Victoria Dancy and her two sisters lost their parents at the hands of the French, so it is hardly surprising that they hate them. What is more surprising is that they are keen to volunteer their services as spies. Julia paints and gets into the homes of prominent people, Lizzie is an expert forger of French banknotes and Victoria is a sculptor, keen to concentrate on making busts of those in certain positions. But on one mission to unearth enemy agents reckless driver Sir Edward Hawkswood runs Victoria’s carriage off the road. Forced to spend the night in a windmill he offers her marriage, but she declines. Trouble is, he is convinced that she is indeed a spy– only for the other side!

This is part one in a trilogy charting the adventures and loves of the three Dancy sisters by that latter-day Georgette Heyer Emily Hendrickson. Expect plenty of incidents with the usual excellent underpinning of research that brings Regency England to life. This novel does not concentrate on the delights of the Season, but on the daring exploits of secret agents at the time when Napoleon was everybody’s favorite villain. The cast of likeable protagonists doesn’t spend all their time doing this type of thing and there is plenty of romance, including possible partners in the offing for the other two sisters in subsequent books. If you like more than just a straight, linear love story then this ought to fit the bill excellently.