Title: A Study in Scandal
First published: February 28, 2006
Description: Meet the delightfully whimsical world of Robyn DeHart and get ready to fall in love with this slush–pile gem.Lady Amelia Watersfield knows most society ladies care little about solving mysteries. But after discovering the serialized stories of Sherlock Holmes in her weekly broadsheet, a fixation on the fictional detective takes hold, and she convinces her three best friends to join her in forming the Ladies Amateur Sleuth Society. After all, sleuthing out the truth in ton gossip is a lot more exciting than needlepoint, and now that they are officially "on the shelf", what else is there to pass the time?But idle entertainment takes an adventurous turn when a real mystery strikes right in Amelia's own manor. A missing Egyptian artifact of dubious authenticity means little to Scotland Yard, so, to aid the Ladies Amateur Sleuth Society in their first real case, her father commissions an investigator for hire to find the vanished object. Understandably, the dashing real–life detective is reticent to be assisted by a gaggle of gossiping spinsters, though he finds Amelia in particular fairly less absurd than the rest. But has Amelia, in fixating upon the Holmes–like investigator, confused fact with fiction? And can said investigator resist the temptation Amelia presents long enough to solve his case and be rid of the Amateur Ladies for good... or will he fall victim to one particular Lady Sleuth's feminine charms first?
Subjects: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance