The Viscount Made Me Do It (Clandestine Affairs, 2)
Like most of his class, Thomas, Viscount Griffin scoffs at bonesetters, dismissing them as charlatans. In an effort to prove this to the Hospital Board, he visits Hanna Zaydan, a talented Arab bonesetter, on the pretext of needing relief from a painful war injury. After a few treatments (ouch!) he’s convinced she can do what no other physician can. The instant attraction can’t be denied, and he continues to visit the clinic – ostensibly to discover why she’s wearing his mother’s necklace, which disappeared the day she and Thomas’s father were murdered. The answers rock Thomas’s whole understanding of family and loyalty.
This well-researched murder-mystery-romance explores women’s roles in the early 19th century, and the difficulties faced by independent working women in a male-dominated profession. It also touches on racial bias and the lucrative pastime of body-snatching. Hanna has a refreshing directness about her, initiating relations with Thomas because she has no intention of marrying and wants to experience carnal love with a man she adores. Both families, one working-class and one aristocratic, are equally disdainful of a match. This is a study of mutually growing attraction and respect between two people from opposite ends of the class and racial spectrum and is interesting for its insight into the ancient art of bone-setting.
