"What on earth will you do now that the war is over? Lurch from scandal to scandal and then try to forget it all in majoun shops like the one you were in last night?" loc 779]
Sequel to False Lights (now republished as Hester and Crow, by Katy Moran) and Wicked by Design, both of which I enjoyed a great deal. (I'm not super-keen on the rebranding, as it makes these seem far lewder, and less alt-historical, than they are.) The premise is that the French won at Trafalgar: False Lights / Hester and Crow began in occupied England, with 'Crow' Crowlas, Earl of Lamorna, and his young brother Kitto surreptitiously aiding and abetting two distinct rebellions, and Hester Harewood, whose father was Black, becoming embroiled in their schemes. Wicked by Design turned its focus on Russia, where Kitto encountered the bastard daughter of the Tsar: less Hester here, as for much of the novel she is presumed dead. Now Scandalous Alchemy gives Hester and Crow some peace, and makes Kitto -- Lieutenant Colonel the Honourable Kit Helford -- the protagonist.
Kit has had a good war, which Hester glosses as his skill and enjoyment at killing people, and is now at somewhat of a loose end. After a scandal, he's despatched to France as the bodyguard of Princess Sophia, formerly known as Nadezdha -- the girl with whom Kit fell in love on the wide Russian steppes seven years before, now off to meet her fiance, Louis Charles Habsburg-Lorraine, before her ascension to the throne as Queen of England.
There is, as usual, plenty of swashbuckling here: there is also another redoubtable female protagonist, Clemency Arwenack, Kit's childhood friend ('accomplice', says Crow) who has become 'a blackmail artist and extortionist par excellence, like all the most fashionable women' [loc 853]. Clemency used to do intelligence work for Crow, but now she's under the thumbs of the bourgeois Boscobels, who clearly have some power over her. When she's employed as Mistress of the Robes to Princess Sophia's entourage, it's the perfect opportunity for the ruin of several reputations.
Kit Helford is a very Heyeresque hero (I was reminded of Vidal in Devil's Cub), and Clemency also brings to mind some of Heyer's heroines, though she's nowhere near as pure-minded as any of them. There are other influences here: for instance, I was reminded of Dorothy Dunnett (though that may just be the French palace and the royal hunt). Excellent characters, too: vile Valentine Boscobel, the Frenchman D'Harcourt with his African blood, the woodsman who would rather prepare for his marriage than pander to the aristocracy ...Hester, sadly, stays in the background, though Crow gets to sweep in and, as usual, rearrange everything to his liking.
There were some athletic leaps of logic (to be fair, Kit has always been ruled by his heart rather than his head) and a couple of dangling threads: but there is also a surprisingly happy ending, and a great deal of excitement, amusement and drama throughout. A cracking read, thoroughly enjoyable.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing an Advance Review Copy in exchange for this honest review. UK Publication due on 10th June 2021.
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