Too Hot to Handel

The fifth installment of the series finds Bow Street Runner John Pickett incognito as a gentleman attending Drury Lane Theatre, where a rash of jewel thefts has taken place. Pickett s magistrate, Mr. Colquhoun, suggests an aristocratic female companion might prevent him from making any glaring faux pas. But the only lady of Pickett s acquaintance is Julia, Lady Fieldhurst, to whom he is accidentally married and with whom he is hopelessly in love. Then the theatre catches fire, and Pickett and Julia must escape their box via a harrowing descent down a makeshift rope. When Pickett is struck in the head and rendered unconscious, it is up to Julia to nurse him back to health and discover his attacker and the jewel thief as well. See more