What's New
 
AN AFFAIR WITH MR. KENNEDY – Jillian Stone
The Gentlemen of Scotland Yard , Book 1
Pocket Books
ISBN-13:  978-1-4516-2900-2
February 2012
Historical Romance

 London, England - 1887

Cassandra St. Cloud has been a widow for two years and is now determined to restart the artistic career she abandoned after getting married.  She has rented a townhouse, and, along with teaching art, she is finally in charge of her own life.  Her very modern mother hopes she takes a lover, as long as she practices contraception; as you can tell, sometimes having a mother who is a doctor can be a trial.  Lord Delamere is a rather scary link to her past and so determined to have her that he bought into the art gallery where she shows her art, only to once again accost her.  Then she meets her landlord, Detective Zeno Kennedy, and he is a man unlike any she's ever met.  She knows he is investigating the dynamiters currently causing havoc in London , and one of the group could be her brother-in-law, Gerald St. Cloud, Earl of Rosslyn.  Her adventure in getting to know Zak brings a spark into her life that has long been missing.

Detective Inspector Zeno Augustus Kennedy, or Zak, is in charge of the Special Irish Branch of Scotland Yard.  He has been tracking down Irish dynamiters, anarchists usually, who want home rule for the Irish at all cost.  A prostitute who is an informant gives him the name of Andrew Hingham, Lord Delamere, as perhaps the man who bankrolls the group called the Bloody Four.  Now he just has to get the proof that can put the men away for years.  After saving many people from another bomb as he was walking by, Zak finally meets Cassie and is determined to find out if she knows anything about the Bloody Four.  It doesn't take long before Zak knows Lord Delamere is determined to have her, but he'll have to go through Zak first.

The investigation and relationship between Cassie and Zak leads us down a road of desire, lust, and danger.  Cassie is surprised at the depths of her desire for Zak, and Zak cannot believe the feelings he has for Cassie, who soon becomes a woman he knows he cannot live without.  Zak is, for those times, a media darling famous for his success as an investigator, and now is determined to break up the group that includes Lord Delamere.  He knows Delamere will stop at nothing to make Cassie his own, and finds it hard to live with his fears for Cassie.  As the members of the Bloody Four start ending up murdered, Zak's fears for Cassie grow more intense.

Jillian Stone has written a brilliant historical romance that is totally different from the type you may be used to.  While Zeno and Cassie each tell their own stories, it is the situations they get into and their reactions to them that give AN AFFAIR WITH MR. KENNEDY its uniqueness and interest.  Zeno is a Scotland Yard detective, one with many successes under his belt, mainly dealing with bombers looking for Irish rule.  Cassie is a widow with a not so great marriage behind her, determined to continue her artistic career.  Raised by two doctors who openly talk about contraception, and while she enjoys her occasional cigar and riding a bicycle in bloomers, Cassie is quite a modern woman for Zeno to take up with.  Zeno still feels sorrow over the bombing that killed his mistress several years ago, and despite Cassie's differences, it is her uniqueness that draws him to her.  Cassie and Zeno are lovingly drawn and get us tangled up in their burgeoning desire for each other.

Secondary characters take a back seat to Cassie and Zeno but are still essential to the story.  There are Cassie's free-thinking parents, her brother Rob, who drives one of those fancy new automobiles, and Lord Delamere. Is he one of the bombers, or just a man from Cassie's past determined to have her any way he can?

AN AFFAIR WITH MR.KENNEDY is a totally delightful and provocative story from the sunset of the 1800's when Queen Victoria still reigns, and the telegraph is their cell phone.  Set amidst the landscape of bombings being the answer for Irish rule mixing with American Irish anarchists, this is also a time of danger.  As Zeno sets out to capture the bombers, Cassie is drawn into the situation, and Zeno's growing feelings for her begin to change him into a man who feels love for the first time in his life.  This is book one in The Gentlemen of Scotland Yard series, and coming in August 2012 is DANGEROUS LIAISON, featuring another Scotland Yard detective.  Enjoy an exciting and fast-paced novel that will grab your attention and keep you enthralled all the way to the end.  This one's a keeper!

Carolyn Crisher