Detective Sergeant Mitchell Simpson’s only purpose is his job with London’s Metropolitan Police. But when he’s seriously injured in the line of duty, he has no idea what to do. So, when he’s offered a private investigation to work on while he recovers, he jumps at it. After tirelessly working as a nurse for a decade, Lady Corrine Addington entered an arranged marriage to save her family from financial ruin. But it’s not long before she realizes her estranged husband is up to something, so she hires Mitchell to follow him. Then a murderous turn of events changes everything.
The start of a new series & I love that characters from previous series make appearances. A well written book which I found hard to put down, the characters have depth whether you loved them or disliked them. I loved Mitchell & Corrine who were attracted to each other from their first meeting when he was injured & their feelings deepened as she helped to nurse him but she was married. She was unhappily married but wouldn’t break her vows. The series gets its name from the illegitimate children of Duke & there were lots of them so this could be a long series. There were twists, turns, mystery & murder plus two people who fell deeply in love. I thoroughly enjoyed their journey to a HEA & look forward to the rest of the series
I voluntarily read and reviewed a special copy of this book; all thoughts and opinions are my own

3.5 for me!

This was a much more detailed book than I expected. It was a lot of setup with many characters and it felt like a lot at moments. But I appreciated the detective work and that the characters had depth. It was also surprising to see the characters with such modern views of society - that doesn't always happen in books like this. Appreciated the dual POV, but it all felt a bit forced overall. Still a decent time.

I really enjoyed this! It has a great mystery and romance.

I was super intrigued by the plot of this one and the forbidden, slow burn romance. I thought the plot was unique and interesting. I have not read many romances where the heroine is still married for the first part. I was curious to see how the romance was going to develop. I did like the main couple here. The mutual pining and attraction made for great angst which I love. The chemistry is fantastic too. Plus, the main characters were great individually as well.

I thought the mystery was well executed. It kept me guessing.

A fascinating series starter. I'm eager to see what else is in store.

Book one of a new series is incredibly filled with historical detail. In addition, the story has a number of open plots that all end up merging together into one amazing story. The primary characters, Corrine and Mitchell are a unique pair. The secondary characters such as Drew, Liam and others add great depth and dimension to the overall story. Filled with twists, turns, mystery and murder, this story will hold your attention until the very end. I am hoping this author includes Liam or Drew in her next book. She has left herself quite a cast of characters to pull from so I expect this could be a fully packed series.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and found myself wanting to read just one more chapter before putting it down for the day. The summary lets you know something will happen that will allow Corrine and Mitchell be together so it was just a matter of seeing how that would unfold. It wasn't a huge surprise how that did end up happening, but the character of Travis was just full of surprises throughout the book. I think my opinion of him was similar to Corrine's - at first you feel bad for him and then just more and more disgusted by his actions as more about him was discovered. I will say the greatest surprise in the book had to do with the fact that he had a spine and was tougher than he initially seemed. The only aspect of the book that didn't quite work for me was the dialogue - it just never felt natural and given the time period the way divorce was discussed seemed way too matter-of-fact. Even though a new century was approaching, I am pretty sure one did not talk of divorce as lightly as Corrine did. Having not read the book that proceeded this one I did feel at times as though I had been dropped in the middle of Mitchell's story without a lot to go on. There is some explanation of what occurred in that book, but I felt like he was already fully developed by the time I got to meet him rather than someone I got to know as the book went on. I also wished we could have learned a little more about some of Travis's motivations. My concerns with this book will not prevent me from wanting to pick up book 2 and find out more about Cecilia and Liam.

3.5 stars, rounding up to 4 because I did like the story itself.
There is a lot of potential for this story, but it needs work. I didn’t notice any typos, however the syntax needs work. A round of professional developmental editing would be helpful (I.e. to eliminate duplicity—like having a scene play out, then having a character retell the scene when they could have summed it up in one sentence like “So I gave him a summary of the mystery man’s visit” or putting a sandwich down a couple of sentences apart when it wasn’t picked up again between —and inconsistencies—she was so proper but turned out not to be a virgin??? And did Travis seek her out or she seek him out?, unnecessary information—like the paragraph about Jack the Ripper— and making more sense of things—like the MMC waking up from being unconscious for 5 days, and still ill, yet the doctor/half brother drops a bunch of shocking info on the MMC immediately. Also, how exactly did he fall the FMC when he was unconscious (the feels seemed to come out of nowhere).
The whole first scene with her brother was strange and I felt whiplashed from it. I can’t explain it any other way and felt utterly confused about how that conversation went by the end of it.
Some areas fell flat, like lots of build up and then a meh peak/climax.
Physically speaking, it’s a slow burn, but the 2 MCs fall for each other quickly but don’t act on it. They admit their feelings quickly, but this doesn’t match their personalities either (as a reader, my impression was that I couldn’t trust their true intentions/actions/words — were they being honest with the reader?) When the physical relationship does finally start, the spice is like a 1.5 🌶️.
Historical romance is hard to do, which is where a good editor with knowledge in this area, is vital. Little instances here and there didn’t reign true for the times. It makes the reader question if other things are true, like the story of why many pubs have the word “cock” in them; it was interesting but I don’t know if I can trust it.
I really loved how many of the leading and supporting characters were so charitable. Made them more lovable. The MMC was so likable and not a jerk, which can be a rare find nowadays.
The book description (back of the book) gives off the impression that the husband dies soon into the book, but I think it was at least halfway through, which I didn’t like. Either I would have wanted it to happen quicker or the description not spoil that bit for me.
I did like and enjoy this book, but I also feel it could be improved with some professional editing.