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3.0 out of 5 stars
More of a duck than a skylark, Jul 1 2004
Six years ago, Sir Stephen Ball was in love with his sister's best friend Laura. But, although she was fond of Stephen and they spent many hours together talking and playing chess, she wanted excitement, and so she accepted the proposal of Hal Gardeyne, a noted Corinthian and son of a viscount. Now, Laura is widowed, and Stephen, now an MP, wants to try again. So he finds an excuse to visit her home one month away from the end of her period of mourning, hoping to get in first and begin courting her before a more dashing man can cut him out once more.Laura, now mother to the three-year-hold heir to the Caldfort title, is terrified that her brother-in-law, vicar of the Caldfort living, plans to bring about the death of little Harry in order to inherit the title himself. But she can't take Harry away from the Caldfort estate, cold and unwelcoming as it is, because his grandfather won't allow her to take him away for more than a few days at a time. So she's trapped there. When Stephen arrives, she is nursing Harry back to health after a poison scare - was it deliberate or accidental? So she is in no fit state to welcome a former suitor, especially a man whom she laughed at when he proposed to her during her engagement to Hal. But the discovery of a possible claimant to the Caldfort title, who would displace not only Harry and his uncle but the current holder too, affords Laura an opportunity to get away from Caldfort. She decides to investigate to find out whether Henry Gardeyne, her husband's cousin, really is alive, and Stephen, seizing an opportunity, comes with her to help her. And thus begins a journey through the West Country, some of it in disguise, taking in Redoaks and Crag Wyvern, meeting again Nicholas and Eleanor and David Kerslake, soon to be Earl of Wyvern. The dramatic plot to this book really doesn't hold the attention. I was not at all interested in whether Jack Gardeyne really was trying to kill his nephew, nor in the question of whether the other Henry Gardeyne was really alive. The sneaking around, rummaging through other people's correspondence and listening through walls and doors was not only uninteresting, it was somewhat distasteful - and surprising, given Stephen's position as an MP and lawyer and the efforts of the other Rogues, in earlier books and spelled out in this book, to keep Stephen away from anything questionable. The fact that this part of the plot moves very slowly does not help. I'm still not sure whether I liked Laura or not. Is she sensible, intelligent and thoughtful, or a flighty flibbertigibbet? She doesn't seem to know herself, and I acknowledge that this is part of the journey: she married young, at 18, when she was flighty and valued title and good looks above character. She seems to have become sensible enough for Stephen, and I did enjoy their philosophical conversations. But she kept changing her mind about herself and her intentions, which was frustrating. I did like Stephen, whom I didn't know very much about; his role in previous Rogue books has been limited. Some reviewers seem to be complaining about the lack of sensual content; I'd strongly disagree here. There is quite a bit of sexual tension, which is enjoyable, and the sexual content is about right. For me, St Raven was overly laden with sex scenes, and less interesting as a novel as a result. It was also good, as always, to see Nicholas and Eleanor again; disappointing not to see other Rogues, however - no advance on Hal and Blanche's story here - and somewhat irritating to have the Kerslake/Wyvern connection, since Demon's Mistress (Con's story, set at Crag Wyvern) is my least favourite Rogues novel and I really disliked the characters and setting. I even find myself hoping here that Beverley isn't setting up David Kerslake as a future hero... Overall, far from Beverley's best; (...)
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