Cam has a knack for making money, and has more than he can ever spend. Cam, with his keen mind, rose through the ranks at Jenner's, and now he's working as the right-hand-man to the club's new owner, Sebastian St. But then a relative dumped him in London as a 10-year old, and eventually (the late) Ivo Jenner employed him at his club and treated him as a son. Cam is part Irish, part Romany, but had lived the first 10 years of his life with his gypsy family. We first met Cam, who works at Jenner's, in (I think) Evie's book ( Devil in Winter). And that's where Amelia meets her future in the darkly mysterious, half-gypsy Cam Rohan. But first Amelia and Merripen have to track down the wayward Leo, who they feel may be at the gambling house known as Jenner's. But Amelia (who herself is recovering from a broken heart brought on by a betraying fiancee) feels that the family needs a fresh start away from the sad memories of London, so off to Hampshire they go. But the new title doesn't bring much money-the estate is small and in disrepair, there's few tenants to bring in any income, and the title is thought to be 'cursed'. Leo Hathaway has just inherited the family viscountcy, complete with crumbling estate in Hampshire, and he is now Lord Ramsay. The nearly poor Hathaways have recently lost their parents, and Amelia has sold the family home in London. There's the broken hearted 28-year-old Leo, the early 20-ish frail young beauty Win, the 20-something young Gypsy named Merripen who has lived with the Hathaways as sort of a pseudo-brother for the past 15 years, the two teenage sisters, Poppy and Beatrix, and the one holding the whole family together, the ultra-responsible and protective 26 year-old beautiful spinster Amelia. This book just flew by for me-I never once wanted to put it down! I loved the Hathaway family, with all their eccentricities, although (other than young Beatrix with her love for critters and her 'sticky fingers', and of course eldest sibling Leo with his boozing and carousing and I-don't-give-a-damn attitude) they seemed like a typical family to me.

Can The Hathaways series compete with Lisa Kleypas's fantastic Wallflowers series? Well I had my doubts, but if the first book, the wonderful Mine Till Midnight, is any indication of how this series will play out, my answer is a resounding Yes!

Malice and misrule