A MATTER OF GRAVE CONCERN – Brenda Novak
Montlake Romance (Trade Paperback & eBook)
ISBN: 978-1477824528
October 2014
Historical Romance
London, 1830
Abigail Hale loves and admires her father and wishes to emulate him. This is most unusual for a young lady—and scandalous, as the world would say—as Edwin Hale is an anatomy professor at his Aldersgate College. Abigail manages their home and does what she can to help him in his work, and if this means dealing with resurrection men (grave robbers) to acquire bodies for dissection in his anatomy classes, so be it. He doesn't have to know where they come from. But then she makes a deal with a new gang who make off with all her money, the newly purchased corpse, and a precious keepsake from her late mother. Now Abigail Hale is not a shrinking violet. She dresses in rags and sets off for the rough neighborhood and the headquarters of Big Jack Hartsill, planning to get her ivory elephant back, even if she has to steal it. Things don't turn out well for Abigail; she ends up as a prisoner of Big Jack.
Luckily for Abigail, one of the men in the house is not who or what he pretends to be. He goes by the name of Maximillian Wilder and is in the area searching for his missing half sister. He has infiltrated Jack's gang following a lead to Madeline. Max manages to take Abigail under his protection, at least for a while, but it's a chancy thing.
Trouble and danger inevitably ensue as Max and Abby form a partnership of sorts to hunt for Madeline and to bring Big Jack (who may be a murderer) to justice, but there seems to be no way any other relationship is possible for the two…in spite of any possible attraction either might feel.
A MATTER OF GRAVE CONCERN is neither a quick read nor a light one, given its subject matter and complex plot, but it genders its own fascination owing much to its unique hero and heroine. This historical is an infrequent departure for author Brenda Novak, best known for her contemporary romances and romantic suspense novels, but her research into the times and the infamous topic is obvious. Give it a go.
Jane Bowers
