Susan Ralph Bücher

With her inner Amazon steaming, reliable, compliant, Agatha Marple dumps her two-timing fiance and runs away from the small town and the eccentric family stifling her dreams. Settling in a large city, she embarks on a self-improvement plan. Desperate to keep her inner Amazon from slipping back to second place and leaving her defenseless again against her need to please, she petitions the mythical powers of the universe. But, her careful plan and her Amazon side get thrown into turmoil when her eccentric grandmother and the man of her dreams show up and keep her off balance.

"Catherine Sutton is crushed when she fails to attract a marriage proposal after her first coming-out season. Since her viscount father passed away, the family's resources have dwindled, and she dreads becoming a destitute spinster. But when she's invited to the Duke of Mumshire's country estate--where she'll be considered for the heir's hand--hope returns. A trip to the country will also take her mind off the crime she'd witnessed at the last event of the season--an unbearably handsome stranger stealing a lady's purse. Catherine and the thief locked gazes in the middle of the act, and while she was quickly been swept away by the crowd, later that night she was introduced to the thief, Henri LaFleur. Now he knows her name and can force her silence. Catherine shakes the memory--until LaFleur shows up as a fellow guest at the Duke of Mumshire's estate. This time, though, she finds herself terribly, inexplicably drawn to this thief. But is LaFleur who he seems?"--Amazon.com, viewed January 15, 2013.