No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean

No Good Duke Goes UnpunishedNarrated by Rosalyn Landor

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished is the third book in Ms. MacLean’s Rules of Scoundrels series, and it tells the story of Temple, widely known as “The Killer Duke”. Persistent rumours name him as the murderer of a young woman (his father’s betrothed) on the eve of their wedding twelve years ago.

As with the two previous novels in the series (A Rogue by Any Other Name, and One Good Earl Deserves a Lover), the book opens with the story of the hero’s fall from grace. The powerful Duke of Lamont is about to marry his fourth wife, heiress Mara Lowe, who has been, more or less, sold into the agreement by her cruel and violent father. Desperate to escape the match, Mara hatches a scheme to fake her ruin and then abscond. Unfortunately, she rather bungles her plan and leaves the beguiling young man she embroiled holding rather more than the baby.

William Harrow, Marquis of Chapin, is titled, wealthy, and handsome and, at eighteen, is enjoying the rather profligate lifestyle so beloved by such young men. But his life is turned on its head when, on the morning of his father’s nuptials, he awakes to find himself alone and covered in blood. There is no proof that he murdered anyone, but even so, he is cast out by society and his family, and ends up sleeping rough on the streets of London and eeking out a living using his fists.

Some years later, having inherited his father’s title but now known to all as Temple, William is a partner in the most successful gaming club in London, The Fallen Angel. Where Chase is the mastermind, Bourne the gamester, and Cross the financier, Temple is the muscle behind the club’s success but he’s much more than a glorified bouncer. Men who have lost everything at the tables have a chance to win back their stakes if they can best Temple in the boxing ring. Despite the fact that the Killer Duke has never been beaten, these men are desperate and, night after night, Temple fights them. And wins.

Things are about to change with the reappearance of Mara Lowe in Temple’s life. She has come to make a bargain with him – arrange for her brother’s gambling debts to be cancelled and she will come out from hiding and proclaim Temple’s innocence so that he can return to his rightful place in society.

He refuses. After twelve years (during which even he has been uncertain of his own innocence), Temple wants more than that. Much more. He wants retribution, his pound of flesh in repayment for those twelve years that were stolen from him. He also wants the memories of that fateful night. Mara can give those to him but not unless Temple meets her demands.

I admit that when I first read the storyline, I was apprehensive about the heroine. How could I feel empathy for a heroine who had done such a terrible thing to the hero? But Ms. MacLean not only pulled off that feat but managed to make Mara into a heroine I could admire and feel was a worthy match for Temple. She’s difficult to like at times, it’s true. After all, she’s guilty of a course of action which ruined a young man’s life, and then has the gall to bargain with him for the justice he so deserves. But she has her reasons (and very good ones they are), which meant that even when I didn’t like her very much, I nonetheless understood her and eventually found myself rooting for her. Even though she knows she did a terrible thing all those years ago, and that she’s doing something just as bad by not disclosing the truth of her situation to Temple, she continually refuses to relinquish the upper hand or to cower before Temple, a giant of a man who is more than capable of destroying her in myriad ways.

The fact that she doesn’t quake in her boots rather intrigues him. In fact, he likes that Mara is prepared to go toe-to-toe with him (even as it frustrates the hell out of him!). While not lacking for female company, Temple is well aware that his sheer size and strength make him intimidating and he suspects that the women he takes to bed are slightly afraid of him.

Not so Miss Lowe. Their battle of wits and wills is hard fought, and further complicated by their almost overwhelming attraction for each other. It seems as though that spark they felt twelve years ago has never gone out and is now in danger of lighting a conflagration that neither of them wants or can afford.

The romance is beautifully developed with Mara’s guilt weighing more and more heavily upon her and Temple beginning to doubt his desire for revenge. There’s humour, angst, and tenderness, all of it underscored by a current of sensuality which progresses slowly but most satisfactorily and the love scenes are erotic without being overly explicit.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, which I thought was the darkest of the three books in the series. It’s a truly wonderful story of revenge and redemption. In Temple, Ms. MacLean has created a perfect hero – wounded and dangerous with a huge heart and a passionate nature that just leaps off the page.

I always enjoy listening to Rosalyn Landor, and having listened to the previous entries in the series, was certain this would be another excellent audio experience. She always gets right to the bare bones of the characters and to the heart of the story. There’s a palpable depth of emotion coming off the page and she captures every nuance perfectly.

Ms. Landor’s narration is well paced and there is never any doubt as to whether one is listening to text or speech, because she doesn’t use her own speaking voice to portray any of the characters (as some narrators do). The secondary roles are all clearly defined using various accents and vocal timbres and I thought that the deeper pitch she employed for the male lead, together with the resonance of her tone, was especially effective here, given that Temple is such a large man.

I can only find one negative comment to make about the performance – I couldn’t always easily distinguish between Temple and Bourne and had to rely on the textual indicators to remind me who was speaking. It didn’t happen often and, fortunately, the characterisations of Cross and Chase were sufficiently different for it not to be a problem when all four of the Angel’s partners were in a scene together.

But when I went back to relisten to certain scenes as I prepared to write this review, I was able to discern that the differentiation (between Temple and Bourne) IS there, although it’s very subtle. Sometimes it’s easier to hear than others. I also realised that the difference isn’t in pitch, it’s in inflection and manner. In their scenes together, Temple sounds slightly gruffer than Bourne does. Otherwise, the entire book is superbly executed and I’m very much looking forward to relistening at some point in the not too distant future.

As an aside – I do wish American authors would use the word “arse” instead of “ass” to mean backside. Some do but, for those that don’t, please bear in mind that the sentence “I saved your ass” is completely nonsensical when read out in an English accent! Unless character A has rescued a donkey belonging to character B.

Minor quibbles aside, then, I can give this audio a very well-deserved and enthusiastic recommendation. The story is well-told and the central characters are engaging, fully rounded and so beautifully imperfect that they really come to life in the imagination aided, of course, by another superb performance from Rosalyn Landor.

Caz


Narration:  A

Book Content:  A

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence:  Minimal

Genre:  European Historical

Publisher:  Harper Audio

 

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished was provided to AudioGals for review by Harper Audio.

7 thoughts on “No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean

  1. Thanks for an awesome review. This looks like a series I’m going to have to check out some time soon.

    1. Thanks :) It’s one of the best HR series currently being published – it’s a shame there’s only one book left.

    1. Hah, yes well they all are, I suppose, given what happens to our heroes to set them on their path to the Angel. I suppose that what makes this that bit moreso is the heroine – Penelope and Philippa were a little more conventional in terms of the sort of heroines one normally reads about in HR, whereas Mara is coming from a completely different place.

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