The Gentleman’s Daughter

This is the second book in the popular Gentleman Spy Mysteries — read this as a standalone or look for the first book, The Innkeeper's Daughter!

Sir Henry, secret agent to the crown, must marry a lady above reproach to afford his illegitimate daughter entrance into society. After narrowly escaping marriage to a highborn bigot, he takes an assignment in Brighton, leading him to an abandoned abbey full of dark whispers, and a sinister secret society, the very one Henry has been investigating for three years.

Isabella is as beautiful as she is talented, but falling in love isn't part of her plans. She only wants to paint, forget her painful past, and keep her overbearing mother at bay. But gaining one's independence isn't easy for a woman in 1823, so Isabella embarks on a fake courtship with Sir Henry. Soon, love and a painting career no longer seem so utterly incompatible.

But when the man Isabella fears most kidnaps her, all appears lost. Realizing the kidnapper is part of the same organization he is investigating, Henry chases after them. Entrapped in a web of secrets, both Henry and Isabella must face old enemies, and fight for their happily ever after.

The third book in the The Gentleman Spy Mysteries, The Memory of Her, is coming in April 2022.

“Enjoyable ... unusual ... endearing.”

Sir Henry March, agent to the crown, returns in The Gentleman’s Daughter, Bianca M. Schwarz’s gritty romance sequel set in the 1820s, when Henry encounters unexpected love.

Henry is determined to find a respectable bride to ensure that his illegitimate daughter, Emily, will enter high society without trouble. Meanwhile, an enemy plots revenge for earlier events, all related to Henry’s investigation into an ancient men’s society that was known for its sadistic practices, and which now roils over a changing of the guard.

When Henry follows a lead to Brighton, he meets Isabella, a captivating painter whose traumas prevent her from growing closer to him. These twin, charged plots converge when Isabella is kidnapped by a member of the society, culminating in a rescue in which the men defend their loved ones, and Isabella confronts her fear and finds redemption.

With elements of a mannered Regency romance, erotica, and suspense, the mercurial plot alternates between Henry and Isabella’s lively meetings at social events, and as she paints en plein air; inquiries about the society; and brushes with peril, often surrounding the harm that befalls women. The survival of rape is a potent, dark theme that is complicated by characters who participate in the society’s sexual brutality. Heightened allusions to background treacheries among the elite also tease at future entanglements.

Though Henry’s spy work is subtle amid his domestic concerns, his character is an intriguing blend of a dashing rogue and a protective gentleman. Isabella’s art is also appealing proof of her single-minded determination, despite the limitations for women of her time.

The Gentleman’s Daughter is an escapist romance novel whose pleasures and terrors culminate in a hopeful,
restorative ending.

Bianca M. Schwarz was born in Germany, spent her formative years in London, and now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and teenage son. She has been telling stories all her life and holds a degree in English literature. She is the author behind the successful Regency romantic mystery series, The Gentleman Spy Mysteries.