Robin Hood in Mayfair.

I liked the premise of this story - when is it right to do what is wrong. The dilemma we each face when we decide to lie to be kind to someone. This is then counter posed by the rigid, ‘the ends don’t justify the means’ stance of another character.

Two flawed characters that seem to be unbending, but are drawn together by the caring, concerned sides of their nature. Dahlia Grenville is the daughter of a Baron and Simon Spaulding is an inspector at Bow Street and bastard son of Lord Hawkridge.

Some aspects of the of the story seem a little far fetched - Dahlia is not only being able to run a school, but be it’s live in headmistress as well and some of the curriculum content is suspect for the time. She will do anything for her girls and proves it many times.

An updated Robin Hood, Dahlia, is being pursued by Simon Spaulding, Bow Street Runner, who only sees the world in black and white. Simon knows the criminal as the Thief of Mayfair and it is his task to find that thief.

Simon’s view the world moves slightly when he finally speaks to his half brother, whom he has always assumed got the best of their father (Lord Hawkridge.) He comes to see that there can be two sides to a story and that both can be right from the perspective of each character. He realises you can not make assumptions based of half a story.

Even though Simon begins to see shades of grey, it is still a bit of a leap of faith for him (and the reader) to have him come to his final decision.

This is a well read story. Marion Hussey has good diction and pronunciation. She varies her pace and speech patterns to suit the character and momentum of the story. It’s like listening to myself read.

This is the third book in the series I have listened to and I look forward to the audio version of the next one.

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