With Amanda Quick's novels, there is always a lot of quickie, hot sex, domineering women and masterful men, and in this, 'Slightly Shady' is no exception. However, the emphasis in this story is more on a murder mystery coupled with a frustrated romance than just romance.
As I love historical mysteries, this gave the book added appeal for me and kept me turning pages. But if you like your stories centred more on the romance, then this may not be the story for you.
Lavinia Lake, a rather cash-strapped widow, meets the infuriating Tobias March in Rome, when he trashes her antiquities shop to make it look like she has been robbed, and to potentially save her life. Unbeknownst to her, her shop is being used as a criminal's post office, placing her and her niece Emeline in danger.
Back home in London, Lavinia once again crosses paths with Tobias, this time over a dead body. The man now deceased had been attempting to blackmail her with threats to spread sordid embellished tales of her Italian life around the ton and scupper Emeline's chances of an advantageous marriage. Joining forces, the two set off in search of a missing diary, a macabre waxwork artist and a murderer, finding themselves drawn more and more to each other along the way.
A good mystery (though I did guess the twist at the end), a nice if not-that-romantic entanglement and love affair between the two sleuths and good co-stars in the guise of Emeline, Anthony (Tobias's ex brother-in-law) and the deceptively quiet Crackenburne. Worth a read.