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4.0 out of 5 stars
an immensely enjoyable read, Jan 8 2003
I have always rather enjoyed Martha Kirkland's Regency romances even when I've taken issue with some plot points. Now, again, with "An Inconvenient Heir," Ms Kirkland has penned (I believe) another winning Regency romance novel that most readers will find to be both enjoyable and rewarding.Cordelia (Delia) Barrington is terrified. She has witnessed the murder of her friend, William Halcomb, and is terribly afraid that the murderer will now come after her and William's infant son, Robbie. And so, Delia flees to Em Regis, in Sussex, to seek refuge with Robbie's maternal gypsy great-grandmother. Although William was the heir to a small estate and baronetcy, his marriage had estranged him from his father, Sir Allistair Halcomb -- William's choice of bride was not quite blue-blooded enough. Now, however, Delia has no choice but to turn to Sir Allistair for help. And so she writes to him, informing him of his grandson existence, and begging him to come for Robbie. You see, Delia is afraid that William's cousin, Mitchell, who happens to be an officer in His Majesty's Army, and who would have ended up as Sir Allistair's heir if William had died before he fathered a son, may have been responsible for William's death, and who may now be out to put an end to Robbie's life. (Where Delia got this notion from and why, is never really discussed or gone into, and I'll freely admit, is the plot point I had problems with). What Delia doesn't expect is for Sir Allistair's lawyer to intercept her letter and for him to ask Mitchell to investigate Delia's claims. For his part, Mitchell Halcomb (late of His Majesty's Army) is incensed that such a heartless jade as Delia is trying to extort money from a grieving old man by suggesting that William had been married and that he had an heir. And he sets out for Em Regis, determined to prove that Delia is a fraud and a criminal. What he finds in Em Regis, however, isn't the nefarious Delia Barrington but two gypsies instead -- in particular the fetching and enchanting Dee. (You guessed it, Dee is actually Delia in disguise). However, before Mitchell can settle into discovering what is going on -- who the gypsies actually are, where Delia Barrington actually is, and why the gypsies are residing at the very cottage he expected to find Delia -- villainous thugs attack. Now, Mitchell and Dee must join forces in order to evade the villains and find out who is after them and why. But can they rely on each other? For while Mitchell is sure that Dee is hiding vital information from him (such as where Delia Barrington actually is, and why villainous killers are trying to kill them), Delia/Dee is still wondering if Mitchell is the mastermind behind William's death, and if he means to harm Robbie... "An Inconvenient Heir" had three subplots working in tandem with each other. There is the subplot involving the developing romance between Mitchell and Delia; an adventure subplot in which Mitchell and Delia try to evade the murderous (if slightly ineffectual) thugs; and the murder-mystery subplot revolving around the murder to William Holcomb. And while the romance and adventure subplots were really nicely developed -- a smooth unfolding of these plots at a nice and even pace -- I thought that the resolution of the murder-mystery plot was rather rushed. Everything was suddenly presented to you -- clues, suspects, etc -- in a few chapters, and the solution was presented fait accompli. Being a bit of a mystery buff, I'd preferred it if the mystery plot had been a little more developed, but I suppose one cannot have everything! And anyway, Martha Kirkland does a really good job of tying these three rather different and disparate subplots together. One thing really niggled at me however: I couldn't understand why William never talked about his family to Delia. I can see why he wouldn't have wanted to talk much about his father. But you'd have thought that, at some point, he would have talked about his favourite older cousin and his situation. It certainly would have helped Delia to know that she didn't have to fear what Mitchell's intentions really were, and this reticence on William's part made no sense to me. On the whole though, "An Inconvenient Heir" proved to be a truly enjoyable read. It had almost everything -- murder, adventure, intrigue, a dashing hero, a courageous and intelligent heroine and a rather electric romance. Martha Kirkland does a brilliant job of developing the romance between Delia and Mitchell, bringing to the fore the tension that Delia feels about her attraction to a man she doesn't exactly trust, as well as her fear as to what her masquerade will do their relationship once everyone realises that the gypsy Dee and Delia Barrington are one and the same. Also nicely done was the manner in which Kirkland sketches in Mitchell's growing attraction to and appreciation of Dee and his determination to treat her with honour in spite of the fact that he believes her to be a gypsy. Because this is a Signet imprint, the scenes between Mitchell and Dee are fairly innocent, but they still sizzle. All in all, an immensely satisfying and enjoyable read.
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