Synopses & Reviews
Miss Sarah Tolerance ran away with her brother's fencing master when she was sixteen. Now he's dead and she's back in England, and a Fallen Woman. But she refuses to follow the Fallen Women who have gone before her and become a courtesan. Sarah is a straight shooter, with her pistol as well as her wit, and her mind is as sharp as the blade of her sword. She's clever and discreet--she has reinvented herself as a private investigator.
Miss Tolerance is an Agent of Inquiry, the sole one of her kind in London in this year of 1810, with mad King George III on the throne and Queen Charlotte acting as Regent. Sarah's position in society allows her to float between social layers, unearth secrets, find things that were lost, and lose things too dangerous to be kept.
An agent of the Earl of Versellion has asked her to find a fan that the Earl's father gifted to a lady with brown eyes. When Sarah discovers the secret of the fan, both she and the Earl are targeted by ruthless killers. They realize the fan has a second secret, one that will affect the fate of England itself, and they must decipher it.
Sarah's life is getting more and more complicated-and she's growing closer and closer to the Earl. To save England and herself, she must decide whether to be guided by her heart... or her conscience.
Review
"Sarah Tolerance is smart, beautiful, resourceful, tough, and totally believable and real. Murder, prostitution, blackmail, and action are woven perfectly into this tale." Stuart M. Kaminsky
Review
"Self-reliant, gutsy, and forthright at a time when women weren't supposed to be any of those things. Sarah Tolerance is a breath of fresh air. I loved Point of Honour." Barbara D'Amato
Review
"One hopes this is the first of many books about this hard-boiled, soft-hearted Fallen Woman." Library Journal
Review
"An utterly charming and intriguing visit to a different Regency London... Readers will find putting down this adventure with the intrepid Sarah Tolerance intolerable." Rosemary Stevens
Review
"An elegant Regency romance with an edge and a point."-Sarah Smith on Point of Honour
"In Regency England there were very few career options open to a woman with a ruined reputation. Disowned by her family after she ran off with her brother's fencing master, Sarah Brereton returns to England, takes Tolerance as her new last name, and becomes an "agent of inquiry"... Robins effortlessly captures the texture of both the elegant realm of London's aristocrats and the far less glamorous world of those who serve them. As skilled with a sword as she is at uncovering secrets, Sarah is a fascinating heroine, and Robins surrounds her with equally intriguing secondary characters. Politics, deception, danger, and a bit of romance all come together beautifully in this superb debut."--Booklist on Point of Honour
"An utterly charming and intriguing visit to a different Regency London... Readers will find putting down this adventure with the intrepid Sarah Tolerance intolerable."-Rosemary Stevens, author of Death on a Silver Tray, on Point of Honour
"An elegant Regency romance with an edge and a point."-Sarah Smith, author of The Vanished Child, on Point of Honour
"Sarah Tolerance is smart, beautiful, resourceful, tough, and totally believable and real. Murder, prostitution, blackmail, and action are woven perfectly into this tale. I will certainly read the next episode in this series. I'd do so tomorrow if I had it."-Stuart M. Kaminsky, bestselling author of the Rostnikov novels, on Point of Honour
"Self-reliant, gutsy, and forthright at a time when women weren't supposed to be any of those things. Sarah Tolerance is a breath of fresh air. I loved Point of Honour."-Barbara D'Amato, author of Authorized Personnel Only, on Point of Honour
"One hopes this is the first of many books about this hard-boiled, soft-hearted Fallen Woman."--Library Journal on Point of Honour
"The pace is swift and the characters engaging. Robins plays fair with the reader in her distribution of clues so that a careful reader will solve the mystery at the same time Sarah does."--Mystery Review on Point of Honour
Review
Politics, deception, danger, and a bit of romance all come together beautifully in this superb debut Booklist
Review
"An elegant Regency romance with an edge and a point." Sarah Smith
Review
"An action-packed, suspense-filled read, complete with a 19th-century heroine reminiscent of the present day Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Romantic Times BookClub Magazine
About the Author
Born and bred in New York City,
Madeleine E. Robins now lives in San Francisco. Point of Honour is the first in a series about Miss Sarah Tolerance, Agent of Inquiry. Robins' other books include the New York Times Notable Book,
The Stone War.