No one ever expected Julian Fortescue to end up becoming a Duke, least of all himself. But after a series of tragic accidents, illnesses and old age kills off most of his male relatives, Julian finds himself as Duke of Denford. As this book begins, he is also actually a wealthy man, having come to a settlement with all of his relatives that means he has the money to support himself in style. This doesn’t escape the notice of his dear mother, who promtly arrives […]
Baldacci popcorn thriller … no nuances, just a fun ride
If you’re looking for a lightweight quick read to go with popcorn, Baldacci’s latest thriller fits the bill. If you’re looking for subtley, nuance, serious character development and plausible plot, look elsewhere. Baldacci brings us another episode of his dynamic duo Sean King and Michelle Maxwell, former Secret Service turned private investigators who just can’t keep themselves out of trouble but who somehow manage to solve global conspiracies by themselves while magically winning the unpublicized appreciation of the U.S. President at the end of the […]
Abductions, Dionysian Orgies and Mummified Corpses Oh My!
We’re back in Rome, where Detective Nic Costa gets drawn into the case of a missing 16-year-old American girl whose mother insists she was abducted by a mysterious man on a motorcycle in front of a bunch of disinterested Carabinieri. While few at police headquarters take the mother seriously—the girl’s been gone less than a day, after all—Nic suspects that something more is going on. For one thing, the girl is the spitting image of a girl abducted 16 years earlier, whose mummified corpse […]