It’s all scheming to get the right spouse and right past wrongs. Entertaining ( )

I really enjoyed this book. Elizabeth is planning her wedding to Gideon, a small affair just family and friends at the home of Elizabeth’s aunts. Unfortunately, Logan, Gideon’s friend’s fiancée, gossips to a society columnist about their wedding and this brings Oscar Thornton (from the first book) back looking to recoup his money from her family’s con. While “the old man” (Elizabeth’s father) is trying fix this, she and Gideon are helping his friend Logan who has received a letter from a girl he met in France but Elizabeth believes that Logan is being conned and works to fix that situation. ( )

The Counterfeit Lady historical mystery series by Victoria Thompson is such a fun story. This fourth in series finds our plucky heroine preparing for her quiet family and close-friends-only wedding. If only her society "friend", Rosemary Westerly, had not been so eager to leak the upcoming nuptials to the society page reporters, then perhaps our plucky protagonist, Elizabeth Miles, could have continued to evade the wrath of Oscar Thornton (the mark from the con in book #1). Meanwhile, fiancé Gideon's friend, Army Captain Logan Carsten, betrothed to Rosemary and still pining for his WWI French girlfriend, Noelle, receives a letter via his sergeant. It is presumably from Noelle asking for financial assistance and passage from France to America. Logan, being duty bound, would never break off the engagement with Rosemary to pursue a further relationship with Noelle and Noelle states that she's aware of that. At any rate, there are cons a-plenty as Elizabeth's family gets in on the action. Ms. Thompson has done her research and added historical elements of the day, which are spot on. She even provides a few notes regarding the historical record at the end of the book. It's an action-packed story with never a dull moment.

If historical fiction with a high-spirited, plucky and courageous female protagonist at its center appeals, then this is definitely a series you won't want to miss. As of this writing, publication date is January 5, 2021

I am grateful to Penguin Random House LLC for having provided a complimentary uncorrected e-book file of this book through NetGalley. Their generosity, however, has not influenced this review - the words of which are mine alone. ( )