The River Knows

Author: Amanda Quick
Published: April 24, 2007 (Putnam)
Category: Historical Fiction
Rating: 8/10

In the course of investigating Elwin Hastings, a man of good society, although of evil soul, plain-looking Louisa Bryce finds herself locking lips in a dark hallway with the handsome Anthony Stalbridge of the powerful, yet eccentric, Stalbridge family. Louisa was about to be discovered by the guard, but Anthony grabbed her and kissed her to give them an excuse to be away from the party going on downstairs, finding that it's very pleasant to kiss the quiet and inconspicuous Mrs. Bryce. But Amanda Quick has always been good at creating characters that have more than what appears to be on the surface.

Louisa used to live under another name, where she operated in trade as a rare book dealer. However, a nobleman with a penchant for preying on lone women in trade wanted her for his next victim. She wound up killing him in self defense, but knew that in society's eyes, she would turn up guilty, so she faked her suicide in the Thames River and became Louisa Bryce, a companion to the eccentric Lady Ashton, and a career as a correspondent for the Flying Intelligencer, first seen in Quick's Wait Until Midnight, exposing the misdeeds of the elite members of the ton. She's looking for proof that Hastings is involved in financing a notorious brothel catering to the most depraved sexual appetites.

Anthony, on the other hand, is looking for evidence linking Hastings to the supposed suicide of Anthony's ex-fiancée two years prior. He can't move on from Fiona's death because of the rumors that she killed herself due to his ending their engagement (she was in love with another man). If he could connect Hastings to Fiona's death, the air will finally be clear.

While they do discover the evidence they require thanks to Anthony's skills as a safecracker, they discover a deeper and more twisted crime under Hastings' belt: the blackmail of innocent young ladies he had seduced by another accomplice. They now believe Fiona was killed because of this scheme, and Anthony is determined to bring Hastings to justice. Lousia, as a reporter, naturally wants to follow the story through to the end.

Louisa and Anthony share one of those relationships where they work extremely well together, but she stereotypically doesn't take direction from him just because he' a man and she's a woman. She is a forward-thinking Victorian woman, goshdarnit! The more intimate parts of the illicit love affair they begin are charming and humorous at times, as Louisa was disappointed with the first time (she was never married; the deceased Mr. Bryce is just a cover) and Anthony, as a man, had to provide her with an experience "approaching transcendence," like those described in novels.

I liked the hero and heroine, the background mystery was well-developed, and supporting characters were entertaining. Another good Amanda Quick read.