A Most Extraordinary Pursuit

Gray, the pseudonym of historical novelist Beatriz Williams (A Certain Age), launches a witty Edwardian series. In 1906, British personal secretary Emmeline Truelove is mourning the death of her longtime employer, the Duke of Olympia. After his funeral, the grieving widow asks Emmeline to go to Crete, where the duke’s heir, Max Haywood, who’s a scholar and archeologist, was last seen. The duchess directs Emmeline to travel under the protection of Lord Frederick Silverton, a handsome libertine whose frivolous manner masks surprising capabilities. At an excavation of the palace of Knossos, the pair discovers that Haywood has fled for his life after examining frescoes that seem to depict an object that didn’t exist until 1901. Pursuing him through the Aegean on the same path traced by the mythical Theseus and Ariadne, Truelove and Silverton must determine what Haywood has discovered, elude a pair of villains, and confront their mutual attraction. Gray cleverly integrates paranormal elements, romantic tension, and ancient lore with a spirited cat and mouse caper. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM Partners. (Oct.)