The Virgin Who Ruined Lord Gray by Anna Bradley

The premise is that the heroine belongs to a team of lady spies, who work under the auspices of the frankly fabulous Lady Clifford (book about Lady Clifford, please and thank you?). It’s got a grittiness to it because you’re dealing with murder, imprisonment and conspiracy that I kind of appreciated-not, I hasten to add, that I’ve anything against Dukes and Almacks-but there’s still a lovely chemistry between the leads and lots of sparky dialogue. For my money, it’s a really well-judged mixture of action-adventure hijinks, mystery solving and romancey timez. But when desire is at odds with justice, succumbing to temptation may lead them both into the heart of danger. Determined to learn the truth about the Clifford School, he joins Sophia in a scheme that leads from Newgate's cells to the pinnacle of power. Sophia-all soft curves beneath her disguise-is a unique challenge. Tristan Stratford, Lord Gray, earned the nickname the Ghost of Bow Street because no man has ever escaped him. She hasn't bargained on being spotted and followed back to the Clifford School by a mysterious earl who holds almost as many secrets as she does. Her objective: to gain information that will free a friend wrongly accused of murder.

Other young ladies might occupy their spare time with drawing or needlework, but Sophia Monmouth spends hers scaling rooftops and shadowing suspicious characters. Behind the doors of the Clifford Charity School for Wayward Girls, there lies a secret society of brilliant, fearless women who are bringing justice to London's most corrupt aristocrats, one nobleman at a time.

The Virgin Who Ruined Lord Gray by Anna Bradley