Amanda Quick, The River Knows

The River Knows

Amanda Quick

Putnam, April 2006, $24.95, 368 pp.

ISBN: 0399154175

Anthony Stalbridge is highly placed in society even though his family is considered very eccentric. At present, his image is tarnished because his fianc e committed suicide and there are rumors that he was breaking off their engagement. Although Anthony is sure she was murdered, he wants to find the killer in the hopes that it was nothing he did or didn't do that caused her demise. He believes Edwin Hastings had something to do with her death and he tries to break into the man's bedroom safe.

Coming out of Hasting's bedroom is Louisa Bryce who is looking into Hastings investment in a brothel. They meet up with each other and he grabs and kisses her because he hears a guard coming. After they leave, they talk about why they are interested in the same man. Louisa wants to write a story about him and Anthony wants to prove he murdered his fianc e. Later that night, he breaks into the safe and finds his fianc e's necklace there as well as proof that the man is an investor in the brothel. As Louisa and Anthony work together to bring Hastings down, they fall in love but she has a dark secret that she hides from everyone and fears when she tells Anthony he will turn from her in disgust.

Taking place in the late Victorian era, THE RIVER KNOWS is a fantastic romantic thriller. Like any Amanda Quick novel, this book is a charmer due to the realistic characters who don't quite fit the society mold. Their amusing antics will have readers chuckling out loud while the support cast moves the plot along quite subtly in a tantalizing tale filled with plenty of action and quite a few surprises.

Harriet Klausner