I found this softcover in this Little Free Library in Hampton NH while dropping off some books of my own, and nabbed it for another release copy.

This book is another of the many that I "discovered" via BookCrossing; I happened to see a pre-publication copy of this book on somebody's bookshelf, was intrigued by the title, and learned that the character had appeared in several of the books in the Outlander series, so I had to get hold of those volumes first. After reading Voyager I decided that Lord John (a young British officer who has the bad luck to to be gay in a time and place where a gesture of affection could get someone hanged - and the even worse luck to fall in love with the utterly unavailable Jamie Fraser) was my favorite character, so I immediately picked up a copy of this book, and enjoyed it very much indeed.

I gather that ardent fans of Jamie and Claire from the "Outlander" series may not be as thrilled with this book, as (a) Jamie and Claire aren't in it {grin}, and (b) it's much more a detective story than the lush romantic adventures of the other books (though a romantic scene or two manage to creep in - I won't say between whom!). I'm finding that I like it better than Gabaldon's more sprawling novels, though; there's a lot of period detail here, and some wonderful you-are-there stuff (including lots of humor, as when Lord John finds himself trying to defend a corpse from two bereaved women, each determined to bury the body in her own chosen way, and each with a mob to back her up).

The mysteries - there are several - turn out to have somewhat unexpected but quite satisfactory resolutions, and Lord John acquits himself admirably, with the aid of his new valet, Tom Byrd, and other friends, some of whom have also appeared in the "Outlander" books.

*** Side note: there's an unabridged-audio version of this book, read by Jeff Woodman, and I enjoyed that even more than when I first read the book; Woodman's a perfect narrator for this story.

I left this book in the Little Free Library. (Looks like the original book-design LFL has been replaced, possibly due to damage.) Hope someone enjoys the book!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

** Released for the 2023 June Pride LGBTQ+ challenge. **