The Gentleman and the Thief

By: Sarah M. Eden

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

A gentleman scribes penny dreadful novels by night and falls in love with a woman who is a music teacher by day - and a thief at night.

London 1865

From the moment Hollis Darby meets Ana Newport, he’s smitten. Even though he’s from a wealthy, established family and she isn’t, he wishes he could have a life with her by his side. But Hollis has a secret: the deep coffers that have kept his family afloat for generations are bare, so he supports himself by writing penny dreadfuls under a pseudonym. If not for the income from his novels, he would be broke.

Ana Newport also has a secret. Though she once had a place in society thanks to her father’s successful business, bankruptcy and scandal reduced his fortune to nothing more than a crumbling town house. So Ana teaches music during the day, and at night she assumes the identity of the “Phantom Fox”. She breaks into the homes of the wealthy to reclaim trinkets and treasures she feels were unjustly stolen from her family when they were struggling.

When Hollis’s brother needs to hire a music tutor for his daughter, Hollis recommends Ana, giving him a chance to spend time with her. Ana needs the income and is eager for the opportunity to get to know the enigmatic gentleman. What neither of them expects is how difficult it will be to keep their respective secrets from each other.

When a spree of robberies rocks the city, Ana and Hollis join forces to solve the crimes, discovering that working together deepens the affection between them. After all, who better to save the day than a gentleman and a thief?

©2020 Sarah M. Eden (P)2020 Shadow Mountain

Delightful book for a lazy afternoon!

This doesn't seemingly fall within my normal bailiwick... it's a historical romance, and I'm a SciFi, Game-Lit, Mystery girl, but it's about a guy (a good guy, mind you) who writes Penny Dreadful's and I generally love to read books about books! On top of that, I've very occasionally been known to read a historical romance. So yeah, it was actually a book I'd want read! Since it was a daily deal from Audible, the price was right too!
... Yes, I really enjoyed it, too. It was cute, fluffy, and just the thing to get me outta my routine!
On top of having a fun storyline, I found that Justine Eyre gave us a delightful and nicely nuanced performance as narrator! It turned out to be the perfect way to spend a few hours on a lazy afternoon!

A little bit mystery, a little bit of romance.

This book, and the series itself, are a little bit 3 stories in one book. There is an on-going larger mystery, one or 2 smaller ones, and then 2 short stories all beautifully packaged in this beautifully written book. The narrator does a great job of cleanly flowing between characters and storylines without taking the reader/listener out of the world that Sarah has created.

I’m in love with this series!

I hope that Sarah M. Eden writes more in this series. It is so very original and that is hard to find. Bravo Sarah!

Too many stories

Too many stories going on would have preferred just the gentleman & thief and ghost school as it related to the gentleman.

I like this series

This one was not as good as the first romance but I still enjoyed it. The short stories were great!

Amazingly Entertaining

Another fantastic book in this series! Creative, sweet, funny, adventurous. Three story lines, all so enjoyable. Great narrator with fun and engaging accents. A great listen in the middle of the pandemic! Keep 'em coming!

I liked the story within the story

I almost liked the story within the story as much, if not more, but I liked the story too!

Will we ever learn the secret?

Loved the first two! Each character keeps you wanting to know their story. Narrator great. Fletch has that sexy voice, love it! My favorite era too. Can't wait to hear the next in this series.
I reccomend it for those who like this period, romance and mystery.

A little different. Or not?

The writing wasn’t the best but it wasn’t the worst either. It was just a little too anachronistic but the characters were dealing with problems very common to that time period in England Too much happy ending stuff but some good suspense.

Excellent book!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the different storylines and how everything wrapped up nicely in the end. Justine Eyre is a fabulous narrator. Going on to the next book in the series.