Review: Lord of Night

Lord of Night by Erica Ridley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've had this book on my TBR pile for months and months but finally finished it. I even finished the next book in the series before I got around to this one!!

This is an unusual historical in that although our heroine Miss Dahlia Grenville is the daughter of a Duke, that life very much plays second fiddle to her vocation as the headmistress of a school/ home for orphan and wayward girls which she funds from her pin money and charitable donations. However, when money gets really tight she's not above 'borrowing' a small trinket from one of the ton when she attends a party and selling it to a pawn shop.

Bow Street runner Simon Spaulding is the illegitimate son of the late Lord Hawkridge. He has resented his legitimate brother almost from birth and has a highly developed sense of right and wrong as a result of what he feels was poor treatment of him and his mother. He is due for a significant promotion IF he can catch the notorious Thief of Mayfair. Simon has no time for a wife, for socialising with his colleagues or for time off at all!

Patrolling the mean streets of The Rookery late one night as is his wont, Simon comes across a young woman fighting off a ruffian who were up to no good with a young girl. The next day he visits the school to provide an update on the ruffian and is entranced by Dahlia and her motley crew of waifs and strays.

Soon Dahlia and Simon are falling in love, but can a match between an illegitimate policeman and the daughter of a Duke (who is also a thief) ever occur?

I have to admit that I am pretty shallow and I've come to realise that I prefer my historical novels to centre on the higher echelons, the ton, rather than ordinary working people (even if they are related to the nobility), which probably explains why it took me so long to finish this book. I like the dresses and the balls and the house parties, riding in Rotten Row, Almacks et al.

My other criticism of the novel is that there is a lot of telling and not much showing. Although we do see Dahlia 'borrow' some items, it isn't really sufficient to warrant a Bow Street Runner, and we don't see Simon really doing any detecting, while it's nice to see the relationship between them develop it would have been nice if it took place against a backdrop of heists while the reader watched Simon get ever closer to discovering the thief's identity.

I received a free copy of this book from the author, via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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