"exciting Victorian romance"

In the enlightened late nineteenth century, widow Maggie Graham learns from her Uncle Angus that she and her twin brother Justin are broke due to her sibling's gambling and that his debt could lead to Newgate if not paid off soon. Angus says that wealthy elderly Viscount Charles Langdon mentioned his interest in Maggie's welfare. He would make an ideal husband that would eradicate the Graham debt though her first reaction to her kind fiancé is that he looks more like a corpse than a living person.

However, Langdon's nephew Jamie is appalled with the nuptials between his beloved great uncle and a gold digger who scandalized all by once marrying a commoner. Though attracted to his "aunt", he wonders if she is a deadly black widow as rumored when Langdon dies. As Jamie and Maggie become acquainted over what is best for Langdon's recalcitrant daughter, they also become embroiled in the Ripper case and end up falling into an unwanted love.

WHEN WE TOUCH is an exciting Victorian romance that fans will appreciate due to its deep look at the late nineteenth century (especially female options) and a strong cast anchored by the lead couple. The story line is fast-paced with no one quite like they first appear. The Ripper subplot adds danger and a sense of the era so that the audience receives a powerful historical police procedural inside a charming romance between two combatants.

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted December 20, 2003

Summary

Men! If they aren't accusing Lady Maggie Graham of witchcraft or murder, they're marrying her off to old men who drop dead at the altar. And now she's going to have to save her unruly stepdaughter from a band of thieving, lustful street ruffians (men, again) with the help of the most infuriating man of all...Lord Jamie...

Women! They conduct themselves in a completely inappropriate manner—enjoying risqué amusements in secret theatres; running about disguised in the seediest parts of the city—and then they call you vile names for coming to their rescue. And no woman is more wicked, more cunning, more intoxicating than Lady Maggie...

Amidst the pageantry, rampant desire, and very real dangers of Queen Victoria's London, a bevy of lovers is about to stumble into a spectacle of sin and scandal, where appearances are deceiving and anything can happen when desire is pulling all the strings...