"Moonlight Masquerade" by Ruth Axtell

The Regency era holds a special place for all Jane Austen fans, and this novel brings a unique twist on the tales usually told during this time, as it focuses on two spies during the tail end of the Napoleonic Wars between France and England.

Rees Phillips has spent a decade toiling away as a clerk in the Foreign Office in London, and has grown a bit despondent that a promotion has not come his way. He is given a chance to prove himself when he is sent to infiltrate the home of Lady Celine Wexham, a suspected spy for the French. Posing as the nephew of her injured butler, Rees is able to assume an interim hold on that position, which allows him access to much of the household and a level of privilege among the servants.

I confess that I started this novel thinking Rees would discover that Lady Wexham wasn't a French spy, but to my surprise it turns out that she actually is! Celine and her mother had fled France during the Reign of Terror, and then Celine was pressured into an unhappy marriage with a wealthy Englishman. Now a widow for three years, Celine still moves in London's first circles but has been recruited to pass along any pertinent information she might discover which would help the war effort in France. She sees this as a way of bringing some meaning to her rather tedious existence.

It does not take long for Celine to detect that her new butler is not all that he says he is. Thus begins a cat and mouse game for Rees and Celine to outwit and catch the other in their suspected activities. Things heat up when Celine takes Rees and other household staff to visit the Count of Provence, the would-be king of France who was in exile in England during the latter part of Napoleon's reign as emperor. While staying at Hartwell House, Rees discovers that Celine's espionage has become suspected by French royalists, and plans against her life have been made. Torn between his duty to his country to unmask Celine as a spy, and what he feels is God's will in protecting her life from her own countrymen, Rees decides to put himself in harm's way for the lonely and intriguing woman.

I found the story a little hard to get into at first, as it's a very character-driven novel, but once the action started I had a hard time putting it down and enjoyed it very much. I learned a lot about England's relationship with France during this time period, which was a unique bonus. I'd recommend this novel to all fans of Regency fiction or historical fiction in general. I look forward to reading more books by this author in the future.