Deadly Affair

Lucinda
Brant
ISBN Number: 
B007RZBN9S
Genre: 
Mystery

Alec Halsey, career diplomat and recently titled marquess has just returned to London. At a dinner party hosted by his friend, Sir Charles Weir, one of the guests suddenly dies. With suspicions still surrounding Alec's possible involvement in the death of his brother, and now a vicar dying at his feet, Alec is thrust unwillingly into the spotlight. Meeting up again with his lover, Selina Jamison-Lewis after parting acrimoniously a month previously, sorting out their love life, and delving into the mysterious death of the vicar who did not die as first thought from natural causes, Alec has his hands full.

Set in 1763, Deadly Affair is the second book in the Alec Halsey Mystery series. However, it can easily be read as a stand-alone. Lucinda Brant has a beautiful writing style and a careful grasp on the social mores, political environment and tangled affairs of the aristocracy of Georgian England. Her characterizations are layered and complex. The mystery is intricately woven into an absorbing plot

Perhaps it is Ms Brant's intention to keep the romance between Alec and the widowed Selina very light. Yet the romance is the one area in this impressive novel that could be strengthened. The Alec and Selina scenes were subtle yet sublime, filled with sexual tension. The potential is here to bring the love story into greater prominence as Ms Brant has created a hero that is every bit as intelligent, intriguing and captivating as the mystery itself.

There is just enough of a relationship between the protagonists to satisfy the romantics, though. Certainly for readers who enjoy the romance to take a back-seat to the history and mystery this will be a wholly satisfying read. Lucinda Brant is a gifted writer and Deadly Affair is highly and enthusiastically recommended for lovers of historical mysteries!

Jill MacKenzie