A Thieving at Carlton House

Of Cloaks & Daggers

By: Erica Vetsch

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik

The Home Office has asked Sir Bertrand Thorndike to head an investigation into stolen royal jewels. It's the perfect chance for Bertie to step out of his brother's long shadow. His superior, The Duke of Haverly, has a plan that makes him balk: in order to sell his cover, Bertie must play the part of a man looking for love, ready to reform his rakish ways. The duke is willing to let Bertie name his own investigative team, but his recommendation that the team include Philippa Cashel has Bertie on his guard. Does the duke-known for his behind-the-scenes machinations-have an ulterior motive?

Philippa Cashel escaped her life as one of society's best-known courtesans, devoting her life to helping other women in dire straits. So when Sir Bertrand Thorndike approaches her about joining his team as an agent of the Crown, she is skeptical. She's focused on getting her school for underprivileged women up and running, not in cloak-and-dagger skullduggery. Her hope is that if she labors hard enough at her charity work, she might begin to feel worthy of God's forgiveness. When one of Philippa's rescued girls is arrested for stealing the royal jewels and another is murdered, Philippa will risk partnering with Bertie to find the loot and stop the killer. Two brilliant minds-with two wary hearts-and one cunning deceiver are on a collision course in Regency England.

©2024 Erica Vetsch (P)2024 Tantor

Intriguing story

This story kept me interested and wondering what would happen next. This was my first book by this author. Now I want to go back and look up previous books to find out the back stories of these characters. I also enjoyed the narration.

Excellent Mystery without Unnecessary Drama

I've loved all of Erica Vetsch's books but this might be my favorite. A really good mystery with a few twists along the way. No romance or unnecessary drama between team members, which let me focus on the who-done-it and why. Good life advice, as always, built into an excellent story line. I cannot wait for the next book!

Unlike the first 3 books, this narrator is perfectly fine. I had to turn her up loud in my car to hear over road noise but she sounds good with headphones on.

Mystery and interesting characters!

Very well written, keeping the reader wanting for more. More mystery and more on the characters!

Excellent Read!!

I love all of Erica’s books! I can’t wait for the next book in the series to come out.

First In A New Series! Bravo!

A perfect beginning to the “Of Cloak and Dagger” series, Erica Vetsch integrates characters from the Thorndike and Swann series (yay!) and brings them to the forefront.

But, how will Sir Bertrand Thorndike, better known as “Bertie”, succeed in solving a theft involving the Prince Regent’s residence where there are more servants than one can count? Aside from that, Bertie doesn’t know whom he can trust, doesn’t have much faith in himself and is excruciatingly afraid to fail.

Philippa Cashel, a former courtesan, knows what it is like to be forced into a life where few survive with minimal scars. An awful reality of the Regency era, women and even girls that were not yet fourteen sell themselves to provide for their families or because they were thrust out on their own with nowhere to go. Now that Philippa has been rescued from this life, she is determined to give these societal victims a safe place to live and the skills needed to begin a new life.

While balancing a plea for necessary funds and location, Philippa is faced with the possibility that all of her work could come crashing down when two girls she placed in service within Carlton House become suspected of theft.

This is a lovely Erica Vetsch story with an audiobook format so very well done by narrator Anne Flosnik. The dialog encompasses terms and phrases from the era and successfully places the reader among the streets of London, Carlton House and Asbury’s broken down estate, not to mention an expertly embedded spiritual thread that naturally occurs within the lives of the characters.

Two favorite quotes-

“…reputation and character are not to be confused. One is what people think you are, and one is what you actually are.”

“He is not worthy of forgiveness. Who among us is?…If our redemption depended upon our being worthy of it, we would either not need redeeming because we were already worthy, or we would miss out entirely because we are all unworthy and in need of redemption. Grace and forgiveness are a gift from God, not something we earn.”

This book is suitable for teens and older with no inappropriate intimate scenes and no bad language. I received this book from the author/publisher free of charge, with no expectation of a positive review. I also purchased the audiobook.

Love this author!

Erica has started a new series and I can’t wait to listen to the next one. All of her books are exciting, mysterious and with the truth of who God is. Absolutely wonderful!

Another wonderful series!

I can see that this is going to be another delightful series by Erica Vetch, I loved Thorndike and Swann and I’m thrilled that some of those characters show up here. I am looking forward to seeing how this new series develops.

Mystery, but no romance

The story line was good, but I think it's best to read the Serendipity and Secrets series (at least "The Gentleman Spy"), as well as the Thorndyke and Swan series before reading this one. I've listened to "The Gentleman Spy" before, but "A Thieving at Carleton House" would've been easier to follow had I also read the Thorndyke series first. it's too bad there wasn't mention of that in it's title details/summary. I was not all that crazy about the narrator, but she did a passable job.

Very religious and preachy

The story would be really good if the author wasn't always trying to insert religion and pontificating. The character of Charlotte in particular is nauseating. The amount of gaslighting she does of her half sister is infuriating. I forwarded through the preaching and gratuitous religious stuff and the story was better for it. Won't be getting another book from this author.