A Beautiful Disguise
The Imposters #1
by Roseanna M. White

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Christian historical mystery

Lady Marigold Fairfax and her brother Yates, an earl, may have inherited a grand estate, but their father left no money to keep it running. He blew it all on entertainment, which fortunately included circus acts that gave Marigold and Yates the training they needed to earn money as private investigators. When Sir Merritt Livingstone brings them a case involving possible espionage and treason, the investigation brings the Fairfaxes a little too close to home. Marigold’s carefully cultivated disguise of wealthy, vapid noblewoman might just blow up in her face.

This book drew me in right away, and I loved it all the way to the end. The story alternates between 3 POVs—Marigold, Yates, and Merritt. I worried it might be too much at first, but I really appreciated all 3 of these perspectives. I enjoyed the balancing act that both Yates and Marigold had to perform as anonymous investigators hired by Merritt and as acquaintances in social settings. While there’s a subplot of romance, it is not a focal point of the book, in my opinion. In fact, I feel like there’s more of a friendship base before anything further develops than normally happens in a book where the romantic pair start off as strangers.

The mystery that Merritt brings to The Imposters, Ltd. is not super complex, yet was not easy for me to unravel on my own. It actually seemed a little too simplistic at first, but then it became more complex as it went. Overall, it kept me engaged, as did the unique lifestyle of the Fairfax siblings, living on their estate with circus performers, complete with a monkey, a peacock, and Marigold’s lion friend.

It is never difficult for me to explain what I don’t like about a book (and I’m usually the outlier, struggling with books that most others loved), but it is often difficult to put into words what I enjoy about a book. What I have expressed above doesn’t adequately explain my love for this book, but I liked it so much, I’m going to immediately add previous books by this author to my TBR list, plus I’m so excited to see the next book in the series has already been announced! I highly recommend this book for fans of Christian historical mystery (this is set during the Edwardian era in London), but be aware the romance is a fairly slow burn.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bethany House for providing me a copy of this book to review.

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