Vice and Virtue

　　1700, London: a city so crowded and unregulated that anyone, should they so desire, could slip away – disappear down a back street and become someone else. After the death of her father, seventeen-year-old Aurora Eversedge is left without a dowry and agrees to marry a much older man who claims to be wealthy, though in poor health. On their wedding night, Edward Francis confesses that, in fact, he is penniless but that his health is robust – also that his proposal of marriage carried an ulterior motive: he wants Aurora to act as a spy for him. Edward's father had left his fortune to his sworn enemy, Josiah Deede. Edward suspects that Josiah murdered his father and is determined to regain his inheritance and bring Josiah Deede to justice. Aurora's first assignment is to make the acquaintance of Josiah's daughter, Celia, and son, Jos, at a Covent Garden theatre. Vice and Virtue is full of acute observation of social life that characterizes Jane Austen's work – the sort of book Jane Austen would have written if she wrote mysteries.

作者簡介

　　Veronica Bennett worked for several years as an English lecturer but now devotes her time to writing fiction. She is the author of Angelmonster, based on the life of Mary Shelley; Cassandra's Sister, based on the life of Jane Austen; as well as Shakespeare's Apprentice; Monkey, The Boy-free Zone; Fish Feet and Dandelion and Bobcat. She also writes the popular Poppy Love series under the name Natasha May.