Plot or Premise

Archy is tasked with checking out a potential bride of a rich woman’s son. The beautiful and potential bride lives in a rented condo with her father, and not many know much about her other than her name: Theodosia.

What I Liked

Like all of Archy’s cases, what starts off simple frequently becomes more complicated. In this case, we have a confused relationship with the father, some lies that might lead to potential cons or swindles, strange backstories that are hard to confirm, and just for fun, several bodies that drop. Starting with people who seem to have run afoul or shown too much interest in Theo or her father. But they aren’t the only suspects, which is a good set of herrings to consider.

What I Didn’t Like

There’s a sub-plot with potential blackmail and Archy seems a little slow on the uptake for some of the potential cons. What is obvious to the reader takes Archy far too long to figure out, and no one else in the entire set of societal encounters notices either, yet the con isn’t that good. I liked the story, but the setup was relatively obvious from the first introduction.

The Bottom Line

Good plot with a couple of slow spots