The Marriage Masquerade

by Cheryl Anne Porter

A dedicated Pinkerton agent, Sarah Margaret "Yancey" Calhoun can't ignore an impassioned summons from the Dowager Duchess of Somerset, who believes Yancey is her son's estranged wife. Nothing could be further from the truth. But another woman named Sarah Calhoun has been murdered in Chicago. And Yancey could be next.Traveling to England alone is hardly intimidating for a woman who works undercover. But when Yancey arrives at the remote country estate of Stonebridge, she is shaken to find that Samuel Treyhorne, the Duke of Somerset, is a force to be reckoned with--and a man who trusts her as little as she trusts him.Masquerading as Sam's wife may be the only way to untangle the web of deceit that threatens both their lives. As Yancey's feigned affection for Sam becomes all too real, she must risk everything she holds dear...if she hopes to save the man she's come to love.

Genres: Historical Romance

320 pages, ebook

First published March 15, 2002

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ouch. This was a painful read. The pacing in this book is terrible. Every scene is so overwritten. For example, at about the 84% mark, there is a neverending inane conversation between the two characters about who is going to investigate a woman’s screams. There are literally several pages of the characters going back and forth that is tedious to slog through and completely takes all the urgency and suspense out of the story.

Likewise, there is too much attention paid to unimportant scenes such as the pages and pages of description during one scene in which the maid endlessly dresses Yancey’s hair and Ms. Yancey goes into an extended internal monologue/blather.

There are problems with historical accuracy too. I'm not sure this author has any understanding of the rules of primogeniture at all. The duke's widowed mother would never be able to produce another heir (i.e. her husband the duke is dead!). And a male cousin of the duke through his mother's (!) side of the family is also not a possibility for heir to the dukedom. These mistakes are crucial to the plot too since they form the basis for the motive of the antagonist to try to do away with the existing duke and his family. Duh, how did this level of mistake get through editing???

And the “I love yous” between the hero and heroine just came completely out of nowhere after three days. Pfft.

Finally, the name Yancey is TERRIBLE!! It was so distracting to read that terrible name over and over again.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting story about a female Pinkerton agent. the mystery was tied up a little too neatly at the end, but still a good read.