WICKED WIDOW

Quick delivers another reliable Regency romantic-suspense story, her second in a series (I Thee Wed, 1999, etc.) about

masters of the ancient philosophy and martial art of Vanza. Along with a load of useful rules for living, Artemis Hunt was taught shrewdness and craftiness by monks in the Garden Temples of Vanzagara. He intends to use these skills to avenge the death of his lover, Catherine, a young actress killed escaping from three debauched rakes who raped her. In London, Artemis makes a fortune as the "Dream Merchant," the proprietor of pleasure gardens called the Magic Pavilions. With the help of his "Eyes and Ears," loyal street urchins who search the city for bits of juicy gossip, he plots to ruin the perpetrators and then revel in their total destruction. Quick, however, has other plans for Artemis. She places in his way Madeline Deveridge, the "Wicked Widow," the daughter of another Vanza master. Madeline earned her epithet after she killed her husband, Renwick, who poisoned her father and threatened to murder her aunt. Madeline believes Renwick may still be alive and wants Artemis to help find him. When it appears she and her aunt may not be safe, Artemis invites them into his home. (The gambling clubs have bets on their books awarding œ1,000 to any man who can live through a night with the W.W.) Though Madeline has professed no taste for any "crackbrain" eccentric of the Vanza persuasion, she observes immediately that Artemis is "mature yet agile." During an agile encounter in the library, he discovers, to his surprise, that Madeline and Renwick never consummated their union; she might be a widow, but she was never a wife. The lovers sort out the problems created when two strong personalities attempt to merge, and together they thwart their rather hollow Vanzagarian nemesis. Quick always choreographs a pretty dance between lovers involved in a mutual challenge. Her legion of fans won’t be

disappointed.