Beginning:
Had his mount not lost its shoe on the return journey to London after taking the waters in Bath, Atlas Cateby would not have been in a position to purchase another man's wife.Friday 56 (from 56% of the eARC):
"Very good, sir," Jamie said with a smile, recovering his usual youthful cheeriness. Ah, to be young again. At two-and-thirty, Atlas was hardly ancient, but at times his damnable left foot made him feel one hundred years old.
In 1810, Atlas Catesby, a brilliant adventurer and youngest son of a baron, is anxious to resume his world travels after a carriage accident left him injured in London. But his plans are derailed when, passing through a country village, he discovers a helpless woman being auctioned off to the highest bidder--by her husband.
In order to save her from being violated by another potential buyer, Atlas purchases the lady, Lilliana, on the spot to set her free. But Lilliana, desperate to be with her young sons and knowing the laws of England give a father all parental rights, refuses to be rescued--until weeks later when her husband is murdered and Atlas is the only one who can help clear her name of the crime.
Fortunately, Atlas is a master at solving complicated puzzles, both with games and the intricacies of human motivation, and finds himself uniquely suited to the task, despite the personal peril it may put him in. But soon Altas learns the dead man had many secrets--and more than a few enemies willing to kill to keep them quiet--in Murder in Mayfair, the first in a new historical mystery series by D. M. Quincy.
