My Sweet Folly/ Laura Kinsale/ 407 pgs

This book dates from 1997 and in some ways that shows (hero did something extremely questionable to his first wife) and yet Kinsale clearly knows how to write fascinating characters and smart dialogue. Robert and Folie (whom he calls Folly) first meet through letters when he is stationed in India and she is in England, married to a much older husband. These letters are probably the best thing about the book. The two of them are clearly falling in love over the years that they write but obviously such a relationship is not going to work. Eventually Robert breaks things off and we skip ahead five years. Folly's husband has died. Robert is now back from India, has inherited an estate from his father, and is the guardian of Folly's husband's daughter (from his first marriage). Robert summons Folly and his ward, Melinda, to his estate but it's clear to her from the beginning that something is not right with him. He's rude and almost demented. The story takes off from there and the plot gets a little wild and convoluted. This story has some flaws but I'm now curious to read some of Kinsale's other, more notable books, such as Flowers from the Storm.