Lord Deverill's Secret

by Amanda Grange

Book Overview

A delightful tale of romance and intrigue from the acclaimed author of Mr. Knightley's Diary. Arriving in Brighton, Cassandra Paxton had one important task-to uncover the meaning of a letter she'd found amidst her late brother's belongings. She knew of only one man who could help her: Lord Deverill, who just happened to be the most eligible bachelor in all of Brighton. But what she didn't realize-until it was too late-was that the handsome earl had...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425217728
• ISBN13: 9780425217726
• Release Date: November 2007
• Publisher: Berkley
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.8" x 5.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Lord Deverill's Secret

I loved this book, It is well written and held my attention all the way through. Loved the twist at the end. Will buy more of her books.

Kept Me Pleasantly Entertained

After her brother's untimely death, Miss Cassandra Paxton had come to Brighton to accomplish two things - put her Brighton townhouse up for sale and uncover the meaning of an unfinished letter she'd found amongst her late brothers belongings. The only name she knew of a man that might be able to help her was an earl, Lord Justin Deverill who was well thought around the seaside resort as one of the most eligible, if not wealthy bachelors. The thing Cassie did not know was that Lord Deverill held a closely guarded secret regarding her brother's death. This was most inconvenient for Cassie as Justin's mere touch sent her heart rate racing, and twice as bad for Justin who had fallen in love with her portrait before he'd ever met her. If Cassie learned his secret, Justin knew the easy relationship they'd fallen into would be destroyed forever. *** I admit to loving the Traditional Regency Historical period and as a first time reader of this author, this was like stepping back in time with the mood, the cant, and the author's descriptive and beautiful lyrical prose. Cassandra was well a fleshed out strong character with clear motivations. No nonsense, she had no illusions that her lack of a dowry meant there was less chance of marriage especially as the new head of household with her ten year old sister Lizzie to care for. Even if asked, and she had been asked, she would only marry for love. Selling the townhouse in Brighton would enable her to make ends meet, give her a means to restore her estate and give Lizzie a decent season. However, Cassie first had to discover if the unfinished letter she'd found in her brother's belongings meant he had left an unforeseen new debt on her doorstep. Whetting the readers imagination was the question ..."What `terrible' thing had he done?", and what a fine `hook' to draw the reader in. Justin knew what the terrible secret was, but for Cassie's own protection, he had to keep her from discovering the truth. When several `accidents' happened around Cassie it eliminated a coincidence aspect and Justin knew she was in danger. The reader gets pretty caught up in poor Lord Deverill's miserable predicament; here was the woman of his dreams and even though he had a title, he couldn't ask her to marry him as he had no money to back it up. Plus, and this was the big one, Cassandra would despise him should his secret be revealed. Filled with an abundance of possible villains the author kept the culprit's identity right up to the finale, and with the epilogue you'll fine an even bigger surprise in the end. Don't spoil the fun by reading the end first as the book is fast paced and totally entertaining. Readers will enjoy this story which is crafted with engaging characters and a sweet romance just perfect to while away a blustery storm filled day. Marilyn Rondeau, www.ck2skwipsandkritiques.com

A sweet, fluffy little read!

Lord Deverill has a secret, and it won't take Amanda Grange's readers too long to find out what's going on. Even though there are not a lot of surprises here, and Cassandra is quite quick to forgive, it's all in splendid fun and just what Regency lovers expect. There's an accidental death that leaves our heroine's folks impoverished, mysterious close-call accidents and daring rescues by Lord Deverill... What more could I ask for when I just have to have a literary vacation from the real problems of life! The author's characters are easy to love and the setting of Brighton is a nice change of pace! Recommended!

exciting Regency romantic suspense thriller

Her brother Rupert died in an accident last year, but Miss Cassandra Paxton could not go through his personal things until recently. She found a letter in which Rupert lamented feeling haunted by leaving a young woman seduced without any support. Not sure what it means, Cassandra visits Rupert's friend Lord Deverill who says to forget it as there is no young woman. She still plans to follow up just in case someone needs her help even as she places the family summer house in Brighton for sale; as the family is broke. Cassandra follows up on her inquiries with other friends of Rupert while Deverill has her followed for her safety as much as not wanting the truth revealed. However, someone is more sensitive than Deverill with concealing what happened to Rupert and much more; that individual arranges for deadly accidents to occur to Cassandra with Deverill saving her life. As they fall in love, she begins to uncover the truth about her wastrel brother even as she and Deverill seek to uncover the identity of the culprit trying to silence her This is an exciting Regency romantic suspense thriller in which the obstinate courageous heroine refuses to halt her inquiries into the truth about her late sibling. Deverill admires her, but also fears for her life more so than a possible future together that he knows is doubtful especially if she learns what he and other "conspirators" hide from her. Although she forgives him too easily, fans will want to know just what LORD DEVERILL'S SECRET is. Harriet Klausner

A light and easy read

No surprises here! If you've read any other books by Amanda Grange then you know what to expect - an easy read for a lazy Sunday afternoon or for light holiday entertainment. As many of her other books, this is set in the Regency period and most of the action takes place in Bath. We meet our gentle heroine, Cassandra, who is in Bath to tidy up her house there in order to sell it - she's running low on money following the death of her brother. She meets Lord Deverill who has a secret (the book's title is a bit of a giveaway) and Cassandra meets him in order to try to find out what her brother was up to at the time of his death. It seems she has opened a can of worms; no sooner is she asking questions of her brother's friends when near-accidents start to befall her. Of course, Lord Deverill is usually around to help her out of her scrapes - like all good heroes. Eventually they band together to catch the person behind all these problems and mixed with some espionage and the possibility Cassandra will go off Lord Deverill (he was, unfortunately, partly responsible for her brother's death - a circumstance she seems to get over remarkably quickly) they eventually find their man. There are some interesting little vignettes into Regency life - bathing machines is one example - but this is no scholarly work in the tradition of Georgette Heyer. It's a fun and gentle story with a very nice hero and heroine and even the baddies seem a little, well, amusing.