Richard finds the deception repugnant. The duke is in the habit of choosing a mistress from among his staff and rewarding her for a month or so of “service,” which leaves Richard in the position of having to do so himself or risk exposure. Worse is the fact that Richard is helplessly attracted to one member of the duke’s household, Stephen’s governess, Meriel Shelby. Meriel is the daughter of a once wealthy family, now fallen on hard times. She knows the real duke, leaving Richard no choice but to play the part of his selfish, abrasive brother while in her presence, when what he really wants is to woo Meriel and let her get to know his real personality.

It soon becomes apparent that Richard will have to choose one of his brother’s servants as a mistress, or the household will be in turmoil. His solution is to make everyone believe that Meriel is the flavor of the month. He feels badly for destroying her reputation, but the ruse is necessary to protect Richard’s family from an unknown enemy planning to destroy them all. It doesn’t take Meriel long to figure out the truth and, agreeing that her reputation is second to Stephen’s safety, she embraces Richard’s plan and actively participates in sleuthing.

This book “jumped the shark” (shot itself in the foot?) (cut its own throat?) for this reader on page 14 of my copy. Here Meriel finds herself attracted to Richard, and thinking he’s his rotten brother, vows to conquer her traitorous emotions. Apparently she can’t trust herself because she didn’t know the extent of her parent’s financial problems and trusted them to take care of her. When she didn’t see the truth of their poverty until too late she decided that she would never again rely on her instincts and would live by logic and intellect alone. Her attraction is a weakness that doesn’t jive with her philosophy, so she’s bound to exterminate it. Why in the world she correlates her parents’ money woes with some kind of failure of her own is beyond this reader. What follows would have been a pretty good book, except for Meriel’s constant denial. But the page 14 foreshadowing was unfortunate, because it makes the reader immediately dread the results of Meriel’s vow.

Stephen was a nice change from the recent run of overly precocious child characters. He’s a sweet funny and bright little guy, and he innocently throws Richard and Meriel together on several occasions, much to Meriel’s chagrin. The others in the cast are pretty much your prerequisite English manor house staff, the nice but homely neighbor, and the cookie cutter villain.

The rest of the book unfortunately doesn’t bear much mention. While the plot is OK, aside from Meriel’s stubbornness the whole is pretty much forgettable. I was able to put it down several times for days at a time, and wouldn’t recommend it to a friend. The Duke in Disguise is part of a series of stories about Meriel’s sisters, but this book did little to stimulate interest in the others.

--Wendy Livingston