The Deception of the Emerald Ring

From Publishers Weekly Harvard Ph.D. candidate Eloise Kelly continues her research of early 19th-century spies in the smart third book of the Pink Carnation series, following the well-received The Secret History of the Pink Carnation and The Masque of the Black Tulip . This installment focuses on 19-year-old Letty Alsworthy, who, after a comedy of errors, quickly weds Lord Geoffrey Pinchingdale-Snipe, her older sister's intended. Geoffrey, an officer in the League of the Purple Gentian, flees to Ireland the night of his elopement. Unbeknownst to Letty, his plan isn't to abandon her; it's to quash the impending Irish Rebellion. When Letty tracks down her prodigal husband in Dublin, not only does she learn of his secret life as a spy, she's sucked into it with hilarious results. Willig—like Eloise, a Ph.D. candidate in history—draws on her knowledge of the period, filling the fast-paced narrative with mistaken identities, double agents and high stakes espionage. Every few chapters, the reader is brought back to contemporary London, where Eloise gets out of the archives long enough to nurse her continuing crush on Colin Selwick. The Eloise and Colin plot distracts from the main attraction, but the historic action is taut and twisting. Fans of the series will clamor for more. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist Willig turns in the third in her clever series combining historical and contemporary romance and featuring scholar Eloise Kelly ( The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, 2005; The Masque of the Black Tulip, 2006). Eloise's research into a group of English spies during the Napoleonic Wars has led to an infatuation with Colin Selwick, a descendant of one of her subjects, and immersions in the adventurous stories she uncovers. The reader shares Eloise's fascination with the past as Willig fleshes out each romantic tale, here telling the story of Geoff, Viscount of Pinghingdale, and his exploits with the celebrated spy known as the Pink Carnation. Geoff is attempting to run off with the woman of his dreams only to end up mistakenly abducting her sister, Letty. Her reputation compromised, they hastily marry. The bridegroom then takes off for Ireland at the behest of the English government, and the bride promptly follows under an assumed name, never imagining the dangers they'll encounter. Willig's latest is riveting, providing a great diversion and lots of fun. Patty Engelmann Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Lauren Willig is a law student and Ph.D. candidate in history at Harvard University. She is the author of The Secret History of the Pink Carnation . Read more