In September I was given an ARC for K.J. Charles’s new release Gilded Cage.

The story about Susan ”Sukey” Lazarus started way back in 2017 in the book An Unnatural Vice. She was a scrappy street urchin taken in by the Seer of London, Justin Lazarus, and taught the tricks of the trade by him.

By the end of that book Mr Lazarus had gone a bit more legitimate (marginally) and sent Sukey off to school. In Gilded Cage we meet her again.

She is paired in this book with jewel thief Templeton Lane from the first book in the Lilywhite Boys series – Any Old Diamonds. This is only the second f/m book I’ve read by K.J. (the first being Non-Stop Til Tokyo) but she does it as well as she does m/m and f/f and I’ve never been exclusive in my pairings anyway.

Susan and Templeton met as children at the school Susan went to and fall in love. Complications arise and they part ways giving them a second chance at love in Gilded Cage.

I loved reading a book about a woman who takes no shit from anyone. Susan has a soft spot for her old sweetheart no doubt, but she doesn’t let that get in the way of finding out the truth. Because where Any Old Diamonds was a romance/heist novel, Gilded Cage is a romance/murder mystery.

I have written many reviews for K.J.’s books since I first found them in 2017 and I continue to recommend them to anyone I can. (Even the 15 yo at home – turns out they were too explicit for her taste). They are consistently well-written, with compelling characters and plots.

I also enjoyed seeing this book tie together all of K.J.’s non-supernatural books into one big joint universe. Not to spoil anything but there are references to characters and events from Sins of the Cities as well as Society of Gentlemen (!).

Gilded Cage is out tomorrow, Oct 23rd on all e-book platforms. And while you’re buying it make sure to pick up The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter as well, which is a short story set before Any Old Diamonds telling us the story about how the Lilywhite Boys’ fence met the love of his life. It fills in a few blanks and fleshes out the characters even more. Also highly recommended.