The Bar Sinister

Rating:
Summary: very unusual regency but well worth reading
Review: The only way I can think to describe this one is "Mary Stewart writes a regency." If you're looking for a very well written regency suspense in which for the first 3/4 of the book (which covers 3 years) the h/h are together for a total of about 1 week, this is your book.

Captain Richard Falk is a widowed Army officer who places his two children in the care of Emily Foster before he rushes back to the war in the Peninsula. Emily is baffled as to why he doesn't take them to his relations until she finds out that his dead wife was Spanish and that he is a [...] with no English relations of his own.

At least this is what she believes until Richard's half sister shows up on day inquiring about her niece and nephew. Upon writing to Richard's friend and to-be guardian in case anything happens to him, she learns that Richard is the [...] son of not the Duke of Newsham, but his Duchess. And that Richard has real reason to fear that his half brother, now Duke, will take up where his father left off and try to kill not only him but also his two children. The old Duke never repudiated Richard and the Duchess has never acknowledged in public the scandal that titillated the ton, leaving Richard with the opportunity to claim a share of the rich estate.

But along with dodging the sinister plans of his half brother, Richard has to try to stay alive throughout the rest of the Peninsular Campaign, part of the War of 1812, then Waterloo. Plus he writes to his daughter and Emily's son serial accounts of Dona Inez, an incorrigible Spanish senorita and her duenna Dona Barbara, plus he writes hack novels to try to supplement his meager officer pay.

Once the very real threat to him and his children is uncovered, his sister and her husband take an active part in trying to spike the current Duke's plans and also bring Emily and Richard, whom Emily has fallen in love with over the course of their correspondence.

This is definitely not your typical regency and in fact is more like a regency historical as far as the suspense part of the plot. Richard is a man who has faced bastardy and its stigma all his life and who has learned to be wary of all but the closest friends. Emily is a very no-nonsense woman who rises to the challenge of providing a home for and coming to love and try to protect not only Richard's children but Richard as well. Lady Sarah, Richard's sister, and her husband, Sir Robert are wonderful secondary characters. The book is well written and researched and flew by as I read it. A definite B+