Starting out, I found that this story had a bit of a Cinderella vibe to it. Abigail, Abby, has a step mother who hates her. Although her biological father is still alive, that doesn’t seem to help Abby much. Her mother still manages to physically and verbally abuse her, so Abby can’t wait to get away from the family. Her betrothed lives far to the north of the country, Abby’s family is set to travel abroad and can spare no footmen, so Abby has to travel unaccompanied by males across some regions controlled by highwaymen. She only gets to take Fanny, the maid her stepmother doesn’t want in her employ. This setup is bound for disaster, and soon Abby finds herself in a life threatening situation, from which she is saved by world-weary police Captain Samuel Thatcher. Abby realizes she needs protection and persuades the Captain to help her. He agrees to deliver her safely to her betrothed in return for a hefty sum of money he will use to fund his retirement.

There are plenty of dramatic events mixed up with humor, especially in the beginning of the story. Later the drama intensifies and takes over. The plot feels more like a somewhat predictable thriller with the occasional moment of closeness between Abby and Captain Thatcher. I enjoyed the sweet situations as the relationship develops between them, however brief and somewhat casual they felt.

Main Characters
Abigail, Abby, Gilbert has suffered the loss of her mother in her earlier years. Growing up she has suffered abuse by her stepmother without her father having interfered much. She has tried to be a good daughter to no avail, and carries around a lot of grief. Apart from trying to be tough and deal with whatever comes in life, I felt her character seemed a bit one-sided. I had hoped to find descriptions of a more complex personality and connect with her feelings more. However, I enjoyed that we got a glimpse into the real Abby when she suffered feverish nightmares.

Captain Samuel Thatcher seemed the most developed character in this story and he went through the most change and development throughout. To begin with he seemed to carry a lot of baggage having been through a lot in his life. As the story progresses he goes through a positive change, although he still remains this justice conscious police man trying to make the world a safer place. As he seems so closed off and cold, he seems to have his work cut out for him developing into a person who is able to connect to a woman at all.

The maid Fanny I found was a funny supporting character who focuses on eating and taking naps. She seems to not quite understand her role as a maid silently doing as she’s told. Instead Fanny talks back and generally makes a disruptive nuisance of herself. That’s why Abby’s stepmother prefers to get rid of her.

Overall Thoughts
This is book #3 in The Bow Street Runners Trilogy. Usually I try to read trilogies as they come, but decided to read this as a standalone. As expected there were characters from the previous installments that I didn’t know. There were brief explanations as to who they were, so on the whole I thought #3 worked out quite well as a standalone. The plot, I felt, became somewhat predictable and I would have enjoyed more complex and further developed characters. I enjoyed the mention of places they travel past and the mixing in of entertaining facts about them as well as the Historical Notes at the back of the story. Fans of Michelle Griep will enjoy this as the final installment in The Bow Street Runners Trilogy.

My rating: 3 stars / 5
(All opinions are my own)