River Knows, The - Dark Publications

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Product Description
The first kiss occurred in a dimly lit hallway on the upper floor of Elwin Hastingss grand house. Louisa never saw it coming. . . .

Of course, Anthony Stalbridge couldnt possibly have had romantic intentions. The kiss was an act of desperation, meant to distract the armed guard who was about to catch the pair in a place they most definitely did not belong. After all, in her dull maroon gown and gold-rimmed spectacles, Louisa Bryce was no mans idea of an alluring female. Clearly, the only thing a catch like Anthony Stalbridge had in common with a wallflower like Louisa was a passionate interest in the private affairs of Mr. Hastings - a prominent member of Society whom they both suspect of hiding terrible secrets. Now, thrown into each others arms by their ruse, Anthony and Louisa are united in their efforts to find the truth.

Each has a personal reason for the quest. Months earlier, Anthonys fiancee threw herself into the Thames - or at least, that is the version whispered in Londons social circles. Anthony believes someone else may have had a hand in her death - and a murderous one at that. Louisa, whose own identity is shrouded in layers of mystery, is convinced that Hastings has a connection to a notorious brothel. When Anthony successfully cracks Hastingss hidden safe and discovers highly incriminating evidence, it appears that both their instincts were correct.

But Hastings is hiding far more than jewels and ledger books. Bringing him to justice will be more perilous than Louisa and Anthony anticipate - and their partnership will be more heated than either expects. For the two share a thrilling attraction to danger, and it is not only Anthonys curiosity that Louisa arouses.

Customer Reviews: Read 46 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Amanda Quick returns to her roots May 1, 2007
18 out of 22 found this review helpful

THE RIVER KNOWS reminds me of all the great older Quick novels. No Arcane Society or psychic powers just a wonderful mystery and romance set in the time of Queen Victoria.

Lousia Bryce is persuing a career as an informant and writer for one of the Newspapers that circulates in London. She writes under the name I.M. Phantom. She is currently investigating Mr. Elwin Hastings. He is suspected of funding one of the many brothels in London. Lousia is the companion of Lady Ashton and as a result has the ability to travel amongst the titled and wealthy. Being a companion she is rarely noticed, until Anthony Stalbridge takes an unwanted interest in the widow.

Anthony is the scion of a wealthy, eccentric family. A year earlier his fiancee committed suicide by jumping from a bridge. He has been searching for a reason or a killer, since he does not believe she killed herself. The search has led him to Mr. Hastings and now to Louisa. The very fact that she tries so hard to be invisible and suceeds at it, fasinates Anthony and when he rescues her with a kiss he finds there is a fire hidden under the drab exterior.

While seeking a chance to go through Hastings papers she is almost discovered and only the quick thinking of Anthony saves them both for he is also wanting to search Hastings safe. Discovering that both are interested in Hastings they join efforts and share information. Anthony knows that his fiancee went into a garden where Hastings and his wife were and she never came out. A few days later Hastings wife jumps or was pushed from the same bridge and a week later the owner of a bookstore committed suicide by jumping from the bridge. Something tells him it is no coincidence. Lousia is disgusted by the brothel which forces ladys and women whose husbands leave them in debt to work as ladies of the evening to pay off the debts. Togather they investigate Hastings. The only trouble is Louisa has her own secrets that could cost her her life. As she falls helplessly in love with Anthony she knows she can never have a life with him. He is also very friendly with a detective from Scotland Yard.

I really loved this book, one of the best she has written in some time. Do not miss it.

5 out of 5 stars

Quick-footed AND Quick-witted! April 25, 2007
13 out of 14 found this review helpful

I may be a man, and not just a man, but a family man, but even I like to spend Sunday afternoons lying in my hammock with the latest Amanda Quick (aka Jayne Ann Krentz) novel in one hand and a frosty brew in the other, so completely lost in the Victorian world of Quick's imagination that the noises of my kids playing in the yard, my neighbor mowing his lawn, and my wife yelling at me to get off my lazy bum all fade into the dim background. That's usually when I get the urge to pee.

That doesn't compare, of course, to Louisa Bryce's urge to uncover Elwin Hasting's dark secrets, one of which may have something to do with the recent drowning of several women in the Thames, one of whom was the fiancee of wealthy, handsome Anthony Stalbridge.

The unlikely partnership of the "unimportant, unfashionable, excessively dull" Louisa Bryce and the dashing Anthony Stalbridge begins with an expedient but passionless kiss but soon leads them into danger, suspense, and even possible romance as they investigate the mysterious Elwin Hasting in the dark underworld of Victorian England. Quick writes not only a compelling tale, but a quick-footed and quick-witted one, leading our intrepid duo further into the privileged world of the upperclass and the dark belly of the underclass, both shrouded in secrets and dealings that, dare I say it, only the river knows.

5 out of 5 stars

Victorian Thriller April 29, 2007
6 out of 8 found this review helpful

Louisa Bryce, the mysterious sensational journalist known as I. M.Phantom, has another secret that she must keep from the authorities or risk the hangman's noose. Anthony Stalbridge is searching for the answers to his fiance's apparent suicide by drowning in the Thames. The two join forces to find the truth and, in the process,love.

Amanda Quick has written a suspenseful Victorian thriller with fascinating main characters, sinister villians, and a host of supporting characters that neatly round out a tightly plotted, satisfying romantic suspense novel.

4 out of 5 stars

Where love and romance and excitingly dangerous liaisons are concerned... May 30, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

"This is the thing with an illicit affair....It cannot end happily." Oh, but yes it can --- and it does --- in Amanda Quick's latest romance novel, THE RIVER KNOWS. Where love and romance and excitingly dangerous liaisons are concerned, "There are exceptions to every rule" --- and we wouldn't have it any other way. Amanda Quick, a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, shows us the way to romantic bliss.

Steamy Victorian passion and devastating kisses are what fans of Quick desire. The New York Times bestselling author reveals that the Victorian Age was not quite so straight-laced after all. It was a time of romantic trysts inside the crested carriages that clop-clop-clopped down foggy London streets, long walks in moonlit gardens that led to stolen moments behind large, perfectly trimmed bushes. The seclusion and humidity of the conservatory provided a private location for the passion that novelists and playwrights wrote about. Lovers seeking to ravish and indulge their passions stole away from elegant balls for exhilarating interludes.

Not only do we enjoy a peek behind closed carriages, we also read that there were many bright, educated and talented women who secretly and/or openly engaged in journalism, playwriting, painting and mercantilism. Some even presided successfully as a scantily clad brothel Madam. In a time when it was common for a young woman to wait patiently until she was swept off her feet by a wealthy, handsome Lord, it is refreshing to read here about a Victorian family with "razor-sharp intelligence and forceful willpower" and the young women who forged the very beginnings of the sexual revolution.

THE RIVER KNOWS revolves around Louisa Bryce, who has a secret that only her employer, Lady Ashton, knows --- one that surely would send her to jail. Louisa is determined to flush out the rogues of Society by writing tabloid articles under the name "I.M. Phantom" for the Flying Intelligencer, a "disreputable paper that thrives on the most lurid sensations." Louisa's romantic experience is limited to what she has read in sensation novels; she is captivated by the portrayal of illicit passion as a "transcendent experience."

When Louisa meets Anthony Stalbridge, a handsome member of Society with impeccable bloodlines, at the Hammond ball, Louisa falls in love at that first moment. Louisa undertakes a brazen quest to expose the shocking activities within Polite Society, including the murder of Fiona Risby, Anthony Stalbridge's fiance. Louisa and Anthony find themselves in intimate circumstances as they delve into the business affairs and blackmail schemes of Elwin Hastings, a prominent member of Society who is at the center of several mysterious deaths. Anthony fears that he failed to protect Fiona from the circumstances that led to her suicide in the river Thames. The clues take the reader from brothels to an attempt on Anthony's life in London's Arden Park to clandestine meetings in foggy alleys and straight to Elwin Hastings's former wife --- who comes back from the murky waters to expose Hastings.

When the servants have the afternoon off, the young lovers bring to life a scene from one of the many sensation novels Louisa has read. Anthony leaves Louisa breathless with kisses and the "transcendent experience" of an illicit tryst. However, danger lurks as the pair gets closer to the truth behind the deaths, and Anthony must rely on his eccentric family to help him save Louisa from the depths of a darkened dungeon.

The "Polite World" of Victorian London had its share of secrets, romantic trysts, villains and marriages based on money, property and family connections. What I was surprised to learn was that Louisa possessed a "wide assortment of sensation novels...filled with stories of illicit love affairs." Quick's books portray an age of privilege and passions, contrary to the belief that Victorian London was staid and proper.

Novels of romantic bliss are not without peril and insecurities. Matters of the heart are mostly complicated, and Louisa finds herself thinking, "Live for the here and now; it is all you will ever have with Anthony." If you believe, as I do, that it's possible to fall in love (or lust) at first sight, then prepare to abandon yourself to the fantasy of romantic bliss a la Amanda Quick.

--- Reviewed by Hillary Wagy

5 out of 5 stars

fantastic late Victorian romantic thriller April 27, 2007
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

Anthony Stalbridge is highly placed in society even though his family is considered very eccentric. At present his image is tarnished because his fiancee committed suicide and there are rumors that he was breaking off their engagement. Although Anthony is sure she was murdered, he wants to find the killer in the hopes that it was nothing he did or didn't do that caused her demise. He believes Edwin Hastings had something to do with her death and he tries to break into the man's bedroom safe.

Coming out of his Hasting's bedroom is Louisa Bryce who is looking into Hastings investment in a brothel. They meet up with each other and he grabs and kisses her because he hears a guard coming. After they leave, they talk about why they are interested in the same man. Louisa wants to write a story about him and Anthony wants to prove he murdered his fiancee. Later that night he breaks into the safe and finds his fiancee's necklace there as well as proof that the man is an investor in the brothel. As Louisa and Anthony work together to bring Hastings down, they fall in love but she has a dark secret that she hides from everyone and fears when she tells Anthony he will turn from her in disgust.

Taking place in the late Victorian era, THE RIVER KNOWS is a fantastic romantic thriller. Like any Amanda Quick novel, this book is a charmer due to the realistic characters who don't quite fit the society mold. Their amusing antics will have readers chuckling out loud while the support cast moves the plot along quite subtly in a tantalizing tale filled with plenty of action and quite a few surprises.

Harriet Klausner

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