A Lady in Disguise by Sandra Byrd

When no one comes to Gillian's father's funeral, she begins to realize something is wrong.  When she tries to find out what, no one will tell her anything.  Finally another cop alludes to the fact that he was accused of wrong doing, from thievery to prostitution.  She's sure he wouldn't do that.  Her mama died long ago but her father was a good cop and a good man.  Wasn't he?

Howard Books and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published March 21st.

One of Gillian's first duties is to visit the house she has inherited.  It's been vacant for a long time.  It was her grandparent's house and her mother inherited it.  She left to her father.  And now that he is gone, it's hers.  As she wanders through looking at damage and thinking about how much it will cost to repair it, she meets the Lord that lives next door.  He offers to look it over and give her an idea of what it will cost.  From the exterior, of course.  She tells him thank you and goes back home.  At the moment, she's growing her sewing business and needs to keep that on track.  She'll have to think about the house.

She also is investigating her father's death.  She doesn't believe it was an accident and she doesn't think he did anything illegal either.  She's being followed, so she decides to change her appearance so she can sneak away.  It works but it causes other trouble.  Now men think she's available; men she wants nothing to do with!

As the story goes on, a man who has been friends with her since childhood is interesting in courting her.  She likes but she doesn't love him.  She's falling in love with the Lord and she's not of a station to marry him.  Then when she donates her inherited home to help the poor, he buys the house.  Was that the only reason he was being friendly with her?

Gillian has gotten in the middle of bad business her father was trying to quell.  She almost ends up dead.  Her world is falling apart but Lord Thomas is there to catch her.

This is a good mystery plot with a very nice romance.  I really enjoyed this read.