Love in Disguise

"Love in Disguise", by Carol Cox, offers a delightful and entertaining heroine in Ellie Moore. An assistant to a demanding actress, Ellie suddenly finds herself adrift when her employer sets sail for Europe and leaves Ellie behind with only a wardrobe trunk filled with costumes and memories of years gone by. Alone and unemployed in Chicago of the late 1800s, Ellie is facing an uncertain future until she overhears two men talking about hiring a woman for a certain job. She follows the two men, who turn out to be Pinkerton agents, and tries to persuade them she is just the woman they seek. However, they turn her down and send her on her way. Ellie learned a lot during her years behind the scenes at the theater, and she returns in the show more guise of an older widow lady seeking employment. She makes an impression on the detectives, and they send her on an undercover assignment to Pickford, Arizona, where shipments of silver ore are routinely being waylaid. The desperate owners of the local mines have hired the Pinkerton Agency to investigate and stop the thefts. When the female agent who was supposed to be Ellie's partner suddenly quits to get married, Ellie finds herself playing two roles: matronly widow Lavinia Stewart, and Lavinia's dazzling red-haired niece, Jessie Monroe. Complicating matters is Ellie's attachment to the handsome and courtly mine owner, Steven Pierce, who grows fond of Lavinia and quite attracted to Jessie. Ellie knows that she is neither of those women, and she fears that Steven will reject her when he learns the truth. Ellie gets both of her alter egos into precarious predicaments, some of which are funny and some of which are suspenseful. There is villainy of more than one variety taking place in Pickford, and Ellie's two identities are right in the middle of the action. "Love in Disguise" is a very readable and enjoyable historical romantic suspense story with a lovely romance between two people who are both at a turning point in their lives and their faith. Ellie and Steven bring out the best in each other, and together they might just grab true happiness and hold onto it for a lifetime.

Review Copy Gratis Library Thing show less

Ellie Moore is desperate after the loss of her job at the theater company. With no family to turn to, she aggressively pursues a position with the Pinkerton Detective Agency, thinking it will be an opportunity to use her acting skills and to have a grand adventure in the Wild West of Arizona. Her plans quickly go awry when her partner, a seasoned detective, bails out and Ellie is forced to play two roles: Lavinia Stewart, a middle-aged widow, and Jessie Monroe, a young and adventuresome flirt. Keeping up such an act is difficult enough, but then Steven Pierce, one of the mine owners that hired the Pinkertons to solve a mysterious string of silver robberies, is terribly attractive and he seems to feel the same way about Jessie! As Ellie show more edges closer to finding the thieves, both Lavinia and Jessie become targets. Can Ellie thwart the thieves before they strike again? If her identity is revealed, will she lose the love of a lifetime? Read more in Love in Disguise by Carol Cox.

I love it when a book is better than I expect. Love in Disguise by Carol Cox was such a book. The mystery kept me hooked throughout the story. The clues were there, but I didn't know who was behind the silver thefts until the climax. Truly, the mystery was the heart of this book. There was adequate romance between Steven and Jessie/Ellie, but it wasn't emphasized like the mystery was, nor did there seem to be any romantic tension until the very end. I liked Ellie's development throughout the story. Her surrender of herself – just as she was – to God was a hidden gem of a theme that played out in other areas of the story. I recommend Love in Disguise to fans of Christian fiction who love mystery. I'm sure I'll read it again, but for the moment, I'm passing it along to my mother-in-law to enjoy.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." show less

When Ellie's air castle shatters, she trades it for a small, two bedroom house in Arizona. And a job she has next to no qualifications for. In her role as Lavina, an elderly widow, it's easy to poke her nose where it might not usually belong. As Jessie, she pretty much just smiles and men fall over themselves to babble information they wouldn't normally divulge. And when one of her potential suspects smiles, she melts, no matter which wig she's wearing.
With a lot of luck, enough courage for three women, and answers to some heartfelt prayers, Ellie manages to solve the case AND get her man. ;-)

When Ellie Moore loses her job as personal wardrobe mistress to Magdalena Cole, she is desperate to find a new one. So desperate she ends up working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency and investigating the theft of silver from mines in Arizona. She decides the best way to get information is to disguise herself as middle-aged widow Lavinia Stewart. While that works out okay, Ellie soon realizes she also has to disguise herself as Lavinia's niece Jessie Monroe. Ellie has her hands full – not only from portraying the two women but investigating the thefts. The last thing she expects is to fall in love with mine owner Steven Pierce.

“Love in Disguise” is a wonderful novel that does an excellent job of combining romance, mystery, show more history, humor, and suspense. That sounds like a lot for one novel but author Carol Cox makes it work. At first I wasn’t sure I was going to like Ellie - she was more than a little obnoxious and full of herself in the first few pages. But once she got to Arizona and began wearing her disguises I really started enjoying her as a character and began to admire her resourcefulness. Yes, the main plot line of having Ellie be two characters seems a bit over the top (and hard to pull off in real life) but Cox makes it work. Cox also does a great job with not only the various characters but the town itself and the time period (1881). The romance in this book is the strength of the novel – it is sweet yet also funny as Ellie, drawn to Steven, struggles to behave as Lavinia really would (and the fact that some in town are attracted to Lavinia is an added bonus). The mystery aspects are well done with plenty of suspenseful moments, especially towards the end.

“Love in Disguise” is wonderfully done. show less

It's not every day that a Christian romance comes along, so I was pleasantly surprised thanoring and respectful--sorry, but I just don't get into Fifty Shades of Gray, as I don't like to fill my mind with that kind of stuff. No smut here, but a fun story as our heroine becomes an undercover agent, with TWO false identities, and the funny and trying situations she finds herself in as the other characters start to wonder why they only ever see one of the false characters at a time. Further complicating the matter is when there is a romantic attraction, where she is torn, because she hasn't yet solved the mystery for which she was hired, and is finding evidence that points in the last direction she would have thought. I thoroughly enjoyed show more this read, and gives me hope that others find delight in "clean romance" novels as much as I.
The copy I have was an early reviewer copy, and as such was a "draft" transcript; I hope the powers that be don't change too much in the storyline! show less

Ellie Moore takes on a position with the Pinkerton Detective Agency in a mining town in Arizona where her assignment is to discover who is stealing silver shipments. With a background in the theatre, she decides to disguise herself as a middle-aged widow and a her niece. This causes her some interesting and at times, humourous challenges as she tries to keep the two personas apart. This is Christian fiction but Ellie's faith did not seem to play a big part in the story until closer to the end of the story. If you like historical fiction with a bit of romance and suspense thrown in, this is a good story to read.

Love in Disguise is Christian Romance in a western setting with a unique setup. Ellie Moore is a frustrated, wannabe, unemployed actress who stumbles onto a potential job with the Pinkerton Detective Agency as a chaperone to a young female operative.

When original arrangements fall apart, Ellie uses her acting and makeup skills to play a double role to foil a major theft ring in a mining town.