Imperial Scandal
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- €10.99
Publisher Description
As two countries prepare for war, the whirl of revelry hides unimaginable deceit.
Nights waltzing at candlelit balls…champagne-filled picnics on golden afternoons…When Napoleon's escape from Elba puts the Congress of Vienna into chaos, Intelligence Agent Malcolm Rannoch and his wife, Suzanne, remove to Brussels where the Duke of Wellington is preparing for battle. They find the city, on the verge of war, seemingly bent on pleasure. But one night Malcolm slips away from one of the endless round of lavish balls to meet with a fellow spy. Gunfire interrupts their meeting and claims an unexpected victim.
No one knows what Lady Julia Ashton, the demure wife of a British officer, was doing at the château where Malcolm and his fellow British spy are ambushed. But now her enigmatic life has ended in an equally mysterious death.
As the conflict with Napoleon marches toward Waterloo, and Brussels surrenders to bedlam, Suzanne and Malcolm search for the truth. The secrets behind Lady Julia's life and death lead them into an intricate labyrinth of secrets and betrayals in which no one can be trusted…not even a spouse.
"A brilliantly multilayered mystery and a must-read for fans of the Regency era." --Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British spy Malcolm Rannoch and his intrepid wife (and fellow spy) Suzanne have returned for more intrigue in Grant's newest Regency-era novel (after Vienna Waltz). Now in Brussels, Malcolm and Suzanne attend the usual parties, but the ever-present threat of confrontation with Napoleon is palpable. When Malcolm is called away from a ball to meet a French informer at an ostensibly empty ch teau, an unexpected firefight takes the life of Lady Julia Ashton. In the course of Malcolm and Suzanne's investigation to discover what Ashton was doing at the remote rendezvous, a host of ulterior motives and dubious identities is exposed. An unexpected twist further reveals that Suzanne has secrets of her own. When the Battle of Waterloo begins, Suzanne must reconcile her warring loyalties to her husband and to her infamous employer. This sprawling Napoleonic epic (thankfully supplemented with a "Dramatis Personae") involves a cast of dozens and an intricate plot that is constantly morphing no one is who they seem to be and everyone has something to hide. However, for a spy saga set on the verge of one of the most important battles in European history, Grant spends a lot of time discussing love and relationships. While such a focus enables readers to become sympathetic toward her characters, it tends to drag the story out. Readers will begin to wonder how many more plot twists and double agents they can handle. A strong historical, but definitely for patient readers.
