This HaBO request is from Jules, who is searching for one of the first romances she read:
I am looking for one of the first romance novels I ever read. I’ve looked everywhere. At this point, I’m either imagining this book or I’m combining several books into one. I “borrowed” this from my mom when I was 12 so it’s been a while.
Here’s what remember:
I read it in the early 90s.
It was a traditional Regency.
The two main characters were friends as children. The hero was wealthy and the heroine was sent away to live with relatives or an orphanage. He called her “minx.”
They meet again as adults, but aren’t sure the other one remembers them. They don’t reveal their identities to one another until he saves her from falling off a cliff.
The hero was wounded in the leg fighting Napoleon. He also wore an eye patch. His worked undercover to find spies or smugglers. I can’t remember which one.
The one thing that I remember vividly about this book is the faux eye patch. At the end of the book, the hero and heroine were soaking in a plunge pool and he removes his eye patch and confesses it was part of his disguise to find the traitors.
This book is reigniting my love of heroes in eye patches.
Dang it, this sounds exactly like something I read this winter while lying around with pneumonia. It was one of a series (the first, I think) and I’ll be darned if I can remember any details.
It sounds a bit like An Impetuous Abduction but that was published in 09. He definitely wore the eyepatch as part of a disguise to catch a smuggling ring. I’m in transit so can’t write/research more.
If it’s not that one, then I hope you find out what it is so I can read it too!
I swear I read this back in the day. I want to say it was Catherine Coulter or Kat Martin or one of those, but the limited research I’ve done hasn’t turned up one that fits. There is an older Julia Quinn called Minx but that doesn’t fit either. There was an author who liberally used “minx” in her books but I can’t think of her now. I’m sorry, my memory has always stunk.
Kat Martin or maybe an older Kasey Michaels?
Looking forward to have this one identified.
Could it be “Deception” by Amanda Quick (Jayne Anne Krentz)?
Heroine takes has three young nephews land on her doorstep. Hero has eyepatch.
Both hereoine and hero grew up in chaotic dysfunctional families. Heroine has scholarly bent, she is cracking a code in diray i think written by a relative of the hero.
I recall there was a large dog who somehow became miracuously, impossibly well behaved after the hero started ordering it around. just like that.
OK, this is a little left field, but I wish we could have HABO Cold Case post–you know, to give a second chance to HABOs that weren’t “solved” the first time around. I just hate it when they’re not wrapped up all tidily. 🙂
@Susan, what a wonderful idea!
Susan you are my psychic friend. We are at work on that feature right now!!
@Susan, I’ve totally thought that before. Because I know there are times, I’ll run across a book and think, was that a HaBO? Then try to find the old HaBO, but most times can’t find the one I’m looking for.
@Susan @Sarah I love this idea! If I could figure out how I’d post the Robert Stack in trench coat “Update” image from Unsolved Mysteries…
HA! Just seeing him used to give me the creeps because that show often scared the hell out of me.
We’re working on resurfacing older unsolved HaBOs, and highlighting the ones that have been solved, too. This is one of our favorite features – and y’all’s, too, given the traffic! – so we want to improve it as much as possible!
Hi! Thanks for all of these suggestions. I went and researched them all (which led me to even more suggestions. Who would have thought there were so many minxes and eye patches out there?) but none of them were the right book. Sigh. I’ve been searching for this book for over 15 years. Crossing my fingers that someone out there has read this book, remembers the title, and then will let us know through the unsolved HABO section. But in the mean time, I’m going to read some of these suggestions. They sound really good.
Celeste Bradley has a spy series but I don’t remember any of her books quite matching this. Her series is the Liar’s Club. This book sounds very familiar to me, though.
Reader Karin thinks she may have solved this HaBO! Here’s her thoughts:
“It’s Miss Wickham’s Betrothal by Nancy Richards-Akers. One of the early Regencies I’ve read, and still a huge favourite of mine because…well, I still love it! One of my comfort reads :-). It is from the early 90s, out of print, but used copies are around.”