Reviewed by Lorraine.
What a Rake Wants – Maggi Andersen
1820. Visiting his impoverished family estates in Ireland,
Kieran Flynn, 4th Viscount Montsimon, receives word that his services are
required in London. He is a diplomat,
investigator, and spy for the King, and these are delicate times, with the
coronation coming up, and the war between George and his estranged queen,
Catherine, coming to a head. He is given a mission, but not an explanation.
A year after her unpleasant and unfaithful husband was
killed in a duel, Althea Brookwood lives in a rented house in Mayfair during
the Season. She has vowed never to marry again, but her Aunt Catherine has
other ideas, and suggests that Flynn would be the ideal match. He is a rake,
but there is no serious scandal attached to him. Althea is adamant that one
unhappy marriage is enough. After Christmas spent with her aunt, she retires to
Owltree Cottage, the only property left to her, in search of peace. There she
is accosted by Sir Horace Crowthorne, owner of the surrounding land, who demands
that she sell to him, as her husband had promised to do, ostensibly so that he
can build a road there. He offers to let her stay if she becomes his mistress.
Determined to fight for what is hers, she consults her
solicitor, who informs her that such is Sir Horace’s power, he could make a
successful, if dishonest, claim upon her estate, which would leave her with
nothing. She had better sell to him.
Instead, she seeks help from Lord Churlston, the best of her
late husband’s friends, but he is murdered soon after their meeting. Sensing
danger, Flynn advises her to leave London, but she approaches another of
Brookwood’s old friends, Sir Percy Woodruff. In collusion with Crowthorne he tries
to trap her, but she escapes through a window and climbs down a tree. Flynn
rescues her.
He tells her that Crowthorne and his cronies believe that
she has something of Brookwood’s that they desperately want to find, though
no-one else knows what it is. In order to protect her against her will, Flynn
abducts her and takes her with him to Canterbury, where he is spying on some of
Crowthorne’s friends. When they return to London, they find her house has been
ransacked. She recalls that Brookwood’s London house was also broken into immediately
after his death.
Althea goes to stay with her Aunt Catherine, who now advises
against choosing the impoverished Flynn as a husband; but she realises that she
needs his help. He drives her to Owltree Cottage, where a trap is set to induce
Crowthorne’s men to break in once more. Althea leaves with the housekeeper for
London, but the coach is stopped and she is abducted on Crowthorne’s orders.
After her rescue, she decides that she will return to her
old life, and that Flynn can offer her nothing.
His time is taken up in pursuit of Crowthorne, but it is
Althea who works out where the mysterious missing object has been hidden. Its recovery, and the implications for the
Crown, mean that the whole affair is to be kept secret, and Flynn is to be
given a reward that he does not want.
With Crowthorne still on the loose, Althea goes to Ireland
to stay at Flynn’s home for safety’s sake.
Hearing that Crowthorne has taken ship from Liverpool, and fearing for
Althea’s life, Flynn enlists the help of two old friends and goes after him.
This is a convoluted tale of people chasing people hunting
for unspecified objects, and partial information being supplied to those who
need it most. Spies, villains, murderers, and royal secrets put at risk all
tangle together to make a likeable story.
The title is misleading; Flynn is rather an accomplished
flirt than a rake, and behaves like a gentleman throughout.
Owltree appears as both Cottage and Manor. The King’s
residence is Carleton and Carlton House. Crowthorne is Sir Horace and Sir Henry.
Various plot devices are well-flagged in advance, and there
is homage to Heyer in the shape of Flynn’s dog; but this is an entertaining
novel, spoiled only by the very late introduction of characters from previous
novels. This works better if the reader is familiar with them; otherwise they
are an awkward and unnecessary intrusion, serving solely as a reminder that
this is the third of the Spies of Mayfair series.
