An Affair Without End

Starred review from February 21, 2011
Camp concludes the Willowmere trilogy (A Lady Never Tells, A Gentleman Always Remembers) with this delightful romantic mystery. Lady Vivian Carlyle, steadfastly single at 28, has always lived by her own rules. When she approaches her childhood friend Oliver, the earl of Stewkesbury, and proposes an affair, he is aghast. Bachelor Oliver is polite and stuffy—hardly a likely match for vivacious Vivian—but he can't deny their mutual attraction. Meanwhile, polite society is plagued by jewelry thefts, and when Vivian is asked to recover a family friend's missing brooch, she and Oliver are thrown headfirst into cunning intrigue. With clever and witty banter, sharp attention to detail, and utterly likable characters (including Oliver's brash American cousin Camellia and Vivian's brother Gregory, who enjoy their own warm and surprising romance), Camp is at the top of her game.