An Unsuitable Heir

By: KJ Charles

Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies

Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

A private detective finds passion, danger, and the love of a lifetime when he hunts down a lost earl in Victorian London.

On the trail of an aristocrat's secret son, enquiry agent Mark Braglewicz finds his quarry in a music hall, performing as a trapeze artist with his twin sister. Graceful, beautiful, elusive, and strong, Pen Starling is like nobody Mark's ever met - and everything he's ever wanted. But the long-haired acrobat has an earldom and a fortune to claim.

Pen doesn't want to live as any sort of man, least of all a nobleman. The thought of being wealthy, titled, and always in the public eye is horrifying. He likes his life now - his days on the trapeze, his nights with Mark. And he won't be pushed into taking a title that would destroy his soul.

But there's a killer stalking London's foggy streets, and more lives than just Pen's are at risk. Mark decides he must force the reluctant heir from music hall to manor house, to save Pen's neck. Betrayed by the one man he thought he could trust, Pen never wants to see his lover again. But when the killer comes after him, Pen must find a way to forgive - or he might not live long enough for Mark to make amends.

Don't miss any of the captivating Sins of the Cities novels:

• An Unseen Attraction
• An Unnatural Vice
• An Unsuitable Heir

And look for the enticing Society of Gentlemen series by KJ Charles:

• The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh
• A Fashionable Indulgence
• A Seditious Affair
• A Gentleman's Position

©2017 K. J. Charles (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews

"I'll read anything KJ Charles writes!" ( New York Times best-selling author Kate Pearce)

"KJ Charles has long been one of my favorite authors." ( USA Today best-selling author Carole Mortimer)

What a climax!

My FAVORITE of the series! What a range of characters we’ve seen in these books. The MCs in this one blew me away, especially since they appeared in a historical romance!

Pen is a gender fluid trapeze artist. Mark is a pansexual man of inquiry. Mark sees Pen and he’s mesmerized. Pen sees Mark and is dubious of his seemingly honest attraction to and acceptance of him. I LOVED these two together, delighted in how they navigated understanding each others’ sexuality and creating trust. Only to have it purposefully destroyed.

That’s right, stuff happens and it’s not all good. People get hurt. It’s not all perfect, love and roses forever (well, OK, until the HEA).

This is the finale of a mystery that began two books ago. I’m usually pretty adept at figuring out whodunit. But here, I didn’t have a clue. Not at all. Zero. This both delighted and frustrated me to no end. Well done there, K.J. Charles, well done!

Pen is the likely heir to an earldom. He doesn’t want it. At all. But people are dying because of him. What to do? Read it and find out.

And if you’re hankering for an audiobook, the performance for this one was incredible!

1 person found this helpful

Series ends on a high note

The final installment of the Sins of the City gives interesting characters, a nice narration and resolution of the mystery in KJ Charles' inimitable style. There is instant attraction between trapeze artist Pen and private investigator Mark that shows how gender fluidity can be beautiful. Pen struggles with being misunderstood and opens up to Mark's compassionate understanding. However, an unwanted title forces Pen to play the gentleman and violence follows in his wake. The mystery begun in the first book has a satisfying conclusion. You also get to catch up with Clem, Rowley, Nathaniel and Justin from the first two books of the series which is fun. The whole series is narrated by Matthew Lloyd Davis who does a fine job in character voice and development. I am beyond thrilled KJ Charles is getting turned into audibles and hope more of her books get the attention they deserve.

1 person found this helpful

Really interesting original characters completing trilology

Loved the two characters and performance by Mathew Lloyd Davis, a great conclusion to the trilogy. As usual my only complaint is I wish it was longer and I was sad when it was over.

KJ Charles has quite a talent

This is my third series of books I have read by KJ Charles. TBH, Sins of the Cities was my least favorite of those three, with A Charm of Magpies series being my fav (of KJ Charles and at the top of my list otherwise) and Society of Gentlemen series coming in second. I was never really attached to the characters of this Sins of the Cities series but still enjoyed the read/listen . KJ Charles has such a gift for creating characters that have opposing views/lifestyles with very compelling arguments for each of their POV's and working up situations that seem like there would be no comfortable way for them to survive much less reach their HEA, and yet they do and I am impressed by how all the tangles of story wind around to end up with me being happy with the outcome each time. I know this is an overall review of KJ Charles, but with this being my least fav of the three series I have read but still find the writing passionate, intelligent and clever I don't want to sound negative. In An Unsuitable Heir I found the characters interesting, esp. Penn of course.. and I liked Mark and how Mark saw Penn. The mystery was less interesting that the other two series to me and for the first time in a KJ Charles book I was able to predict how this story would play out. The narration by Matthew Lloyd Davies always brings these books to life. The varied characters voices , the passion and the rough edged moments, all done so well , he breathes life into these characters.

gender non-conforming main character!!!

I love this whole series but the Pen made this extra special! As a transgender woman, I love seeing trans, gender queer, non-binary, and gender fluid characters in romances.

last one

This is the conclusion of the series where the murder is finally revealed. I enjoyed this one the most of the 3. Greta and Pen had much to do with that.

loved the series

This was a great finish to this series. Loved all the characters, especially these 2.

great book

great plot twists and endearing three dimensional characters. the more intimate scenes felt as if they were not really for the viewers pleasure, not that they weren't steamy, but these scenes were obvously used to build on the characters and create a feeling of trust love and intimacy that made to story so much more enjoyable.

Third times a charm

A gender fluid MC and more diverse sex again makes this third book a great cap on a good trilogy. I love that we saw more of previous characters and that we got to deal with some interesting ideas. The misery was not solvable early in the book but then... there were not true clues as to who done it. but again, it was a great backdrop for a good love story.

Love IS Love!

This was my favorite book in the series! I had no idea how the crimes were going to be solved, or how things were going to work out for Mark and Pen, but it all came together so well! I'm sure everyone had their own ideas of "whodunit" like I did, but I was second guessing myself up until the very end, and I still got it wrong. Bravo to Ms. Charles for a well thought out, well plotted storyline.
I didn't expect all the emotions I'd feel in this book. To be honest, I never read the blurb for this one- I knew it was Mark's story, but I didn't know what was coming when it came to Pen's character.
I'm not well versed at all in the trans/non-binary world so I'm not going to even try to delve into those aspects of the story for fear of offending someone, but I felt so much for Pen and all he was having to deal with- wanting to live life on his own terms, and scared of not being able to if he had to take his position in the family he never knew.
I didn't think there was any way that Ms. Charles could make it so that Pen could live a happy life, one where he didn't have to hide who he was, but I really liked how everything worked out for all involved.

Matthew Lloyd Davis was a fantastic narrator. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed these stories as much as I did if I had read them instead of listened- he really brought these stories to life.



***Borrowed through the RP.