Good Dukes Wear Black (Lords of Anarchy, #3) by Manda Collins on April 5th 2016
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LOVE IS ALWAYS A WILD RIDE.
A writer for the Ladies Gazette, Miss Ophelia Dauntry’s passion is her pen. So when she sees a fellow writer kidnapped before her eyes—and the trail of evidence leads to the Lords of Anarchy—Ophelia vows to find her friend and take down the notorious London driving club in her column. But before she can argue her case, she needs the inside scoop from its newest leader: Piers Hamilton, the Duke of Trent.
Headstrong, handsome Trent joined the Lords of Anarchy after a decade in the British Army. He’s made it his business to tame the misbehavior within the driving club—and the infuriatingly attractive Ophelia is only getting in his way. The deeper she digs into the case, the more she puts her own life at risk. Can Trent convince Ophelia to trust him to seek justice…and find protection, and passion, in his arms?
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~~Reviewed by Monique~~
Miss Ophelia Dauntry is quite content to be writing about needlepoint in the Ladies Gazette, although she and her friend Maggie Grayson – another lady reporter – would rather publish articles concerning social issues. While doing research for a column that will most likely not see the light of day, Maggie stumbles upon very disquieting events. One morning, as Ophelia and Maggie are out shopping, Ophelia sees Maggie dragged away by two burly men. They are taking her to an insane asylum on the orders of her husband. Ophelia becomes immediately suspicious, as she had no inkling there was anything amiss in the Grayson’s marriage. On top of it all, George Grayson is a member of the infamous Lords of Anarchy, which have been suspected of unsavoury activities in recent years. That is precisely what their new president, Piers Hamilton, the Duke of Trent, is looking into. Trent intends to restore the Lords’ reputation and get rid of the bad elements. When Ophelia comes knocking at this door demanding explanations and to ask for his help in finding her friend, Trent wholeheartedly agrees.
GOOD DUKES WEAR BLACK is a splendid conclusion the Lords of Anarchy, but still can easily be read as a standalone. Even though the characters from the previous books feature prominently, a new reader would feel perfectly at ease. In addition to the exciting mystery surrounding Maggie’s disappearance, there is of course the romance, and there is a rather interesting twist to Ophelia’s mother’s views on marriage for her daughter. Trent needs a bride, as he doesn’t want his wastrel fop of a cousin to inherit the dukedom, and concludes that Ophelia might make a fine duchess. Trent and Ophelia have known each other socially for a good while, but they get much better acquainted while searching for Maggie.
Trent is one dashing, irresistible duke if I ever saw one; what a perfectly splendid character! I really loved how he brandished his title as a weapon; he truly is a soldier at heart. The friendship between Trent and his two friends, Lord Lisle and the Earl of Mainwaring is adeptly conveyed, and their banter sounds entirely genuine. The dialogues are very smooth, and the characters uniformly well fleshed-out. Trent and Ophelia are just perfect together: Ophelia is determined and independent, but still very much a Regency lady: Ms. Collins gives us a beautifully realistic and interesting heroine in Ophelia. In fact, Trent and Ophelia are such a great pair, there is a mutual respect, a sense of fun, and great chemistry, that I would really wish to see a series built around them investigating!
I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Readers Copy of this book.
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About Manda Collins
Manda Collins spent her teen years wishing she’d been born a couple of centuries earlier, preferably in the English countryside. Time travel being what it is, she resigned herself to life with electricity and indoor plumbing, and read lots of books. An affinity for books led to a graduate degree in English, followed by another in Librarianship. By day, she works as an academic librarian at a small liberal arts college, where she teaches college students how to navigate the tangled world of academic research. A native of coastal Alabama, Manda lives in the house her mother grew up in with two cats, sometimes a dog, sometimes her sister, and always lots of books.
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