An Affair for Aumont

An Affair for Aumont (2022) J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club #5)

Louis-Charles Aumont was in love with Luke Winthrop, but turned down his offer of marriage, after which Luke joined the army and was killed at Waterloo. Since then Aumont worked as a spy for France, and avoided those who he previously, and is now trying to drink himself to death, tired of living with grief and guilt.

But Darling hadn’t arrested him. He had simply escorted Aumont as far as Russell Square before releasing him.

And Aumont had stood there, helplessly, with no idea how to explain to this fool that he needed to die, that he was too much of a coward to fling himself from a bridge into the Thames, and so he needed Darling to put him in front of a magistrate.

George Darling is a Bow Street Runner and a man of faith. He moved to London to try and make the world a better place, but instead his work has beaten him down, so when Lord Gale requests he assist Teddy Honeyfield, Darling does so, despite not being sure what good he can do the man.

Darling had joined the Bow Street officers because he’d believed in the law. Had realised quickly that the law was an abstract thing, simplistically noble and brutally without nuance.

Darling’s religious faith is one of his central characteristics, and why he wanted to join Bow Street, but it’s not a narrow faith.

“But if you are Catholic, sir—can you not ask forgiveness?”

He did not know precisely how Catholicism worked, and privately thought Catholics did indeed have more to answer for than where they put their pricks—but he hoped forgiveness was an option for the wayward Frenchman.

Despite the humor and romance in this series, the books I’ve read all deal with grief, which made me hesitate to read this one, despite how much I enjoyed the other books I read.

Because if there was one thing he knew, it was how to put on a mask and keep it on, even if behind it was no true face at all, only the vague shape of a man rapidly crumbling away like dry sand into nothing.

I’ve also skipped a couple books in this series, primarily because when the characters have appeared in other stories, they’ve annoyed me tremendously with their stupidity and frivolity. But Aumont and Darling are far from frivolous, and that seemed to place them at the center of the mystery, rather than observers.

But I like the characters from the books I’ve read.

Then Lord Christmas muttered, “In a world of idiots, you are something else entirely. Good evening.”

And I quite like these characters.

“Swimming is simply—you must not get in your own way.”

“I will absolutely get in my own way.”

Interestingly, because of Darling’s views on sex before marriage, there is no boinking, which I think is perfect for the characters–Darling is somewhat private and shy and it would be wrong to watch his wedding night.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t references to boinking, just that we don’t have to see it.

The big weakness of the story is I really wasn’t quite sure why Gale suggested Darling seek our Aumont for assistance in protecting Teddy. The second was that I never felt quite certain man threatening Teddy was who they said he was.

Despite that, however, I very much enjoyed the story.

Characters: Louis-Charles Aumont Marquis de Montespan, George Darling, Teddy Honeyfield, Philip Winthrop Viscount Soulden, Surgeon Edmund Fernside, Lord Christmas Gale, Benjamin Chant, William Hartwell Marquess of Danbury, Joseph Warrington, Mr. Morgan Notley, Loftus Rivingdon, Agnes Crauford, Luke Winthrop, John Darling, Mary Darling, Hector Darling, Annette, Mr. Foster, The Apostle, Mr. Anthony Lawrence, Mr. Matthew Lawrence, Mr. Stephen Lawrence, Mr. Darby, Mrs. Norton, Mrs. Johnson, Lord Stratford

Cover art by Mitxeran

Rating: 7.5/10

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