THE CLOVERTON CHARADE by SARAH E LADD is an exciting Regecy romance novel that takes place in England, between Derbyshire and London.
Olivia Brannon, who has taken after her father and become an expert in antiquities, is delighted to be invited by Mrs Agnes Milton to a house party at Cloverton Hall in order to evaluate her private collection. This will be done in secret, as the elderly lady’s nephew, George Wainbridge has inherited her husband’s fortune, which is now practically non existant due to the money her husband spent on antiquiqities. George has invited the well known antique dealer, Lucas Avery, to assess his uncle’s vast treasure, many of the pieces acquired through Olivia’s father, in order to sell them and fill the Cloverton coffers.
It is interesting to see how the author describes the underlying goals of the characters, for example,Olivia wants to prove to her uncle Thomas, and the wold in general, that she is every bit as qualified as any man in the business, Lucas wants to improve his standing in the antiquites world after a scandal involving his father, and Mrs Milton wants to honour her husband’s memory. All of this takes place in the midst of a house party in which most of the guests are looking for advatageous liaisons……
Then the unthinkable happens…..
The idea of what is really important in life and what is counterfeit comes through clearly.
I cannot recomend this lovely read strongly enough.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from Thomas Nelson. The opinions in this review ae completely my own.