Review – A Respectable Actress

From the back cover:   When India Hartley is accused of murder, she must uncover the deceptions of others to save herself.

India Hartley, a famous and beautiful actress, is now alone after her father’s death and embarks upon a tour of theaters across the South. Her first stop is Savannah’s Southern Palace. On the eve of the second night’s performance, something goes horribly wrong. Her co-star, Arthur Sterling, is shot dead on stage in front of a packed house, and India is arrested and accused of the crime.

A benefactor hires Philip Sinclair, the best—and handsomest—lawyer in Savannah to defend India. A widower, Philip is struggling to reinvent his worn-out plantation on St. Simons Island. He needs to increase his income from his law practice in order to restore Indigo Point, and hardly anything will bring him more new clients than successfully defending a famous actress on a murder charge.

Because India can’t go anywhere in town without being mobbed, Philip persuades the judge handling her case to let him take her to Indigo Point until her trial date. India is charmed by the beauty of the Georgia lowcountry and is increasingly drawn to Philip. But a locked room that appears to be a shrine to Philip’s dead wife and the unsolved disappearance of a former slave girl raise troubling questions. Piecing together clues in an abandoned boat and a burned-out chapel, India discovers a trail of dark secrets that lead back to Philip, secrets that ultimately may hold the key to her freedom. If only he will believe her.

Savannah, Georgia 1870 any story that will take me there during that time period you have my full attention. The fact that India is an actress at that time is even more interesting as I have never read anything about the theater back then. Now she is accused of murder and Mrs. Mackay, from Ms. Love’s other book, “The Bracelet”, hires Philip Sinclair to defend her. Now we are talking we have a courtroom battle coming up and Philip is not Perry Mason. But before anything can happen Philip takes her to his home on St. Simons Island where nothing is what it looks like. There are secrets that will be exposed, locked rooms and unsolved disappearances. And did I mention that this is also a romance?  Ms. Love is an excellent writer and makes India, Philip and all the secondary characters believable and you care deeply for them as she deftly unfolds the plot before us. I hope that Ms. Love revisits these characters in the next book.