The Sleeping Partner

This third installment in the alt-historical adventures of Miss Sarah Tolerance finds our heroine tasked with tracking down a young woman who's eloped from her father's house. Miss Tolerance's search for the missing Evadne brings her into contact with the seedier side of Regency London. The Sleeping Partner has more grit to it than the previous two books—this is a kind of "Regency noir"—and higher emotional stakes than the second one. Madeleine Robins has a knack for creating a heroine who is independent-minded enough to walk her own path, but is not unrealistically anachronistic in her thinking (i.e., she's not Not Like the Other Girls.)

Given the lengthy gap between publications and the change in publishers, I fear the Sarah show more Tolerance books are likely to remain a trilogy. However, while Robins clearly sets up some plot points/relationship arcs here which could be picked up in future installments, The Sleeping Partner does also work as a conclusion. show less

I love Miss Tolerance, and I love the alternative Regency London in which she lives and works. This may be the best book yet in the series! It's full of derring-do, intelligent deductions, help- and lack thereof- from unexpected quarters, and excellent characterization and dialog in the service of a nicely twisty plot; even though I "called" some of the aspects fairly early on, I did not predict the whole of the schemes laid bare.

There's not much romance in these novels, so Regency fans who like romance may be disappointed. They contain excellent mysteries, though, and a wry and skewed eye to regency culture- one that broadens the scope of understanding beyond that of balls and "coming out".

While Miss Tolerance works to find the missing show more girl- the task for which she's been hired- various personal aspects of life pop up and need to be dealt with. And that's all I can say without spoilers!

Now, generally "Regency" means a pretty light read. This one isn't. It's maybe regency noir? The ugly underbelly of "polite society" is very much on display.

It is also a good, thick, meaty novel, and well worth the price.

I think one could step into the series here without much lack, although having read the previous 2 volumes will improve one's understanding of the personal aspects of this novel.

Highly recommended. I'll add a trigger warning for sexual violence, albeit not described in detail. show less

The Sleeping Partner is the third book in Madeleine Robins' Sarah Tolerance mystery series set in an alternate Regency England in which Queen Charlotte rules as Regent (currently). I am a huge fan of this series because I love the way Robins has played so subtly with the Regency to bring attention to gender roles and sexual power in this historical period. I also love the series because Sarah Tolerance is awesome. She is in the perfect position to straddle all levels of society, from the cream of the Ton that comprise her clients all the way to the young boys that work menial jobs sweeping the streets.

In this outing, Sarah Tolerance is hired by a lady whose sister Evadne has gone missing. She's terrified for her sister's well-being show more though she's also quite frank about the fact that, now that her sister has been missing for several days, her future even if found safe is pretty dire. Sarah, being a Fallen Woman herself, immediately feels for the missing girl and sets out to find her, embroiling herself deep in a sordid family history that involves war profiteering, re-encountering her own lost family and meeting both Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley along the way (hey, it's an alternate history, so it's possible!). And all the while, she's struggling with figuring out her complicated feelings for her good friend Sir Walter Mandiff and trying to determine if her brothel-keeper Aunt Thea is going insane or just being odd.

This book felt much grittier and sophisticated to me than the previous two books in the series. Sarah's London is not the same one inhabited by Georgette Heyer's characters, with glittering balls, lush silk gowns and fluttering fans. Instead, Sarah lives in a very polarized city, where she confronts people from all walks of life, and consequently the city of London is a vivid and fascinating character in this entire series. Add in the fabulous twist of alternate history, and the series really just satisfies on all accounts.

Sarah Tolerance is a strong, intelligent female sleuth. In a genre often populated either by flighty and flirtatious beauties or unrealistically modern-thinking spinsters, Sarah Tolerance stands out as a woman who is secure in who she is and is willing to use her skills within the boundaries that have been detailed for her. She's a great role model for young adult readers, and I am so looking forward to more in this series! show less

I really enjoy these Sarah Tolerance books. They are suspenseful mysteries set in the world that we know from Regency romance novels -- only much better researched than the average romance. Sarah is tough and resourceful, solving mysteries and extricating herself from dangerous traps.

Miss Tolerance returns, investigating the disappearance of a young lady, who vanished after a quarrel with her father. She is presumed to have eloped, although she doesn't seem the type and no one can knows who the man might be. Fallen herself, Miss Tolerance is sympathetic to her plight and determined to find her. Especially since there is an unexpected family connection.

A satisfying mystery.