A Flaw in the Blood
By Stephanie Barron
(Bantam, Paperback, 9780553384444, 304pp.)
Publication Date: December 30, 2008
Other Editions of This Title: Google eBook, Hardcover, Hardcover
Categories: Historical - General, Mystery & Detective - Traditional British, Suspense
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The acclaimed author of the bestselling Jane Austen mysteries brings rich historical immediacy to an enthralling new suspense novel centered around Queen Victoria’s troubled court…and a secret so dangerous, it could topple thrones.
Windsor Castle, 1861. Prince Albert, the Queen’s Consort, lies dying, and Victoria summons Patrick Fitzgerald, the clever, embittered Irish barrister who helped defend Her Majesty from a would-be assassin twenty years earlier. Within hours, Fitzgerald’s beautiful ward is nearly murdered, his chambers are ransacked, and another girl lies dead. Could an unknown force at Windsor want Fitzgerald silenced? And why? The answers are entangled in an electrifying tale of intrigue, seduction, and betrayal, partially narrated by Europe’s most powerful monarch.
As fascinating as the Queen herself, seamlessly blending history and suspense, A Flaw in the Blood is an elegant thriller that is utterly convincing—and utterly surprising—to its very end.
Stephanie Barron is the author of nine bestselling Jane Austen mysteries. She lives near Denver, Colorado, where she is at work on her next novel of historical suspense, The White Garden.
“Barron writes a lively adventure that puts warm flesh on historical bones.”—New York Times Book Review
“An enquiry into the death of Queen Victoria’s beloved Prince Consort…. Intertwined with information about medical malpractive 150 years ago and royal genealogy.”—Kirkus Reviews
“[A] beautifully written novel, filled with twists and turns…. You’ll smell the scented chambers at Windsor and the filth in the hovel, along with the Victorian hypocrisy. And you will be so caught up in the characters that you'll wish Barron would turn Georgie and Patrick into a series, just as she did with Jane Austen.”—Denver Post
“A suspenseful tale that fits with several little known facts about the Victorian monarchy…. . Barron skillfully paces the book to keep the reader's interest heightened.”—Boulder Daily Camera
“A thrilling chase through Europe with plenty of action and…. The stunning conclusion will leave you wondering about the course of British history.”—Rocky Mountain News
“With all the earmarks of a gothic romance—guilty secrets, hopes dashed, revenge plotted, this fast-paced mystery is a winner for fans of Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney, as well as the more contemporary Carlos Ruiz Zafón.” —Booklist
“Engaging…The history of the royal line is diverting, and the royal gossip is even more so.” —Publishers Weekly
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