A Rogue's Company: A Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery

Allison Montclair

Jun 2021 · Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery Book 3 · Sold by Minotaur Books

About this ebook

In Allison Montclair's A Rogue's Company, business becomes personal for the Right Sort Marriage Bureau when a new client, a brutal murder, two kidnappings, and the recently returned from Africa Lord Bainbridge threatens everything that one of the principals holds dear.

In London, 1946, the Right Sort Marriage Bureau is getting on its feet and expanding. Miss Iris Sparks and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge are making a go of it. That is until Lord Bainbridge—the widowed Gwen's father-in-law and legal guardian—returns from a business trip to Africa and threatens to undo everything important to her, even sending her six-year-old son away to a boarding school.

But there's more going on than that. A new client shows up at the agency, one whom Sparks and Bainbridge begin to suspect really has a secret agenda, somehow involving the Bainbridge family. A murder and a subsequent kidnapping sends Sparks to seek help from a dangerous quarter—and now their very survival is at stake.

Ratings and reviews

Iris Sparks and Gwen Bainbridge own and run London's first dating agency, they are taken aback when they are approached by a young black man seeking a wife, realising that their business model has been very narrowly focused on white British people. But ever willing, Iris and Gwen endeavour to find Simon Daile a suitable wife, despite Gwen's misgivings that Simon is lying to them. Then Lord Bainbridge (Gwen's dictatorial father-in-law) returns from an extended trip to Africa, within mere hours he has sacked little Ronnie's nursemaid and countermanded all Gwen's (and her late husband's) plans for Ronnie's education locally, rather than the hateful boarding school that Ronnie loathed. There is mystery surrounding Lord Bainbridge's return, his nightly excursions to the Livingstone Club, and the mysterious death of an African servant, whose body was found close to the club. I had certain expectations as to how this was going, and I was totally wrong! This was a clever, interesting mystery which I thoroughly enjoyed. We see more of Iris' backstory, and her romance with the East End gangster Archie Spelling has its ups and downs. This series does not disappoint and I can't wait for the next one.

Because We Are Family This book is the third in the Sparks&Bainbridge Mystery Series. This episode takes us from Africa to the seedy bowels of London to exclusive men's clubs and further. Throughout this book, women surprise men at every turn. In the post-WWII society, the men looked at women as they always had, but the women had earned and learned their way to survive the war. And they learned to use men's preconceived notions against them. This is an exciting mystery with so many twists and a surprising ending. I am ready for book 4. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

About the author

ALLISON MONTCLAIR grew up devouring hand-me-down Agatha Christie paperbacks and James Bond movies. As a result of this deplorable upbringing, Montclair became addicted to tales of crime, intrigue, and espionage. She now spends her spare time poking through the corners, nooks, and crannies of history, searching for the odd mysterious bits and transforming them into novels of her own. The Right Sort of Man is her debut novel.