Ask Me No Questions

March 29, 1993
This well-paced, tightly written third volume (after Had We Never Loved ) in Veryan's ``Jeweled Men'' series set in Georgian England, introduces an attractive young British widow, Ruth Allington, gamely attempting to support her twin nephews and maid after a family disgrace, engineered unbeknownst to her by the devilish League of Jeweled Men. An accomplished artist, Ruth becomes involved in the League's intrigues when a (brilliantly drawn) battle-ax of a noblewoman helps her find a position as an art restorer. Old Brian Chandler would not dream of hiring a young, attractive widow from a besmirched family, but careful half-truths gain Ruth the job. She soon wins her patron's friendship and, slowly, the admiration and love of his son, Gordon. Meanwhile, the League connives to acquire the Chandlers' gorgeous estate, as they have others, by insidious attacks on the family name, a scheme in which Ruth plays an unwitting part. In a less talented writer's hands, the numerous deceptions and obscurities would render this romance incredible, but fine characterizations and cunningly placed plot hints make it all work. Good use of period detail and dialect also distinguish this enjoyable addition to the genre.

March 1, 1993
In this continuation of the series The Tales of the Jeweled Men, Veryan unveils the fate of a genteel, penniless, widowed young artist, Ruth Allington. Little knowing that her family's financial demise and the death of her brother and father were abetted by the highly secret society of traitors known, to few, as the Jeweled Men, Ruth must find some profitable turn for her talents to support her brother's orphaned twins. A position restoring a fresco opens in a gracious mansion along the Dover coast, but duplicity is needed--first, to obtain the job, then to keep the boys hidden. The suspense in this novel, rather than being of the swashbuckling, spy-tracking variety seen in Veryan's earlier works, lies in Ruth's fairly tame secrets. Only as the story draws to a close does danger arise. Challenges are met by the league of young noblemen who are struggling to uncover the identities and true dastardly nature of the Jeweled Men. Still, this is fine romantic fare and a story that reads easily on its own, without knowledge of the earlier novels. ((Reviewed Mar. 1, 1993))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1993, American Library Association.)