Scandals and Seductions'.

'A Seduction At Christmas' is an excellent Regency romantic amateur sleuth thriller that never slows down from the moment half of England enters Dominic's room at the inn. The storyline is fast-paced and filled with plenty of action especially when the guardian and the ward investigate. Cathy Maxwell provides a great historical romantic mystery that will keep her fans up late with a one sitting read.

Harriet Klausner