The Deepest Sin

In this intriguing and satisfying conclusion to Richards’s Victorian trilogy (The Darkest Sin; The Deadliest Sin), a bluestocking adventuress finds love with a spy. Lady Meredith Woolcott, unwed at 36, finally feels secure. Meredith has been plagued for years by threats from Montague Faron, an old flame dedicated to ruining her life, but now he is dead and she can return to her intellectual pursuits. Then Lord Archer Rushford, ladies’ man and adventurer par excellence, claims that Faron is still alive, and Meredith is pulled into a web of deceit and danger. Unsure whom to trust and alarmed by her powerful attraction to Rushford after years of dormant sexuality, she must weigh the risks of love and betrayal. Meredith is at times too rational, but readers will appreciate plenty of red-hot passion and cheer for the formidable protagonist to finally get her chance at lasting love. Agent: Jet Literary Associates. (Jan.)