The Paid Companion
Elenora Lodge is in need of an immediate position. As a paid companion, she is having trouble finding an employer who is not a drunkard or a lecherous rakehell. On the other hand, not many employers are willing to endure her forceful personality. Even more troubling, her employment firm, Goodhew and Willis, is running out of patience with her. Perhaps that is why she is willing to accept the position that the Earl of St. Merryn is offering. The position of fiancée. Perhaps it is the sum he is offering…triple her usual pay. Perhaps it is the chance to use the abilities she inherited from her actress grandmother. Regardless of the reason for her acquiescence, employer and employee begin a tenuous partnership fraught with danger, intrigue, romance and clashing wills as they seek to solve the mystery of the death of the Earl’s favorite uncle.
The Paid Companion is another feather in the cap of talented Regency author Amanda Quick (pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz). Once again, Ms. Quick has outdone herself. Her central characters are intelligent, strong-willed and independent, and their verbal sparring is the essence of Ms. Quick’s genius with a pen. Her rapier wit and indomitable sense of humor are essential ingredients that turn an interesting romantic mystery into a masterpiece. You will find this book too good to put down.
