THE HAUNTING OF A DUKE by Chasity Bowlin haunted a full 12 hours of my life. The mystery and suspense gripped me from the first page, and I actually sacrificed a night of sleep because I could not put it down. If you like 19th Century historical romance and/or mystery novels, THE HAUNTING OF A DUKE is a must read. I give it 4 stars out of 5.
THE HAUNTING OF A DUKE tells the story of Rhys, the Duke of Briarleigh, who is mired in suspicion due to the untimely death of his wife, Elise. Miss Emma Walters, a young gentlewoman who is rumored to be a psychic, has been asked by the duke's mother to use her "psychic gifts" to determine whether the duke actually killed his wife. Emma's investigation is played out during a house party, to which the most notorious gossips in town have been invited specifically in hopes that when the duke's name is cleared, the news will reach the entirety of the ton with the greatest speed possible. Unfortunately, Emma's investigation results in a drama on multiple levels. Is Emma really a medium, or is she lying to further her social aspirations? Can Emma discover who really killed the late duchess before she herself falls prey to the villain? Will Emma and Rhys work out their issues before it's too late?
Right off the bat, the book hooks you with the mystery. The opening scene depicts a dirty, scraped up girl in her nightgown trying to find her way back to her room after sleepwalking in a strange mansion, and it is so well described that I cringed with empathetic pain when she slams her fingers in the dungeon door. Ouch! And the suspense is so well plotted that I could not predict the ending. There were so many possibilities that I was truly surprised by the big reveal in the end. There were a handful of glaring editing errors, but the content of the book was so good that I was able to get back into the scene without a problem. The pace was good, as evidenced by my reading the book in one sitting.
The romance between Emma and the Duke is fairly realistic. I appreciate that there is no agonizing back and forth, hemming and hawing about the relationship. The emotional aspect of their relationship was not beaten to death; the characters' thought and insecurities are described and mentioned in appropriate context, but the main theme of the story is the mystery of who killed the former duchess. Bonus points there. Otherwise, the development of the relationship is described with enough dialogue and serious conversation that the reader isn't blindsided by the characters' feelings for each other. As for the heat level, there are several scenes of graphic sex, but they were timed realistically and were realistic given the context. So while I would rate the heat level as a 3 out of 5, the love scenes don't seem gratuitous. The writing is definitely geared toward the 18+ crowd, though.
Finally, on a side note, the cover art for the book does not accurately reflect the book. Perhaps a cover that highlighted the mystery and suspense part of the novel would have been more appropriate than the bodice-ripper-esqe depiction of lovers, but this is a personal pet peeve of mine that doesn't pertain to the quality of the writing.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and look forward to finding out if there are subsequent novels that tell the stories of Michael and Spence, the duke's best friends.
**This review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooksreview.php?bookid=7460
