A Spinster’s Guide to Danger and Dukes

The third installment in Collins’s Victorian England–set “Ladies Most Scandalous” series (following An Heiress’s Guide to Deception and Desire) focuses on Poppy Delamare, who fled to London to avoid a disastrous marriage and reinvented herself as a humble secretary. When Poppy sees the half-sister she left behind accused of murder in the headlines, she rushes home to her aid. After being robbed in the train station, Poppy must accept the help of the rakish Duke of Langham, who is traveling to the country for his grandmother’s birthday. A faux engagement is mutually beneficial, with the Duke’s position and title assisting Poppy in her efforts to clear her sister’s name while sparing the Duke all of the unwanted attention from the eligible young women at the birthday celebration. Multiple murder motives are unearthed while a simmering heat grows between Poppy and Langham until the true murderer has Poppy in his sights.