Confessions of a Duchess (MIRA) [Paperback]

Nominally this is the first in a hilarious trilogy of romances set in the fictional Yorkshire village of Fortune's Folly. But I recommend you treat it as the second in a quartet.

The story begins in 1809, about five years after the same author's book "Unmasked" the main events of which also took place in Yorkshire. Many of the characters in that book, including both the hero and heroine of "The Confessions of a Duchess," reappear in the three books in the "Brides of Fortune" series. And much of the personal history which affects their relationship follows directly from the events of that book.

So much so that I would recommend that potential readers should read "Unmasked" first, treating this trilogy as the second, third and fourth part of a quartet, which would therefore consist of:

1) "Unmasked"
2) This book, "The Confessions of a Duchess"
3) "The Scandals of An Innocent (The Brides of Fortune)"
4) "The Undoing of a Lady (The Brides of Fortune)"

The pretext of the "Brides of Fortune" trilogy is that the obnoxious and greedy squire of Fortune's Folly, Sir Montague Fortune, discovers that the village was not included in the legislation which repealed a whole range of ancient medieval laws in the seventeenth century. And that he can reactivate them, claiming outdated and absurd feudal dues.

In particular, Sir Montague reactivates something called the "Dames Tax" whereby any unmarried heiress in the village must pay him half her fortune. Under the terms of the tax, every widow or maid in Fortune's Folly who has or stands to inherit any property must marry within a year or pay half of it to Sir Montague.

Needless to say, this infuriates the maids and widows in Fortune's Folly: and it also causes them to look around for possible husbands, making the village into "a veritable marriage mart." And needless to say, all the male fortune hunters in England, from impecunious aristocrats who need money to maintain a bankrupt estate to young men on the make, flock to Fortune's Folly in the hopes of snaring a wealthy bride who needs to marry or give half her wealth to the greedy squire.

One of the widows affected by this ridiculous tax is Laura Cole, who at the time of the book "Unmasked" was Duchess of Cole, and is now the Dowager Duchess. When her husband died a year or so after the events of that book she purchased the Old Palace in Fortune's Folly, where she now lives with her three-year old daughter.

Laura has no interest in remarriage, but between her dowager's portion and the money she inherited from her own family, she hs enough money to be affected by the tax and to be a target for potential fortune hunters.

Pedant alert: let me get off my chest at this point that one of the mistakes in this trilogy and several of Nicola Cornick's other books is that the Dukedoms in her stories have titles which match the family surname. There isn't a single Duke in the British peerage whose family surname is identical to the title: all the English Dukes take their title from a place, usually a county or county town. There IS one Scottish Dukedom which is ALMOST an exception - the town of Hamilton is named for the family whose head is the Duke of Hamilton, and not the other way around - but even in that case, following a dynastic alliance many centuries ago the family surname is now Douglas-Hamilton.

Heiresses who stand to lose half their wealth and fortune-hunters hoping to marry them are not the only people who are watching what Sir Montague has done. Lord Liverpool, the Home Secretary, sees the host of young men travelling to the village as the perfect cover for a covert investigation into a suspect death.

Liverpool believes that Sir William Crosby, a local magistrate who had been shot in what appeared to be a hunting accident, may have been murdered by local criminals to whose nefarious activities he was getting too close. Three of the "Guardians" - a (fictitious) group who investigate crimes for the Home Office - happen to be single young men who have inherited serious debt problems from profligate parents.

So Liverpool orders them to go to Fortune's Folly on the pretext of looking for a bride, and to investigate Sir William Crosby's death while they are about it.

One of the three Guardians sent to Fortune's Folly is Dexter Anstruther, who in the book "Unmasked" had been the principal sidekick to the hero of that novel, Major Nick Falconer. While Nick and Dexter were trying to catch and suppress a band of female highwaywomen called the "Glory Girls," Dexter had lost his heart to the then Duchess of Cole, an affair which ended badly and left him with an extremely cynical attitude towards women. Dexter was not expecting to encounter Laura Cole again in Fortune's Folly, let alone in the form of a damsel in distress ...

Laura Cole was not expecting to encounter Dexter Anstruther again, let alone to have him rescue her from a dangerous situation. Despite her wish to keep her distance, an old passion flares up quickly. But if she gets too close to Dexter, she is terrified of losing the most precious thing in her life ...

This book, and indeed the whole trilogy, is quite ridiculous, often funny, distinctly sexy, and highly entertaining. Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer this is not. But neither does it read like an insipid attempts to copy their work for a lowbrow audience, a pitfall which all too many modern attempts at a regency romance fall into.

If you are looking for a light-hearted romance to relax with, without making too much of an intellectual demand on the brain and with few pretensions to detailed historical accuracy, this trilogy is very good fun, and on those terms I can recommend it.

The unmarried women in the Village of Fortune's Folly have had long retired a Dames' Tax imposed upon them as retaliation from a man spurned by the woman of his choosing. What occurs is chaos as all unmarried women must either marry or turn over half of their earnings. This also creates a scenario where these lovely women must fend off every fortune hunting man coming to their town trying to marry a woman with money. But oh you silly man to think any self respecting woman would just say okay to that - guess again.

Now Laura Cole the dowager Duchess of Cole felt she was exempt from this but she is not and after having survived an abusive and neglectful relationship with her now late husband she is not anxious to enter into another loveless marriage. But when Laura decides to fight back with her own outdated laws and turn the tables on the men she is not aware that one of the men come to find a wife is the one man she truly loved, Dexter Anstruther. They shared a night of reckless and explosive passion that produced a daughter he is unaware of and a longing for him that never dissipated. She had committed the sin of adultery but did so without a care since her the love that Dexter gave her in the one night was more than she ever received from her now late husband. But she felt after that night she had to send him away because she was leading a double life as wife and highwayman. Dexter had come to find the woman that was the robber and did not know that in fact the woman he loved was truly Glory.

Dexter has always longed for and hated Laura for what had happened the next morning after that single night of love. He now is a government worker come to investigate a suspicious murder in Fortune's Folly and never expected to see Laura there. But once he sets his eyes upon her all the hurt, angry and grief of losing her are gone and replaced by the passion and love he felt the first moment he saw her those many years ago. She had given him his first and only taste of love and he wants that to happen again but knows that he should marry for money since his family is dependent upon him for support. But how can he walk away again without a kiss, a brief touch or a taste of her sweetness once again. Laura is hell in one beautiful package of heaven and the risks far outweigh the issues he believes.

While Dexter pursues and Laura runs they have more than one occasion to be forced into one another's arms causing them both to realize that the secrets they hold inside them must come out no matter the cost. But Dexter is as distracted by Laura as he is in trying to capture the man who apparently is a murderer but when both their pasts come to face them in the present they try to reconcile what they feel for one another from what they are now.

This book is a wonderful trip through romance and a little mystery. Both Laura and Dexter shine with their independent character as well as determination to have what they desire most. While at times you may think there is too much going on and a few too many characters this I think will prove itself to be worthy as the series continues. Great read and I look forward to the next one in this series.

Reviewed by Mary Gramlich ([...]) "The Reading Reviewer

The concept of the Brides of Fortune Series is that Sir Montague Fortune who is the Fortune Folly village squire (and over-all jerk) finds an old law on the books that allows him to tax all the unmarried women unless she marries within the year. This first book of the series starts the chaos of every bachelor arriving in this small village hunt for a rich -desperate heiress. Laura is a widow in her 30's who is the dowager duchess and broke but finds herself with men hoping that her family with give her a healthy dowry out of pride. Laura finds herself face-to-face again with her one night stand that has always had a little bit of her heart. This is a great story of romance, humor, mystery, strong-willed women who don't take Sir Montague Fortune law lying down.

Looking for forward to the rest of summer in Fortune's Folly; July 2009 - The Scandals of An Innocent and August 2009 -The Undoing of a Lady (Brides of Fortune).