April is Classics month (and Bodice Rippers, too). I’m
beginning with a truly wonderful Classic by a great author. Written in 1977, it
sold a million copies. Moonstruck Madness
is a worthy read—and the first in a great trilogy!
Set in 1746 in Scotland (prologue), and 1751 in England,
this is the story of Sabrina Verrick, the Scottish noblewoman, who along with
her sister and brother survive after their grandfather, Laird of the MacElden
clan, is brutally slain by the English at Culloden Moor. They escape to England
where they live in the country at the rundown estate of their father, an
English marquis who abandoned them as children. To feed her family, Sabrina
becomes the highwayman “Bonnie Charlie,” robbing the rich to feed the poor,
including her family.
One man she robs, Lucien, Duke of Camareigh, a gambler and a
rogue, is no English fop as are most of Sabrina’s victims. A self-made man, he decides
to trap the wily bandit and have his revenge. Once he captures “Charlie,” the
duke realizes the highwayman who has been plaguing him and his friends is a
beautiful young woman. When she won’t reveal who she is, he decides to try
seduction.
Superbly written, you’ll find this one hard to put down. I
love the logic of McBain’s intricate plot…no improbable moments here. No
contrived black moments. Just great storytelling and suspenseful action. The
dialog is clever and the characters wonderfully developed. Sabrina is
courageous, good-hearted and rebellious to the end and Camareigh is a tough
alpha male, just the kind we like to see fall to love’s power.
McBain paints vivid pictures of Culloden (to start with) and
then the English countryside thereafter, putting you right in the scene. It is
so well done. Reading this just reminded me that a 5-star classic never goes
out of style.
This is the first in McBain’s Dominick trilogy:
Moonstruck
Madness
Chance The
Winds Of Fortune
Dark Before
The Rising Sun
I highly recommend all of them!
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