The Lady Travelers Guide to Larceny with a Dashing Stranger

Alexander’s adventurous, sensible, and self-assured older women, her energetic exploration of the turn-of-the-19th-century European setting, and her madcap social plotting continue to delight in the second installment of the Lady Travelers series (after The Lady Travelers Guide to Scoundrels and Other Gentlemen). After the absurd accidental death of Lord Bascombe, his wife, Lady Wilhelmina, is left with a legendary reputation, few friends, and a distinct lack of money. She is convinced by her godmother, Poppy, to host a tour of American mothers and daughters in her Paris home for the Lady Travelers Society, with the secret goal of recovering a valuable painting her husband used to secure a loan in Venice. Dante Montague, accompanying his sister and niece, mercenarily directs his substantial charm at Wilhelmina in the hope of completing a triptych in his family museum with the same painting. Soon he must decide whether he cares more about the art or the lady. A secondary plot concerning the machinations of the young women to escape their mothers and explore the wilder side of Paris is sparklingly fun and makes it clear that the story is centered on women. This is a wonderful continuation of a highly enjoyable series. (Dec.)