Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The Passion of the Purple Plumeria by Lauren Willig

The Passion of the Purple Plumeria by Lauren Willig

Another entry in the Pink Carnation series: this time following the chaperone of the Pink Carnation, Miss Gwendolyn Meadows.  She always comes across as older than her forty-five years, but she does that on purpose.  Spies often overlook spinsters with their innocent charges.  That is why she and the Pink Carnation have avoided suspicion for the past two years living in France and spying on Napoleon.  But now the two must return home to England.  Agnes, the Pink Carnation’s younger sister, has disappeared from boarding school and they fear that their exploits in France may have endangered the girl.  Arriving at the boarding school they find that Agnes and another girl have gone missing.  The other girl’s father, a colonel just returning from India, arrives on the scene and gets swept up into the hunt for the two girls.  Good thing for Gwen that he happens to be charming, handsome and single.  But is she ready for love?  She, who was burned so badly years ago?

As with all the rest, this is a great listen making you wish that your drives would take just a little while longer.  There are two storylines in each book; the historical spy storyline and the current storyline featuring an American historian working on her Doctoral thesis (about flowery spies of course) and her English beau.  More because of the present time storyline than the one in the past it’s best to read these books in order, but you can try one in the middle, you won’t be too lost.