Jade Nethercott and her sisters are in mourning over the passing of her father.  Her sisters encourage her to go with them to London for their coming out season, but Jade is reluctant, until she is visited by a ghost. 

Gideon Bannatyne has a reputation as a rake and the gossip is that he is also a murderer.  The younger son of a younger son of a younger son, he is disturbed when all the male heirs suddenly begin turning up dead, leaving the family title to him.  He must find out who is behind the deaths of his family members before he is the next victim. 

Lost in Shadow is a near miss for me, personally.  I had difficulty following along - and not because of the old English language used throughout.  The plot seems a bit contrived and I couldn't suspend my belief quite far enough.  Jade is visited by the dead fiancé of Gideon's sister who wants her to prove Gideon is a murderer.  She strikes a bargain with this ghost to try in exchange for the opportunity to speak with her dead father one more time.  It didn't seem strong enough motivation for me - we spend more time caught up in the chemistry between Jade and Gideon than in her melancholy over her father's death.  The development of their relationship was done very well and Gideon was a very likable hero. I was more interested in his story than Jade's.  I might have liked it better had the ghost not really been dead.  The ghost wielded powers that he did not purposely use, but then that would be like the guy with the gun telling you his story before he kills you off rather than just pulling the trigger - inconvenient if you want to know the story.  On a scale of 1 to 5, I'd rate this a 3.

Reviewed by Karla Brandenburg for The Road to Romance

July 22, 2007