Lord John and the Private Matter

Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon
Historical Fiction

This is the first book in Gabaldon's Lord John series. Lord John was a minor character in her Outlander series. Lord John is a major in the Royal service. While at a gentlemen's club, Lord John discovers his cousin's fiancee is poxed. Lord john sets out to discover if this is indeed true which takes him to brothels and other scandalous places.

In the meantime he is also charged out with finding out whether a recently deceased sergeant in his regiment was a traitor. The information the sergeant had was valuable and must be found before it is sold to England's enemies. As Lord John pursues vanishing footmen and women in green velvet dresses these two investigations slowly become intertwined.

Taking a minor character from one series and weaving a story around him was interesting. Lord John becomes more of person which is understandable. He is fastidious and his one line quips are pure gold. I enjoyed this fast engaging read

First Line: "It was the sort of thing one hopes momentarily that one has not really seen - because life would be so much more convenient if one hadn't"

Rating:
(4.0/5)