Monday 26 March 2018

A Dangerous Legacy



Review:  Elizabeth Camden is one of my favourite modern authors of historical fiction. She has a delightfully clever eye for finding historical tidbits that would not normally be main stream knowledge and weaving them into a spellbinding story. Considering that she has a masters degree in history and is also a research librarian, I suppose it is not too surprising that she is brilliant at bringing history alive. 

A Dangerous Legacy is centered around two prominent and competitive news agencies based out of New York City in 1903. The two companies, Reuters and the Associated Press, worked together during this period to bring news to America. This novel is based around their professional collaboration as AP leased Reuters' telegraph wires through the British colonies in Asia while the Pacific cable was being completed. At this same time, the search for a canal through Central America was on the tip of everyone's tongues, and the Isthmus of Panama was a hot debate. This periods was a time of monumental change and huge advancements... and it makes a spectacular and interesting setting for this unlikely love story between a bankrupt English noble and a clever telegraph operator.

Lucy Drake, the Morse code specialist at Associated Press, finds herself in a complicated predicament as she intercepts a secret message that has devastating political ramifications. Unfortunately, she overhears the conversation on a line she is not legally supposed to be listening to as she gleans information to help in her own legal battle against her corrupt uncle. Caught in the act by the head of Reuters, Lucy is forced to confide in Sir Colin Beckweth. An investigative reporter, Colin takes Lucy's story and  goes undercover, but what was suppose to be a simple weekend of exploration becomes highly dangerous as the web of lies, deceit, and cunning is woven much larger than either Lucy or Colin ever suspected. 

With their lives at risk, the fight for survival lands them in places no one would ever want to go. While sparks fly between the two of them, Colin makes sure that Lucy firmly understands that he will wed for one reason, and one reason only: money. While he finds her attractive and they work brilliantly together, his estate in London is crumbling and nothing but a wealthy heiress will pull him back from ruin. Thus, with their hearts on the line, a political disaster to foil, and her own lawsuit to win, Lucy and Colin keep you flipping the pages of this novel as they struggle to stay a step ahead of the unbelievable events they find themselves caught in. 

This book is a definite 'must read' for anyone who enjoys historical romantic fiction. Of note, there is no sexual content or inappropriate scenes. Some birds do die (which is actually rather heartbreaking) and there is a description of old psychiatric practices that made me shudder, but all in all a very well written book that would be appropriate for teenagers and up.

Thank-you to Graf Martin Communications and Baker Publishing House for a complimentary copy of A Dangerous Legacy in exchange for my honest opinion. 

Back Cover: 
Telegraph operator Lucy Drake is a master of Morse code and has made herself a valuable asset to the Associated Press news agency. But the sudden arrival of Sir Colin Beckwith at rival British news agency Reuters puts her hard-earned livelihood at risk. Colin is talented, handsome, insufferably charming--and keeping a secret that jeopardizes his reputation.

Despite their rivalry, Lucy can't deny that Colin has the connections she needs to give her family an edge in the long legal battle they've been waging over their rightful inheritance. But when she negotiates an unlikely alliance with him, the web of treachery they dive into proves to be far more dangerous than they ever could have known.

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