This book was previously published with the title : The Valentine Present and Other Diabolical Liberties.
I started reading this just before I went on holiday and ended up taking it with me as I just had to finish it. It really is a very funny book, full of extremely likeable characters.
Harriet, the heroine, is a down-to-earth, ordinary girl, caught up in the most extraordinary set of circumstances that take her from life in a launderette, living in a flat in a rather dubious area with her boyfriend, Julian, to a country house in Scotland with a wardrobe full of designer clothes and an aristocratic fiance.
Unfortunately for Harriet, the fiance is as unreliable and unappealing as her boyfriend, and the only man who really floats her boat is Brice, cousin of the fiance, who is immediately suspicious of her motives and suspects that things are not what they seem.
Well, he got that right. Harriet desperately tries to cope with a trio of comical gangsters, a murdered goldfish, how to master clay pigeon shooting in one easy lesson and a boyfriend who may be missing one – or several – body parts, all the while fighting off her increasing attraction to Brice while trying to breathe in her designer corset. With the help of her best friend Fiona, she may just be able to pull this off. But with one of the gangsters missing, presumed dead, a jealous ex-girlfriend on the scene, a wily grandmother on the case and a fake engagement party to attend, things are not going to be resolved that easily.
This is a laugh-out-loud romp, easy-to-read, fast-moving, with a lovely heroine, a very appealing hero and a supporting cast of interesting characters. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a romantic comedy, with the emphasis on comedy! 5/5