Review: A Dangerous Madness by Michelle Diener

Title: A Dangerous Madness
Author: Michelle Diener
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Self-published
Publish Date: May 19, 2014
Source: Netgalley

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "The Duke of Wittaker has been living a lie...

He’s been spying on the dissolute, discontented noblemen of the ton, pretending to share their views. Now he’s ready to step out of the shadows and start living a real life...but when the prime minister of England is assassinated, he's asked to go back to being the rake-hell duke everyone believes he still is to find out more.

Miss Phoebe Hillier has been living a lie, too...

All her life she's played by society's rules, hiding her fierce intelligence and love of life behind a docile and decorous mask. All it's gotten her is jilted by her betrothed, a man she thought a fool, though a harmless one. But when she discovers her former fiancé was involved in the plot against the prime minister, and that he's been murdered, she realizes he wasn't so harmless after all.

And now the killers have set their sights on her...

The only man who can help her is the Duke of Wittaker--a man she knows she shouldn't trust. And she soon realizes he's hiding behind a mask as careful as her own. As the clock ticks down to the assassin's trial, the pair scramble to uncover the real conspiracy behind the prime minister's death. And as the pressure and the danger mounts, Phoebe and Wittaker shed their disguises, layer by layer, to discover something more precious than either imagined–something that could last forever. Unless the conspirators desperate to hide their tracks get to them first."

My Two Cents:

Spies and intrigue abound in this latest offering from Michelle Diener. If you like your historical fiction fast-paced and filled with interesting storylines, this book may be a good pick for you. At the center of the book is the 1812 murder of the Prime Minister at the time. This is an event that we still do not know exactly what happened. I always love learning something new so I really enjoyed the book from this aspect.  "A Dangerous Madness" is the third book in Michelle Diener's historical fiction "Regency London" series. Although Diener revisits some of the characters from previous books in this book, this book is very much a stand alone book. 

I really liked Phoebe's character in this book. She was such an interesting character. Phoebe understands what is expected her as a lady during this time but she isn't exactly content to simply fit the mold.  One thing that I really have enjoyed about Diener's books in the past as well as this one is that she knows how to write strong characters and really knows how to make them jump off the page. If you like strong characters that you'll think about for a long time, you'll definitely like Phoebe.

I loved the Regency era London setting in this book! There was so much going on in England at the time that it makes the perfect backdrop for a book of historical suspense. There is also a real life mystery at the center with the murder of the Prime Minister.

Overall, the book was fairly well written. Once I got into the book, I wanted to keep reading. Diener had a really good way of keeping the pace going through the middle of the book. I am definitely looking forward to her future releases!