Wait Until Midnight

Author: Amanda Quick
Published: February 1, 2005 (Berkley)
Category: Historical Romance/Mystery
Rating: 7/10

Adam Hardesty has discovered the murder scene of the woman who's blackmailing him. She's one of the mediums who've popped up on the scene as psychical studies have sparked Society's interest. Of course, all of the mediums are charlatans, employing cheap tricks to fool their customers. Unfortunately, the diary containing the details of Adam's past is missing and he must have it back or else the future of his younger sister will be ruined. He and his siblings aren't actually the long-lost relatives and heirs of Wilson Grendon, wealthy businessman. In fact, Adam isn't really related to his siblings. He used to live off the streets of London, selling secrets that belonged to the patrons of whores. He rescued his three siblings from their terrible fates on the streets, teaching them how to read and giving them a safe place to live. The eldest sister has married the Earl of Southwood in a love match (and he knows her true heritage); the brother is a scholar; the youngest sister is about to make her debut, and she is the one who would be harmed most by the blackmail information.

One clue found at the murder scene is a list of the last seance sitters, and one name has been underlined: Mrs. Caroline Fordyce, widowed author of serialized sensational novels. He pays her a morning visit, questioning her about the seance and suggests that Caroline and her aunts could've committed the murder, but takes it back . While Adam is speaking with her, Caroline decides to make Adam the model for the villain in her latest story.

They team up for the murder investigation because Caroline is determined to solve the crime herself, so Adam won't have cause to accuse her again. While Adam has secrets, so does Caroline, because she's not really a widow. She was invovled in a scandal in her previous hometown and changed her name and made up a dead husband. Her widowed status allows her to move more freely in Society, and her successful writing career supports her and her two aunts. Caroline is afraid that Adam will reveal her secret and the life she worked to build will be taken away from her.

In the course of the investigation, the two opposite personalities realize they get along and work together quite well. They attend a seance conducted by Irene Toller, the main competition of the the murdered medium. During the seance, Irene claims to have come in contact with the deceased Mr. Fordyce, and Adam trys consoling Caroline in the carriage, saying that the fraud (they know her tricks) shouldn't have preyed on her feelings like that. Caroline takes a risk and decides to trust Adam, telling him the truth about her marital status, or lackthereof. Adam begins to trust her and takes her to his old home where he raised his adopted siblings, telling her the secret of his family, the one he's being blackmailed for. They also get it on, which is no surprise because they're alone in a safe location, and they're attracted to each other. It's a good thing they were together, because it provides Adam with an alibi when Irene turns up dead and evidence planted at the crime scene pointing at him.

The murder mystery was rather good for a regency romance, and also surprisingly layered. Adam's dislike of being made the villain of a widely-read sensation novel makes for amusing reading, and you know that Caroline will make the villain the unexpected hero. There's the usual turning-down-the-marriage-proposal hooha, where Caroline thinks Adam is only offering to marry her to save her reputation. She wants to be loved, and Society believes she is a widow anyway, so there's nothing to worry about her reputation. Adam doesn't know that Caroline won't marry him because he hasn't admitted his love to her verbally. I sometimes wich that the heroine will just state the problem to her man and see how he'd react to that honesty.

Anyways, it was a good book to while away the time before Amanda Quick's new book, The River Knows is published.