You did it! We figured this one out! It is a truth universally acknowledged (by me for certain) that the Bitchery pretty much knows everything, and really, it's true. Scroll down to see the solution for this HaBO - and many thanks!
This HaBO is from Harper Gray, who wants to find this book set in Italy:
This is a book I read in the early 2000s; it was loaned to me by a friend and was missing its cover. I can’t for the life of me remember the title or author. But I remember it being a rollicking good time, and would love to find it again for a reread.
The book is set in early modern Italy, specifically Venice, I think. We open with a detective (our hero) arriving on the scene of a dead courtesan to find a young woman (our heroine) already poking over the scene. He suspects her immediately, but she has her own reasons for wanting to find out who killed the courtesan and why.
After this my memory gets pretty fragmented. The heroine has a cousin who’s a sniveling, nasty piece of work. He knows, or guesses, that the hero and the heroine have been intimate, and at one point to bait the hero and convince him that cousin and heroine have been in nefarious cahoots, cousin implies that he has personally seen the clover-shaped birthmark on the inside of the heroine’s thigh. The hero is suitably put out, until he remembers that the birthmark is on the OTHER thigh. This resolved, he can set about caring whether she’s found or not.
Meanwhile the heroine was caught by the villains and imprisoned. Below sea level. With high tide incoming. (At least I think it went something like that.) In any case, there’s a race against time (and a very prominently positioned clock somewhere) to find and free her before she drowns.
Other tidbits: There’s sex in a bedroom with lots of mirrors at some point. There’s also a courtesan (alive) who is friends (ish?) with the heroine and whom the hero also visits for a bit of a cuddle (to the courtesan’s amused confusion). The heroine may or may not witness this and take umbrage – I’m not certain if I remember that bit from this book or a different one.
I wish I could supply more detail, but if that rings a bell for anyone I would be thrilled and very grateful!
Why are cousins always so gross in romances?
Could it be Lord of the Night by Susan Wiggs? Has a detective hero and is set in Venice.
I know this one! I know this one!!! It’s Michele Jaffe’s Lady Killer: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/j/michele-jaffe/lady-killer.htm It’s part of a series, and they’re all pretty great. I think my copy of this one is double sided, with Secret Admirer.
The description could also fit the first one in the series, Stargazer. It’s been a while since I read them. https://www.fantasticfiction.com/j/michele-jaffe/stargazer.htm
@Katherine C, I really enjoyed those books and was bummed that Jaffee wasn’t able to publish more. They had a great mystery element as well as romance, too.
Finally an HABO that I recognized super quickly and some one got there first! It’s definitely Michele Jaffe.
@Katherine C Yes!!!! Stargazer it is! Thank you so much. Off to Amazon for me. 🙂
So I went looking to amazon for a Kindle version of Stargazer. I kinda think it is out of print. One of the places is selling it for, I kid you not, $2,101.99
https://smile.amazon.com/Stargazer-Jaffe-Michele-Author-Paperback/dp/B00V1D2TTA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1476816639&sr=8-4&keywords=Stargazer+Michele+Jaffe
My library has Stargazer but nit Lady Killer. A number of books by Jaffe with “Kitty” in the title. Are they worth reading?
Good lord, for 2 grand, you would think they’d at least throw in free shipping! That 3.99 is just twisting the knife.
Amazon requires that all booksellers on Amazon charge $3.99 per book. I get annoyed when I’ve paid $3.99 for a book that takes three weeks to travel from the east coast and the seller only paid $1.50 for shipping. One would think $3.99 would be priority mail.
@Gloriamarie, I’ve never read any of those, but as good as the Arboretti series was I would imagine her others would be worth reading.
@Gloriamarie That’s super weird; when I searched for it I found a fairly decent affordable selection. The Kindle version even seems to be free: https://www.amazon.com/Stargazer-Michele-Jaffe/dp/0671027395/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1476826101&sr=8-1&keywords=Michele+Jaffe
Thanks Harper!
@Harper Gray, I apologize. I did not mean to imply that the $2k was the only one. Thanks for finding the free version.
@Katherine C., thanks
Michele Jaffe wrote a couple of modern thrillerish books, Loverboy and Bad Girl. I have a vague memory they’re set in Las Vegas. She also wrote a couple of suspense YA, Rosebush and Ghost Flower. Then there are the two Kitty books, which are YA about mystery solving and hijinks in high life. They’re all worth reading but the Kitty books are a real hoot.
@Gloriamarie: I liked both but thought the first book, Bad Kitty, was hysterical. The book centers on Jasmine, a super smart teenaged girl who loves forensics and imagines hearing Peter Thomas (Forensic Files) narrating scenes from her life. She has a group of best friends that go everywhere/ go along with everything. I thought they were ridiculously funny and read both Bad Kitty and Kitty Kitty a few times for the laughs. However, as always, your mileage may vary.
@kitkat9000, so many people are recommending them I will have to request them from the library.
There were some other books by Jaffe that we haven’t mention. I requested those also.
I thought it was Loretta Chase, since the family birthmark is such a big deal in the series with Lord of Scoundrels. I think there’s a book in Italy at some point, too? But obviously, it’s not the only one!
Thank you, Harper, the Jaffe book is free at Amazon UK as well. 🙂