Protecting Her Heart

Starred review from September 1, 2023

After graduating from medical school in the United States, Briton Charlotte Duvall receives a cryptic letter from her father shortly before he dies, implying her mother's death was not an accident. Once she's back at her family's English home, Charlotte teams up with long-time friend John Ellis, the director of London's police. Not long after Charlotte starts investigating her mother's death, her life is threatened, so John moves into the same boarding house to protect her and help her solve the murder. Charlotte balances her investigation with her work at a hospital, all the while trying to deny her growing attraction to John, fearing marriage and the idea of no longer being able to work as a doctor. John has harbored feelings for Charlotte since before she left for medical school, so now that she's back in England for some time, he slowly but steadily convinces her to risk her heart with him. VERDICT Readers will delight in this suspenseful Victorian mystery mixed with a slow-burn romance and will enjoy seeing many characters from other series installments play an integral role in solving the murder. Those new to the series should start with The Matchmaker's Lonely Heart.--Eve Stano

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 13, 2023
Allen’s chaste and diverting third Hampton House Victorian romance (after To Capture His Heart) pairs a newly minted female doctor with the police officer helping her to investigate a cold case. After graduating medical school in Pennsylvania, Charlotte Duvall heads home to London at the request of a disturbing letter from her father, telling her he has “kicked a hornet’s nest” to uncover new secrets about the death of Charlotte’s mother more than two decades ago. While still at sea, Charlotte receives a telegram notifying her of her father’s death, leaving her to investigate her mother’s purported drowning without his help. Fortunately John Ellis, director of the London Metropolitan Police’s Criminal Investigation Department and a longtime friend of Charlotte’s whom she greatly missed during her time away, is eager to assist. As they grow closer to the truth, however, Charlotte is assaulted and warned away from investigating further, activating John’s fierce protective instincts. The pair inevitably fall for each other, and John resolves to marry Charlotte, but Charlotte, who has found a job at a hospital, hesitates due to societal prejudices against married women working. Charlotte is just the kind of strong female lead historical romance readers adore, and the forward-thinking hero is her ideal counterpart. Add in a pinch of mystery, and this proves irresistible.

November 1, 2023
Recently graduated from medical school in America, Charlotte Duval returns to England after receiving a letter from her father asking her to come and alluding to suspicions about her mother's death. Charlotte was only four when her mother died, leaving her with few memories. En route she receives the news that her father has died. She decides that she must find out what he wanted her to know, so she takes a job at a London charity hospital. Reading through some of her late mother's papers, she realizes that she must figure out which one of the three men in her mother's life named James was involved. As Charlotte's investigation puts her at risk, she turns to her friend John Ellis, the second son of an earl and director of the Metropolitan Police's Criminal Investigation Department for advice and protection. Her cousins, introduced in The Matchmaker's Lonely Heart (2021), add support. Victorian London in 1887, with its class issues, prim morals, and elaborate entertainments, provides a vivid backdrop for Campbell's compelling combination of romance, mystery, and historical fiction.

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