A Woman of Virtue (Sonnet Books)
Setting: London, 1824Sensuality Rating: 8Another romp of a tale from rising star Liz Carlyle! David, the dissolute Lord  Delacourt, happens upon the mistress of his dreams, complete with flame gold  hair and a couple of, ahem, other attributes that lead Delacourt to nickname  this vision of female pulchritude "Peaches." But he quickly discovers that his  perfect woman is nofille de joie; no, she's Lady Cecilia Markham-Sands,  a genteel if impoverished young woman very much on the marriage mart. Caught in  a compromising position with the virtuous virago, the reportedly disreputable  Delacourt does the honorable thing and offers to marry Cecilia. But Cecilia  wants nothing to do with the womanizing lord and refuses his troth, much to  Delacourt's surprise and even dismay.Years later when fate intervenes in the form of Delacourt's interfering  brother-in-law, Cole Amherst, from Carlyle's earlier novelA Woman  Scorned, Cecilia, now the widowed countess of Walrafen, once again  encounters her nemesis Delacourt in the most unlikely of places, running a  shelter for rehabilitated prostitutes in London's slums. But when the  unfortunate women in their care begin to turn up dead, Cecilia and Delacourt put  aside their animosity to discover who is preying on their defenseless charges.  Thrown together by the investigation, passion quickly replaces antipathy, and  the fires that have been simmering for six years flame out of control. Readers  will love Carlyle's flowing prose, heated love scenes, and titillating portrayal  of the macabre. Let Liz Carlyle make a fan out of you!--Alison Trinkle