London, spring 1812. Miss Cecilia Hartley has been taught that a young lady's head for figures is best kept hidden.
Then forged Bank of England notes are discovered in her reticule at a Mayfair ball.
The scandal threatens Cecilia's reputation before she can even understand how she was framed. Captain Julian Ryder, a younger son lately returned from the Peninsular campaigns, has his own reason for taking an interest. Posing as an idle man of fashion, he is quietly tracing counterfeit five-pound notes through the ton's gaming rooms for the Bank of England.
A hastily announced betrothal gives Julian the access his investigation needs and Cecilia the protection society demands. It is meant to be entirely false.
But as Cecilia begins spotting errors no one else sees, from flawed scrollwork to accounts that only balance after they have been "corrected," the pair are drawn into a trail of gambling debts, household secrets, printer's ink, and financial deception. The obvious suspect is Cecilia's charming, debt-ridden cousin. The truth is quieter, closer to home, and far more dangerous.
Set against the political unease of 1812, The Banker's Clever Daughter is a slow-burn Regency romance wrapped around a fair-play mystery of forged money, hidden intelligence, and a betrothal that becomes increasingly difficult to pretend.
