Return of the Viscount by Gayle Callen

Historical Romance

Return of the Viscount by Gayle Callen the Prologue starts with letters between Sergeant Blackthorne and Lady Cecilia Mallory.  Blackthorne is is India and served with her Father until he was killed in action. In the last letter Cecilia tells Sergeant Blackthorne that she need to get to her money but cannot unless she is married.  She asks him to marry her by proxy and he agrees.

Move to Chapter One:  One year later Blackthorne is injured and sent home to England to recover.  Cecilia suddenly has a real live husband and neither seem to know what to do or say to the other.

The stage is set and everything moves from there.  Just as Blackthorne arrives someone tries to kill Cecilia.  Cecilia’s best friend Hannah drowned and her younger sister Penelope has become a friend as well as the future wife of Cecilia’s brother, Lord Appertan.  That same Lord Appertan has problems and is spending time with his friends and drowning the problems in liquor.  Both Blackthorne and her brother are suspects.

This is a very well developed story.  I enjoyed the push and pull between Cecilia and Blackthorne.  Gayle Callen did not rush the relationship between the two.  She also gave no hint as to the problem causing the troubling behavior of Cecilia’s brother.  I did feel that the end of the book was a little rushed.  I guess I just wanted a hint of who was trying to kill Cecilia.  Instead the identity of the villain and the brothers problem came as a complete surprise to me.

Return of the Viscount is the first in a new series and it promises to be a very interesting.  I do love the cover on this book.  I think it is a good fit.

I received an ARC of Return of the Viscount from Edelweiss.

Avon published Return of the Viscount by Gayle Callen in 2012.