Search - Thief of Shadows (Maiden Lane, Bk 4)

This is one of those series that seems; at least to me to be gaining momentum instead of getting stale. In this Georgian era romantic mystery-thriller, Ms Hoyt has once again brought her “A” game to the pages. I have been waiting for Winter Makepeace’s story, the mild mannered school teacher and manager of, The Home for Unfortunate Infants and Foundling Children. But by night he is the Ghost of St. Giles.

The setting is St. Giles section of London, it’s a dangerous place and this book takes up just hours after the last leaves off. The Ghost of St. Giles has just rescued Charming Mickey O’Conner from hanging and the mob is out for blood. Mickey’s or the Ghost’s it doesn’t matter whose. Enter Lady Isabel Beckinhall, Baroness Beckinhall. Who, to her irritation has been stood up by Mr. Makepeace, for the final inspection of the newly rebuilt Home for Unfortunate Infants and Foundling Children. As one of the Lady Patronesses, she can’t believe how rude this man is to stand her up, and top that off there is a body blocking the road out in this dangerous area, and there is a mob on the loose. As it turns out the body is not dead after all and as her maid says he is a comic actor, dressed in a harlequin costume, just like the Ghost of St. Giles. Isabel orders the man lifted into her carriage and off they go, in the nick of time.

This installment of the Maiden Lane series, has a bit more of the swashbuckling flavor to it, the theater fight scene was classic and worthy of any Errol Flynn movie. The Ghost of St. Giles is out to protect the poor and the down trodden those most vulnerable in society. Sexual content is hot and I like the older woman younger man dynamic, (pardon me is my cougar showing?). There will be another book in this series. This gets 5 stars, this one would be a get vacation read.

When I get hold of a new book by Elizabeth Hoyt, everything else on my TBR list gets pushed aside. I liked the first two books in the Maiden Lane series, but I LOVED this one and the previous one(Scandalous Desires).
This is NOT a book with cliches like the rakish hero/virginal heroine. The heroine is older than average(over 30) and both the hero & heroine are fully functioning responsible adults. It takes place almost 100 years earlier than the Regency, which seem to be the most popular time period for romances, so we're in unknown historical territory. There's lots of action(climbing over the rooftops of London, swordfights), lots of emotion, and even a bit of humor, although dry and subtle. There are also a number of quite erotic yet tender love scenes, in Hoyt's very earthy, realistic style, but don't expect anybody to jump in bed in chapter 1; it takes a couple of hundred pages and by then the hero and heroine have formed a deep connection.
The hero, Winter Makepeace, was a cipher in the earlier books of the series, but here he really comes into his own as a highly moral and courageous man. Lady Isabel was also a little hard to fathom at the beginning, I didn't know why she would rescue a total stranger, & it seemed as though the attraction was all physical on her side. Later on she opens up and we find out what she's really thinking, and she had some deep hurts and feelings of inferiority. Naturally, the hero sees past her hard shell.
I really recommend that you read the series in order or you'll be missing a lot. Many of the characters from the other books make appearances, plus the mystery of the Ghost of St. Giles and the situation with the orphanage are running themes.

The best one in the series thus far. Well written, exciting and suspenseful but of course sexy as well.