Recent Reads - The Innkeeper's Daughter

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The Innkeeper's Daughter by Michelle Griep - Since this story opens with Johanna Langley trying to figure out how she will manage to pay the rent to keep her family's inn in business, it seems like a simple economic struggle drama and romance, but when we're introduced to Alex Moore, we realize that there will be more going on in the story. Alex is a Bow Street Runner, and is being sent to Dover posing as a wine merchant and gambler in order to identify a traitor to the Crown. Alex is unhappy with the magistrate's insistence that he stay at the Blue Hedge Inn, since it's out of the way, and rather run-down, but it doesn't take long for him to form a bit of an attachment to Johanna and her little brother. And then the intrigue begins!

It's apparent to Alex that the inn has been used as a meeting place for supporters of the French, but who is involved in the plot? There are some very odd characters staying at the inn, and any of them may be suspect. In addition, Alex is supposed to be ingratiating himself with the viscount and his daughter, presumably because someone in that household may be involved in the plot. And as he walks the line between playing his part and getting to know Johanna, he regrets not being able to tell her everything. He knows that taking her into his confidence could put her in danger and put the entire mission in jeopardy, so what can he do?

Johanna is weighed down with the responsibility of keeping the inn operating and keeping her family out of the workhouse, and when her little brother is seriously injured her worries increase. She's grateful for Alex's help and realizes she is falling for him, but since he is convincing as a gambler she isn't sure she can trust him. But who can she trust? It seems like everyone, perhaps even her own mam, has something they are hiding.

There are plenty of twists and turns in the plot as Alex works to discover who is involved in the traitorous plot and what connection there might be to the inn or its guests, or to the smuggling that is commonplace in Dover. Both Alex and Johanna find themselves in dangerous situations more than once before the mysteries are solved and they can discover the truth.


From the publisher:

A London officer goes undercover to expose a plot against the Crown

Dover, England, 1808: Officer Alexander Moore goes undercover as a gambling gentleman to expose a high-stakes plot against the king--and he's a master of disguise, for Johanna Langley believes him to be quite the rogue . . . until she can no longer fight against his unrelenting charm.

All Johanna wants is to keep the family inn afloat, but when the rent and the hearth payment are due at the same time, where will she find the extra funds? If she doesn't come up with the money, there will be nowhere to go other than the workhouse--where she'll be separated from her ailing mother and ten-year-old brother.

Alex desperately wants to help Johanna, especially when she confides in him, but his mission--finding and bring to justice a traitor to the crown--must come first, or they could all end up dead.

By the same author: The Captive Heart

Visit Barbour Publishing for more info on where to buy.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review.

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