The Queen and the Knave by Sarah Eden

In this latest installment of the Dread Penny Society, the secret is out that Moirin Donnelly is actually the Dread Master. The society has been thrown into chaos due the the cruel attacks of the Tempest. Most have gone into hiding but one by one they have been discovered and kidnapped by the Tempest's thugs. Moirin is forced to team up with a detective from Scotland Yard, Fitzgerald Parkington, to try to track down the Tempest and end her reign of terror. As the two work together, an admiration and then an attraction form between them. But what room is there for romance, when such terrible threats face both the Dread Penny Society and all England?

This has been a fun series, and this one is much like the others, except in this one the stakes are higher.  The feeling of the whole book is more intense as Moirin gets outsmarted over and over again.  The reader gets the idea that the Tempest is a "Moriarty" to Moirin's "Sherlock". By the end you are wondering how she can ever win, but, of course, she does. I liked the book, but I feel a little like Eden weakened Moirin's character a little in order to frame it into a romance.  In the earlier books you wouldn't imagine Moirin leaning on a man for help and support, but in this book she does. I think it is realistic enough, and maybe the reader is finally seeing past Moirin's tough exterior, but I do think Eden could have kept a little more of Moirin's swagger and still make the story and the romance work. That being said, I enjoyed the book a lot and wonder if she is done, or if there will be more stories from the Dread Penny society to come. (2023, 386 p)