A Lady In Disguise By Sandra Byrd

A Lady in Disguise
by Sandra Byrd
Publisher: Howard Books
ISBN: 978-1476717937

I was so thankful to be included in author, Sandra Byrd's, inner circle to help promote this book! It had been a while since I'd read any of her novels. This year I'm back on the reading train, and was thrilled to have the opportunity to read her newest novel.

Summary:

In this intriguing novel of romance, mystery, and clever disguise set in Victorian England, a young woman investigates the murder of her own father.

After the mysterious death of her father, Miss Gillian Young takes a new job as the principal costume designer at the renowned Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. But while she remembers her father as a kind, well-respected man of the Police Force, clues she uncovers indicate he’d been living a double life: a haunting photograph of a young woman; train stubs for secret trips just before his death; and a receipt for a large sum of money. Are these items evidence of her father’s guilty secrets? His longtime police partner thinks so.

Then Gillian meets the dashing Viscount Thomas Lockwood. Their attraction is instant and inescapable. As their romantic involvement grows, Gillian begins to suspect even Lockwood’s motives. Does Lord Lockwood truly love her? Or is his interest a front for the desire to own her newly inherited property? And what should she make of her friend’s suggestion that Lockwood or men like him were involved in the murder of her father?

Soon Gillian is convinced that her father has left evidence somewhere that can prove his innocence and reveal the guilty party. But someone wants to stop her from discovering it. The closer she comes to uncovering it, the more menacing her opposition grows. With her life on the line, Gillian takes on an ingenious disguise and takes on the role of a lifetime to reveal the true killer—before it’s too late both for her and for those that she loves.

My Review:

This sort starts off with us meeting Gillian at the funeral of her father. While at the home her grandparents had lived in, she meets the neighbor, Viscount Thomas Lockwood. They spend time getting reacquainted after his mother sends greetings and condolences to Gillian.

From there, Gillian and her companion, Ms. W head back to their home in London. It doesn't take long for her to realize something isn't right. Something is amiss once they get back home, the inspectors who had once been close to her father and their family are distancing themselves from her, and there are rumors her father may have been part of something illicit.

Gillian sets out to get to the bottom of what's happening. At every turn she seems to be watched or under suspicion. Nothing seems right and she doesn't know who to trust. Lockwood seems to take an interest in her, but she's not sure if it's a spark or if he's simply interested in her property that is next to his.

I love that in the midst of her turmoil, she opens her home to young girls who need a chance in life after being child mimes and then discarded. Her hope is to give them skills that will give them a better station in life. Unfortunately because of the mystery surrounding her father's death, she may have put their lives in danger as well.

Does Lockwood have ulterior motives? Can she trust any of the inspectors? Will she find out that she never really knew her father?

About the Author:

After earning her first rejection at the age of thirteen, bestselling author Sandra Byrd has now published more than fifty books. 

Sandra's series of historically sound Gothic romances, Daughters of Hampshire, launched with the best-selling Mist of Midnight, which earned a coveted Editor’s Choice award from the Historical Novel Society. The second book, Bride of a Distant Isle, has been selected by Romantic Times as a Top Pick. The third in the series, A Lady in Disguise, published in 2017. Sandra is excited to continue writing Gothic romance and will be adding books to that genre beginning in October 2018 with Tyndale House Publishers. 

Check out her contemporary adult fiction debut, Let Them Eat Cake, which was a Christy Award finalist, as was her first historical novel, To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn. To Die For was also named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2011, and The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr was named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2012. 

Sandra has published dozens of books for kids, tweens, and teens, including the bestselling The One Year Be-Tween You and God Devotions for Girls. She continued her work as a devotionalist, this time for women, with The One Year Home and Garden Devotions. Her latest book, The One Year Experiencing God’s Love Devotional, will be published in October 2017.  

Sandra is passionate about helping new writers develop their talents and their work for traditional publishing or self-publication. She has mentored and coached hundreds of new writers and continues to guide developing authors toward success each year via novelcoaching.com.

Please visit www.sandrabyrd.com to learn more or to invite Sandra to your book club via Skype.