The Earl: A Devil’s Duke Novel
London, 1822. A pamphleteer called Lady Justice speaks for the disenfranchised in Britain—especially the women—while hiding her real identity as Lady Emily Vale. On the opposite side of town, Colin Gray, the chauvinistic Earl of Egremoor, has been living a double life as a spy. The two were friends as children but, when Colin grew up, he turned his back on Emily; and they became strangers.
Colin suspects Lady Justice is a man. What woman could write so cogently and well? When Emily, as ‘Lady Justice,’ petitions the Earl, an experienced finder, to locate her sister who has been abducted to Scotland, he agrees—if he can see her face when he succeeds. But Colin meets Emily on the trail north to Scotland and, as they travel together, enduring hardship, facing danger, forced to cooperate, they learn to trust each other again.
There’s nothing like a trek across rough country beset by thieves to make people appreciate each other. Scotland in 1822, when rural jobs were scarce and crime was rampant, makes a perfect setting for the second Devil’s Duke Novel (after The Rogue). This is a well-written, well-paced novel. Although Lady Justice is a proto-feminist and Emily and Colin treat the underprivileged with respect, The Earl is a conventional romance with a happy ending.
