More Than a Masquerade

Ladies of the Order, Book 2

By: Adele Clee

Narrated by: Stevie Zimmerman

A private detective seeking her first case.

After spending weeks eagerly awaiting an assignment, Rachel Gambit is instructed to meet her potential new client at a Vauxhall masquerade. She’s been given a list of instructions: to wear red and to find the mysterious gentleman amongst the crowd with no clue to his identity. But if, by God’s good grace, she finds the man, she must go through a series of tests before he agrees to hire her.

A man on a mission.

Eli Hunter needs a woman who can act her way onto any Covent Garden stage. He needs a woman with steely determination and a cunning mind. A woman who can help him recover a stolen artifact owned by a secret society. But he encounters a problem. The only detective available stirs a passion that could soften the hardest heart - a terrifying prospect for a man who’s survived the worst kind of betrayal.

Can Rachel and Eli work together and suppress their obvious attraction?

When thrown in the midst of danger, will they find something infinitely more precious than a stolen artifact?

Find out in More Than a Masquerade: Ladies of the Order, Book 2.

©2021 Adele Clee (P)2022 Adele Clee

I have the Kindle and Audible -TERRIFIC book.

MORE THAN A MASQUERADE, Adele Clee's second book in her Ladies of the Order series, is an absolute delight for anyone desiring an amazing love story as well as an opportunity to solve mysteries. In MORE THAN A MASQUERADE, Adele Clee has written not one, but three individual mysteries that will leave you pondering who the perpetrators are and their reasons for their heinous actions. The villains are truly evil‒ ones quite deserving their eventual just rewards.

Adele Clee's great skills as a writer shine throughout the story with heartfelt emotions‒ from friendship and desire to genuine love, countered with doubt, suspicion and grave fear as the mysteries turn deadly. All three mysteries are explained quite well with no cliffhanger. Stevie Zimmerman has narrated other Adele Clee books. I was pleased with her very believable and professional narration of this book.

I enjoyed the reappearance of several characters from former books, but I have to say I absolutely loved Rachel and Eli!! Adele Clee outdid herself with the main characters, especially the heroine. After learning of the HORRENDOUS things Rachel went through, I think she is the strongest, bravest heroine that I've read in a very long time. Yet even with her being such a strong character, she is very feminine, compassionate and loving‒ a super heroine!

Eli is a great hero. Although he is wealthy and part of society, he is not a charming rogue in any way. Due to being horribly betrayed in the past, Eli's personality is cold and forbidding but realizing why he is that way is part of his initial appeal. All the changes he goes through make him all the more interesting. He truly comes through in heroic fashion at the end.

Rachel and Eli meet as strangers to solve a mystery. In each other, they find their soulmate and love of a lifetime.

I highly recommend this audible version of the book.

Mixed

This was a more interesting story than the first book was. And I liked the forthright dialogue and openness of the characters. However, the constant external and internal “insta-lust” thoughts and comments that interrupted and intruded every few minute into the dialogue and action grossly bogged down the solving of the mysteries. Therefore, what could have been quite a good little story became tedious and frustrating.

Mystery and Romance

Rachel Gambit is a new private investigator for Ladies of the Order, waiting to interview for her first case. Eli Hunter is seeking an investigator to help him locate a missing artifact and to discover a traitor in his organization. He has no intention of hiring a woman. But she passes all his “tests” and begins to work with him. During their meetings they develop feelings for one another. It’s a great mixture of romance, healing, and mystery. The characters are interesting and the story is well written.
I enjoyed the narrator a lot. Her male voices are very good and the hero’s voice is strong and sensual.