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After her 15th consecutive New York Times bestseller, USA Today called Amanda Quick (an alias for Jayne Ann Krentz) "one of the hottest...writers in romance today." In Slightly Shady, Quick tells the story of Lavinia Lake, an Englishwoman who returns to England after her antiques shop in Rome is destroyed by a stranger who claims to be on the trail of criminals. Upon her arrival, Lavinia becomes the target of a blackmailer, who turns up dead when she attempts to meet him. Waiting for her at the scene is the man who destroyed her shop, a P.I. named Tobias March. In her desperate quest to find the source of the intrigue surrounding her, Lake is forced to team up with the mysterious March, only to fall passionately in love with him.
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Spirited heroines and sardonic heroes populate this sexy Regency-era thriller by the ever reliable Quick, alter ego of Jayne Ann Krentz. This time out, Quick offers the parry and thrust of danger and romance, as embodied in resourceful Lavinia Lake and roguish Tobias March. Lavinia first encounters Tobias when he bursts into her antiques shop in Rome, trashing her wares, all the while claiming to be on the trail of a murderer and warning Lavinia that she is in danger. There's also talk of treason, a criminal organization known as the Blue Chamber and an evil mastermind named Azure. Despite her skepticism, Lavinia returns with her niece, Emeline, to London, where she is caught up in more intrigue. She sets herself up as a private detective and even though stubbornness on both sides leads to an oil-and-water pairing, she soon finds herself in business with Tobias, attempting to foil a blackmail scheme, locate the culprit in a series of murders and identify the surviving member of Azure's organization. Arch humor and the expert removal of bodices are Quick's stock in trade, and the old formula still works splendidly. As usual, the novel's outcome is visible a mile off, but familiarity, after all, is golden in literary franchise land. Major ad/promo. (Apr. 10) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
In Quick's latest Regency, Lavinia must team up with a private investigator to save herself from scandal--and ends up falling in love. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Another humorous, romantic mystery of Regency England. To save herself and her niece from embarrassment and financial ruin, Lavinia becomes a discreet, but paid, sleuth to determine who is blackmailing her client-and her. Unhappily, she is compelled to join forces with Tobias, a professional investigator chasing a wicked villain who leaves bodies behind for the pair to discover. In typical Quick style, after much repartee they become partners in more ways than one. This easy read is sure to please the author's fans.-Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
After being stranded with her niece in Rome by her employer, Lavinia Lake opens up an antique shop. However, private investigator Tobias March destroys her merchandise and tells Lavinia to return to London or else. He says nasty villains have used her shop to pass messages. He explains that a criminal named Carlisle killed Bernard Ruckland and will murder again if necessary.In London, Lavinia visits Holton Felix, an odious person trying to blackmail her. Instead of a confrontation, Lavinia finds Holton dead. Tobias enters the room a few minutes later. They search for a missing diary with incriminating evidence of treason and other crimes, but fail to find it. Thus starts the teaming of the reluctant professional detective Tobias with obstinate amateur sleuth Lavinia. Although each one insists to a beloved relative that they find the other despicable, they begin to fall in love. However, Tobias' investigation is dangerous and Lavinia has a tendency to place them in deadly situations. New York Times best-selling author Amanda Quick furnishes her myriad of fans with an exciting non-stop historical romantic mystery with numerous twists and turns. The story line equally provides justice to the romance and the sleuthing, which, in turn, both historical sub-genre audiences will relish the tale. The lead characters are a fun pair either squabbling or loving while the secondary "good guys" enhance understanding of them. Hopefully, the writer will quickly return with more stories from this dynamic detective duo.
Kirkus Reviews
Another winner from Quick (Wicked Widow, 2000, etc.), this one a Regency mystery. Lavinia Lake thought it would be easy to launch her young niece Emeline into society. All she would need to do is bring the girl along on a pleasure trip to Italy and let her hobnob with people of quality, especially the fascinating Mrs. Underwood. Unfortunately, their traveling companion preferred orgies to tea parties and ran off with a count of doubtful lineage. Lavinia and Emeline ended up stranded in Rome, penniless-until Lavinia had another brilliant idea: open an antiquities shop selling classical bric-a-brac of even more doubtful lineage. Now, she's unaware that several notorious criminals are using her shop as a place to leave each other messages, but p.i. Tobias March knows all about it. Though convinced that the lovely Lavinia is innocent, he orders her to return to England and smashes up the shop in the process. Employed by a nobleman who prefers to remain anonymous, Tobias is on the trail of Azure, the mysterious leader of the criminal consortium known as the Blue Chamber. He never meant to put Lavinia at the mercy of a blackmailer or jeopardize her niece's chances of marriage, but his rash action does just that. Meanwhile, detection work intrigues Lavinia, who is as determined to launch Emeline as ever. So, she reinvents herself as an investigator and wangles a commission from the low-born but well-married Joan Dove, who has received a death threat in the form of a wax figurine in her likeness lying in a pool of blood. Lavinia and Tobias join forces to solve the case, moving through every circle of Regency London from glittering society balls to filthy brothels. A galleryoflife-sized wax nudes posed in erotic tableaux provides the first clue in this ingenious and deftly plotted mystery rife with twists and turns. Nobody does it better.
From the Publisher
Quick has spun a tense and romantic tale in thecrumpets-and-strumpets milieu of Regency England, and her pacing is impeccable....Bottom line: sexy and suspenseful.”
–People
“If you start an Amanda Quick book in the late afternoon, you’ll probably spend the night with it.”
–The Denver Post