BETRAYAL IN TIME

A time-traveling FBI agent is more celebrated for her forensic skills than her social ones.

Even though it’s no picnic to be stuck in 1816 England, Kendra Donovan is fortunate to have become the ward of the Duke of Aldridge, who passes her off as the daughter of an old friend and the lover of his nephew, Alexander Morgan, the Marquis of Sutcliffe, who is indeed keen to marry her. Both men, fascinated by her knowledge, try to help her adjust to a very different world in which her outspokenness often lands her in trouble. Having already solved one murder case (Caught in Time, 2018), she’s a natural choice for Bow Street Runner Sam Kelly to call on when Sir Giles Holbrooke is found naked with his tongue cut out in an abandoned church. Sir Giles was both a spymaster and an adviser to the prince regent, and his death is sure to cause shock waves. His body was covered with a crosslike symbol written in invisible ink that became visible only when the heat of the lanterns used during his autopsy brought them out. Reporter Phineas Muldoon hints that politics and the Irish problem may be involved. Then again, Gerard Holbrooke, a spoiled young man deep in debt, may have killed his father to escape being shipped off to India. The sleuths discover that Sir Giles’ long friendship with the family of apothecary Bertel Larson ended in disaster when Sir Giles convinced their brilliant son Evert to spy for him and he was killed in an incident in France that left Lord Eliot Cross and Capt. Hugh Mobray the only survivors. Kendra finds both the parents and their son David bitter over Evert’s death. When Cross is murdered in the same way as Sir Giles, the members of the Larson family become prime suspects. But Kendra senses something fishy about the story of how Evert died and knows she must dig deeper in search of the truth.

A much improved mystery, a touch of history, and the obligatory romance combine for a pleasing read.