"The Spinster and the Missing Jewels"

Cassiopeia Bentbrooke has gladly accepted her status as spinster. This condition provides her with the time and freedom she needs to continue her father's investigation of the stars. Cassie spends most nights on the roof of her London townhouse searching for the comet her father believed would appear at this time, and hopes that her meticulous research will gain respect for her from the Royal Observatory.

But she is surprised when various people arrive hoping to go through her father's journals. The diaries of her father's observations should be of no interest to the Duke of Devonlee or his half-French cousin, Captain Devon Sebastien. Even a local scientist is trying to talk her into giving up the journals. When all of these pleas have failed, Cassie's house is robbed. Of course, the only things missing are the journals. Cassie turns to handsome Devon Sebastien for help.

Devon can't understand why Cassie is still a spinster and sees herself as unattractive. He is having great difficulty sticking to his purpose in seeking her out, when he would rather spend his time kissing her. But he is trying to retrieve jewels belonging to expatriate aristocrats, which had been smuggled out of France during "The Terror" by his French uncle, Jean-Luc Sebastien. Jean-Luc had smuggled his nephew out of France along with the valuables. After leaving Devon with his self-serving cousin, the Duke of Devonlee, Jean-Luc and the jewels disappeared. Devon is now determined to find the them and restore the Sebastien family honor. An obscure astronomical article written by Cassie's father and Jean-Luc Sebastien have led Devon, his cousin, and others who know the story of the lost jewels, straight to Cassie and her father's journals.

STARSTRUCK is a fun read, with a lot to recommend it. The romance is sweet and lovely. Cassie is strong-willed, opinionated and stubborn. Devon is not only handsome and honorable, but he appreciates Cassie's intelligence (a required characteristic of all great heroes, in my opinion). He even becomes interested in her work as the novel progresses. The mystery of the journals, the missing jewels and the absent uncle is very nicely crafted, with details unfolding and twists emerging at a nice pace.

This is Regina Scott's first single title novel. She has done a marvelous job of peopling the story with striking secondary characters, both real and fictitious. Her knowledge of the Regency era provides the characters with a wonderfully real setting that makes the story come alive. I am going to search for her backlist of traditional Regencies.

Reviewed by Cynthia Meidinger
Posted June 4, 2003