For a Scot’s Heart Only

Conkle sends out her Scottish Treasures series with a brisk, sensuous Georgian-era romantic mystery (after A Scot Is Not Enough). Jacobite Mary Fletcher operates her business, Fletcher’s House of Corsets and Stays, while secretly working for a Scottish league to recover the Lost Treasure of Arkaig, gold sent by the French to support Bonnie Prince Charlie’s rebels. Mary and her friend Cecelia’s search takes them to a high-end brothel, the meeting site of a clandestine society, one of whose members they believe has the missing gold. While there, whaler Thomas West saves Mary from the clutches of a drunken sea captain. Their immediate mutual attraction escalates as Thomas gets roped into Mary’s misadventures—including breaking into the home of a lord—but even as love blooms, Mary remains wary of marriage. The lost Jacobite gold makes for an enticing treasure hunt plot and the intelligent, resourceful protagonists prove very well suited. This adventurous couple is sure to win readers’ hearts. Agent: Sarah Younger, Nancy Yost Literary. (Apr.)