Dangerous Games
Charlotte Mede
Kensington Brava, Apr 2009, $14.00
ISBN: 9780758223692

In London her late husband would relish what is happening to his design for the Crystal Palace at the 1851 Exhibition in Hyde Park. There Queen Victoria will receive the renowned diamond Koh-I-Noor provided to her by East India Company representative Isambard Bellamy. The monarch and her agents are unaware of Bellamy's secret agenda; he plans to replace the monarch with himself.

Lilly Clarence Hampton's euphoria for her deceased spouse's success turns to acid when Bellamy's henchman, former English Agent Julian St. Martin, extorts the Crystal Place architectural designs from her as he uses her secret re her marriage against her. As Julian seduces the widow she wonders whose side is he really on and what can she do to thwart the villain.

DANGEROUS GAMES is a fast-paced Victorian Era action-adventurer thriller that grips the audience once the key three players appear. Lilly is a solid lead female who is falling in love with Julian, but fears he is betraying their country. Julian is an enigma to the widow he desires and the audience who like Lilly ponder if he is a seductive traitor. However, though his appearances are limited, the obsessed villain steals the show with his plan to destroy the British Empire replacing it with him as the dictatorial ruler.