Undercover Duke

April 12, 2021
A game of jealousy lands Vanessa Pryde in the middle of a murder investigation in Jeffries’s solid fourth Duke Dynasty Regency romance (after Who Wants to Marry a Duke). Vanessa hopes to incite the jealousy of the seemingly disinterested Sheridan Wolfe, the Duke of Armitage, by pretending to be enamored of her favorite playwright, Konrad Juncker—but her scheme backfires when Sheridan offers to help make Juncker jealous by pretending to court her. After losing his fiancée to consumption, Sheridan has closed off his heart. He refuses to give in to his desire for Vanessa, but he hopes to use their connection to investigate the murders of his mother’s three husbands, his father among them—deaths he believes Vanessa’s mother may have had a hand in. The two match wits as they struggle to keep their secrets—until a public indiscretion forces them to marry and Sheridan finally lets Vanessa in on his suspicions. There are myriad suspects and even more motives but very little evidence; the couple learns more about each other than they do about the murders, but Jeffries still manages to make the big reveal smooth and believable. Fans will delight in revisiting Sheridan’s large family in this heated, twisty tale of love and deception. Agent: Pam Ahearn, Ahearn Agency.

May 1, 2021
A little competition is a good thing. At least that is what Vanessa Pryde believes when she feigns an interest in bad boy poet and playwright Konrad Juncker to make Sheridan Wolfe, duke of Armitage and the real object of Vanessa's romantic affections, jealous. So imagine Vanessa's surprise when Sheridan offers to pretend to court her to further her suit with Konrad. What Vanessa does not know is that Sheridan has his own agenda for wanting to get closer to Vanessa that is tied to his family's investigation into the possible murders of Sheridan's mother's three husbands. Best-selling Jeffries, whose literary brand is synonymous with smart, sexy historical romance, wraps up her Regency-set Duke Dynasty series and the investigation into a series of ducal murders that began in Project Duchess (2019) on a high note with a perfectly fashioned love story rich in smoldering sexual chemistry, sharp wit, and a dash of danger.

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April 1, 2021
A duke searching for a murderer finds a woman to love, but secrets and lies stand in their way. Sheridan Wolfe, Duke of Armitage, has a large blended family due to his mother's having been married three times. All her husbands died, and while initially each death seemed accidental, the family has since come to realize they were all murdered. Sheridan is charged with learning more about one of their suspects, and doing so means spending time around her daughter, the attractive Miss Vanessa Pryde. Sheridan has no intention of falling in love or marrying after a previous love led to heartbreak. He's under the impression that Vanessa is infatuated with a poet, anyway. In actuality, she pines for Sheridan and only continues with her ruse of wanting another in hopes of making Sheridan jealous. As they get further caught up in deceit, their chemistry grows stronger and harder to resist. Eventually, they'll have to work together to untangle their own truths and also solve the family's mystery. While this is a quick, easy read, the story's overreliance on conflict caused by lack of communication is tiresome. Vanessa and Sheridan each have endearing aspects, but their relationship can be hard to buy into. Readers of previous books in the Duke Dynasty series will be satisfied that the mystery of the murdered husbands is finally solved even though the solution proves a bit obvious and therefore underwhelming. Fine for fans of the series but forgettable for the most part.

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