Praise for The Sleeping Partner:
“At the outset of Robins’s entertaining third mystery set in Regency London (after 2004’s Petty Treason), an upper-class lady using the pseudonym “Mrs. Brown” calls on Sarah Tolerance, a freelance “agent of inquiry” whom society deems a fallen woman because she eloped at 16 with her brother’s fencing tutor. Mrs. Brown wants Sarah’s help in locating her 16-year-old sister, Evadne, who has eloped, unwilling to remain in their father’s house under his “harsh rule.” Sarah, struck by the similarities between Evadne’s situation and her own at the same age, searches for the missing girl in London’s underworld, where she discovers connections to her own family and to a wider war-profiteering scandal. Colorful characters like Sarah’s brothel-keeping Aunt Thea, cameos by such real-life personages as Mary Wollstonecraft, and the slow-burning romance between the quick-witted Sarah and close friend Sir Walter Mandiff all add to the fun.”
—Publishers Weekly
Words cannot express how nice it was to be back in the company of Miss Sarah Tolerance. She is, without a doubt, my favorite guide through Regency London’s lights and shadows. She’s as tough and smart as any urban fantasy heroine one might care to mention, but it’s her compassionate wisdom and intelligent, wry worldview that makes it impossible not to fall in love with her. I can’t decide which would be more fun—to have tea with Miss Tolerance, or have her at my back in a scrap. Admirers of Sarah Tolerance will find much to celebrate in this smashing new installment—and those who have yet to meet the rapier-wielding Miss are in for a rare treat.
— M.K. Hobson
Madeleine Robins has written an engrossing and satisfying mystery with a richly detailed setting in an alternate Regency London, with a determined heroine who is skilled with sword and pistol and not afraid to use either. I highly recommend it.
— Martha Wells
I fell in love with Sarah Tolerance from the moment she picked up a sword. The Sleeping Partner hits all the sweet spots for me, mystery, manners, and mayhem with time for a cup of tea. The fact that the novel is set in an exhaustively researched alternate Regency, just makes it all the more enticing.
— Mary Robinette Kowal
Sarah Tolerance moves through her alternate-Regency London with style and skill—just the way her creator writes. A new Madeleine Robins novel? Let the rejoicing—and reading—begin!
— Emma Bull
I’m a big fan of the Sarah Tolerance books and am delighted to see a new one in The Sleeping Partner. In this page-turner, Miss Tolerance searches for a missing girl and pulls no punches with her clear-eyed look at the precarious position of women in her slightly-alternate-history Regency England. The Sleeping Partner combines mystery, adventure, suspense, humor, political shenanigans, financial chicanery, and – But that would be telling.
— Vonda McIntyre
Praise for Point of Honour and Petty Treason:
“Sarah may be a ‘Fallen Woman,’ but she’s also clever, resourceful and highly capable with a sword. She is so well realized that we accept the conceit of a female sleuth–a liberated Elizabeth Bennett, as it were–who fences, wears men’s clothing and lives behind her aunt’s brothel. [A] most pleasing and agreeable series.”
—Publishers Weekly on Petty Treason
“Madeleine Robins writes with rare conviction.”
—The New York Times
“An action-packed, suspense-filled read, complete with a 19th-century heroine reminiscent of the present day Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
—Romantic Times
“Sarah is a fascinating heroine, and Robins surrounds her with equally intriguing secondary characters. Politics, deception, danger, and a bit of romance all come together beautifully in this superb debut.”
—Booklist on Point of Honour
“Sarah Tolerance is smart, beautiful, resourceful, tough, and totally believable and real. Murder, prostitution, blackmail, and action are woven perfectly into this tale. I will certainly read the next episode in this series. I’d do so tomorrow if I had it.”
–Stuart M. Kaminsky, bestselling author of the Toby Peters and Inspector Rostnikov novels
“Self-reliant, gutsy, and forthright at a time when women weren’t supposed to be any of those things, Sarah Tolerance is a breath of fresh air. I loved Point of Honour.”
–Barbara D’Amato, author of Authorized Personnel Only
“An elegant Regency romance with an edge and a point.”
–Sarah Smith, author of The Vanished Child on Point of Honour
Sarah Tolerance 