Dell, historical romance, February 2006
Connections to: all Hunter's Regencies, but especially The Sinner, The Saint, and The Romantic.

The Lady in the title is Charlotte, the Dowager Baroness Mardenford, better known to readers as the baby sister of Vergil, Dante, and Penelope Duclairc from previous books in this series. Charlotte crusades for women's rights, especially in terms of helping abused women gain the right to file for divorce.

As the story opens, she is attempting to recruit hotshot lawyer Nathaniel Knightridge to her cause. Charlotte and Nathaniel have always bickered like cats and dogs every time they meet—with one exception. About a month before the actions in this book, Charlotte was a masked lady of sin at an orgy hosted by Ewan McLean (Lord of Sin) and, as a result, knows Nathaniel a lot better than he thinks.

Though Nathaniel doesn't know the truth of Charlotte's daring masquerade, he does know that there is something other than rancor sparking his battles with the irascible Lady M. Problem is, he's still daydreaming about the impetuous lady he met at McLean's bacchanal and is troubled when his memories of this lady are superimposed over his more innocent encounters with Charlotte.

What ultimately forces Charlotte and Nathaniel to deal with each other is a street urchin connected to Nathaniel's most recent case, one who bears a remarkable resemblance to the current Baron Mardenford, Charlotte's brother-in-law. Charlotte adores her young nephew, and can't bear any scandal to touch him, so she dogs Nathaniel as he sets out to find the truth, determined that he can't be correct in his conclusions.

Ms. Hunter does not shy away from reality or ugly truths in her books, and everything is not always neatly tied up in a perfect bow in the end. Lady of Sin is no exception. There are no loose ends, per se, but there are compromises and a sort of open-endedness to the denouement that lesser writers than Ms. Hunter would not be able to tackle.

Though I still grieve for the fact that Ms. Hunter stopped writing medievals in favor of Regencies, she could write the instructions on a matchbook and still enchant me. No matter what era in which she sets her stories, they are always well-grounded in the history of the period, giving readers a real feel for the world they have entered upon opening a Madeline Hunter book.

1/2

Review ©2006 by Riley Merrick