The Gentleman and the Thief

August 3, 2020
Eden’s entertaining but forgettable second Dread Penny Society romance (after The Lady and the Highwayman) offers plenty of plot but little spark. Hollis Darby is the token aristocrat in the secret Dread Penny Society, whose members write penny dreadfuls by day and right injustices by night. He feels unappreciated by both his fellow vigilante authors and his snobbish older brother, and yearns for the sweet Ana Newport, his niece’s music teacher. Ana had a lady’s upbringing before her family’s wealth dwindled, and now she has a secret life of her own: as the Phantom Fox, she breaks into aristocratic homes to reclaim mementos of her childhood, which were stolen after her family lost their fortune. Ana’s reasons for taking the enormous risk of thievery are thin, and her actual exploits are never as exciting as the high stakes would suggest. And, though Hollis is quietly charming, the rest of the cast is wooden. Eden uses this installment to build the mythology of her Victorian London, dangling tantalizing threads to be explored in later volumes, but the romance itself feels like an afterthought. Fans of historical mysteries will enjoy, but the lackluster couple will disappoint romance readers.

Starred review from September 1, 2020
A respectable music teacher by day, at night Ana Newport sneaks into grand houses to steal back sentimental items that were unfairly taken from her family when they lost their fortune. When he's not worried about his brother's financial situation, Hollis Darby longs for a bigger role in the Dread Penny Society, penny-dreadful authors who work to aid Victorian London's street children. He acts as the group's eyes and ears in high society, but he wants to do more for the cause. When the society's investigations into a daring thief known as the Phantom Fox uncover another facet of the shadowy Mastiff's criminal enterprises, the danger strikes close to home for both Hollis and Ana, forcing them to trust each other with their secrets. The real joy in Eden's follow-up to The Lady and the Highwayman (2019) is the furthering of the overarching crime story and the work of the Dread Penny Society as Hollis and Ana pursue a chaste romance. Eden excels at exploring the realities of Victorian life and class differences. Once again, chapters of penny dreadfuls written by the characters are interspersed throughout, with Hollis' story about a school for ghosts offering particular delight. Fans of Eden's smart series will be thrilled and impatient for the next installment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)