The River Knows (Hardcover)

by Amanda Quick (Author)
Key Phrases: investment consortium, sensation press, blackmail victims, Elwin Hastings, Madam Phoenix, Phoenix House (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
The suspense begins with the first sentence of this romantic mystery from the pseudonymous Quick (Jayne Ann Krentz uses this pseudonym for her Victorian novels). Gossip spreads fast about the liaison between "unimportant, unfashionable, excessively dull" Louisa Bryce and wealthy, handsome Anthony Stalbridge. In reality, their first kiss was a spur-of-the-moment coverup when the two are caught snooping around Elwin Hastings's mansion. Louisa, an undercover reporter for the sensational newspaper, Flying Intelligencer, is investigating Hastings's crooked financial dealings, while Anthony seeks the truth about his fiancée, one of three society women who supposedly committed suicide a year ago. Under the guise of their romance, Louisa and Anthony expose Hastings's many criminal schemes. Their relationship isn't all business, however, and Louisa's profession isn't her only secret. Quick's tightly woven tale allows little room for extraneous subplots—every cracked safe and mysterious prostitute plays an important role. Light humor and playful love scenes temper the more gruesome moments for an alluring combination of foggy nights and steamy afternoons. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
She didn't mean to kill the man who broke into her room. Especially since he was a member of Victorian England's nobility, a protected class that could, literally, get away with murder. Now Louisa Bryce feels compelled to fake her own death and assume a new identity. Her fine writing skills land her a job as intrepid investigative reporter I. M. Phantom, whom everyone assumes is a man. It was so easy for Louisa to feign her demise, she now wonders if two other recent drownings were actually suicides. Anthony Stalbridge is wondering the same thing about his fiancee's drowning. When Louisa and Anthony run into each other while snooping in the rooms of a likely suspect, he gets off on the wrong foot by assuming a woman has no business conducting a dangerous investigation, while Louisa is annoyed and fascinated by his alpha-male behavior. Louisa is the archetypal Amanda Quick heroine, an adventurous woman full of grit, gumption, and determination. And Anthony is the perfect hero, a man with an edge. The incomparable Quick (aka Jayne Ann Krentz and Jayne Castle) has once again penned a superbly tantalizing romantic suspense, replete with smart and snappy dialogue, witty humor, and fast-paced action. Shelley Mosley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (April 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399154175
• ISBN-13: 978-0399154171
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #370,263 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick-footed AND Quick-witted!, April 25, 2007

By	viktor_57 "viktor_57" (Fairview, Your Favorite State, USA) - See all my reviews

I may be a man, and not just a man, but a family man, but even I like to spend Sunday afternoons lying in my hammock with the latest Amanda Quick (aka Jayne Ann Krentz) novel in one hand and a frosty brew in the other, so completely lost in the Victorian world of Quick's imagination that the noises of my kids playing in the yard, my neighbor mowing his lawn, and my wife yelling at me to get off my lazy bum all fade into the dim background. That's usually when I get the urge to pee.

That doesn't compare, of course, to Louisa Bryce's urge to uncover Elwin Hasting's dark secrets, one of which may have something to do with the recent drowning of several women in the Thames, one of whom was the fiancee of wealthy, handsome Anthony Stalbridge.

The unlikely partnership of the "unimportant, unfashionable, excessively dull" Louisa Bryce and the dashing Anthony Stalbridge begins with an expedient but passionless kiss but soon leads them into danger, suspense, and even possible romance as they investigate the mysterious Elwin Hasting in the dark underworld of Victorian England. Quick writes not only a compelling tale, but a quick-footed and quick-witted one, leading our intrepid duo further into the privileged world of the upperclass and the dark belly of the underclass, both shrouded in secrets and dealings that, dare I say it, only the river knows.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amanda Quick returns to her roots, May 1, 2007

By	Elaine C McTyer "avid reader" (Dawson, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

THE RIVER KNOWS reminds me of all the great older Quick novels. No Arcane Society or psychic powers just a wonderful mystery and romance set in the time of Queen Victoria.

Lousia Bryce is persuing a career as an informant and writer for one of the Newspapers that circulates in London. She writes under the name I.M. Phantom. She is currently investigating Mr. Elwin Hastings. He is suspected of funding one of the many brothels in London. Lousia is the companion of Lady Ashton and as a result has the ability to travel amongst the titled and wealthy. Being a companion she is rarely noticed, until Anthony Stalbridge takes an unwanted interest in the widow.

Anthony is the scion of a wealthy, eccentric family. A year earlier his fiancee committed suicide by jumping from a bridge. He has been searching for a reason or a killer, since he does not believe she killed herself. The search has led him to Mr. Hastings and now to Louisa. The very fact that she tries so hard to be invisible and suceeds at it, fasinates Anthony and when he rescues her with a kiss he finds there is a fire hidden under the drab exterior.

While seeking a chance to go through Hastings papers she is almost discovered and only the quick thinking of Anthony saves them both for he is also wanting to search Hastings safe. Discovering that both are interested in Hastings they join efforts and share information. Anthony knows that his fiancee went into a garden where Hastings and his wife were and she never came out. A few days later Hastings wife jumps or was pushed from the same bridge and a week later the owner of a bookstore committed suicide by jumping from the bridge. Something tells him it is no coincidence. Lousia is disgusted by the brothel which forces ladys and women whose husbands leave them in debt to work as ladies of the evening to pay off the debts. Togather they investigate Hastings. The only trouble is Louisa has her own secrets that could cost her her life. As she falls helplessly in love with Anthony she knows she can never have a life with him. He is also very friendly with a detective from Scotland Yard.

I really loved this book, one of the best she has written in some time. Do not miss it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Where love and romance and excitingly dangerous liaisons are concerned..., May 30, 2007

By	Bookreporter.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

"This is the thing with an illicit affair....It cannot end happily." Oh, but yes it can --- and it does --- in Amanda Quick's latest romance novel, THE RIVER KNOWS. Where love and romance and excitingly dangerous liaisons are concerned, "There are exceptions to every rule" --- and we wouldn't have it any other way. Amanda Quick, a pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, shows us the way to romantic bliss.

Steamy Victorian passion and devastating kisses are what fans of Quick desire. The New York Times bestselling author reveals that the Victorian Age was not quite so straight-laced after all. It was a time of romantic trysts inside the crested carriages that clop-clop-clopped down foggy London streets, long walks in moonlit gardens that led to stolen moments behind large, perfectly trimmed bushes. The seclusion and humidity of the conservatory provided a private location for the passion that novelists and playwrights wrote about. Lovers seeking to ravish and indulge their passions stole away from elegant balls for exhilarating interludes.

Not only do we enjoy a peek behind closed carriages, we also read that there were many bright, educated and talented women who secretly and/or openly engaged in journalism, playwriting, painting and mercantilism. Some even presided successfully as a scantily clad brothel Madam. In a time when it was common for a young woman to wait patiently until she was swept off her feet by a wealthy, handsome Lord, it is refreshing to read here about a Victorian family with "razor-sharp intelligence and forceful willpower" and the young women who forged the very beginnings of the sexual revolution.

THE RIVER KNOWS revolves around Louisa Bryce, who has a secret that only her employer, Lady Ashton, knows --- one that surely would send her to jail. Louisa is determined to flush out the rogues of Society by writing tabloid articles under the name "I.M. Phantom" for the Flying Intelligencer, a "disreputable paper that thrives on the most lurid sensations." Louisa's romantic experience is limited to what she has read in sensation novels; she is captivated by the portrayal of illicit passion as a "transcendent experience."

When Louisa meets Anthony Stalbridge, a handsome member of Society with impeccable bloodlines, at the Hammond ball, Louisa falls in love at that first moment. Louisa undertakes a brazen quest to expose the shocking activities within Polite Society, including the murder of Fiona Risby, Anthony Stalbridge's fiancé. Louisa and Anthony find themselves in intimate circumstances as they delve into the business affairs and blackmail schemes of Elwin Hastings, a prominent member of Society who is at the center of several mysterious deaths. Anthony fears that he failed to protect Fiona from the circumstances that led to her suicide in the river Thames. The clues take the reader from brothels to an attempt on Anthony's life in London's Arden Park to clandestine meetings in foggy alleys and straight to Elwin Hastings's former wife --- who comes back from the murky waters to expose Hastings.

When the servants have the afternoon off, the young lovers bring to life a scene from one of the many sensation novels Louisa has read. Anthony leaves Louisa breathless with kisses and the "transcendent experience" of an illicit tryst. However, danger lurks as the pair gets closer to the truth behind the deaths, and Anthony must rely on his eccentric family to help him save Louisa from the depths of a darkened dungeon.

The "Polite World" of Victorian London had its share of secrets, romantic trysts, villains and marriages based on money, property and family connections. What I was surprised to learn was that Louisa possessed a "wide assortment of sensation novels...filled with stories of illicit love affairs." Quick's books portray an age of privilege and passions, contrary to the belief that Victorian London was staid and proper.

Novels of romantic bliss are not without peril and insecurities. Matters of the heart are mostly complicated, and Louisa finds herself thinking, "Live for the here and now; it is all you will ever have with Anthony." If you believe, as I do, that it's possible to fall in love (or lust) at first sight, then prepare to abandon yourself to the fantasy of romantic bliss a la Amanda Quick.

--- Reviewed by Hillary Wagy