At the risk of damning with faint praise, I can say that this book is my favorite kind of C read: The uneven kind. Parts of it are quite well done and worth reading, and other parts – well, aren’t. To me that’s a whole lot better than a book that’s simply mediocre from start to finish, but inevitably the end result is the same. It’s still an average read.

This book features Lady Meredith Woolcott, and is actually the third in a trilogy; the other two tell the stories of Meredith’s wards, Julia and Rowena. With her wards happily married off and her former lover/nemesis dead, Lady Meredith is now free to indulge her passion for learning. As the book opens she is in Egypt, hoping to gain insight into the origins of the Rosetta Stone in preparation for a paper she will present to an historical society in London. But while she feels secure, others are less sanguine. Whitehall believes that her former lover, Feron, may still be alive, which would threaten Meredith and national security.

Sir Richard Archer already knows Meredith; he’s friends with the husband of one of her wards, and met her at the wedding. He experienced an immediate attraction to her – which was apparently unreturned, as she failed to give him the time of day. Now he’s in Egypt at Whitehall’s request, following Lady Meredith, keeping an eye on her, and potentially ready to exploit any connection to Feron. Essentially, Meredith is bait, and England’s network of spies hopes that she will lead them to a wanted man.

Meredith is certainly in danger from someone, because when Richard first meets her again in Egypt he saves her from an attack. She ends up shooting one of her attackers in the process. Nonetheless, she’s not too thrilled to see Archer either. She wants to put her past behind her, and she doesn’t really want to think about any sort of sexual attraction either (despite her actions at the wedding, she’s very attracted to Archer). She also believes him to be a devil may care sort with no real intellectual passion or emotional ties. So while he’d like to give in to their obvious attraction, she’s wary of any relationship – sexual or otherwise.

After surviving a sandstorm (an event now becoming obligatory in every Egyptian set book, as far as I can tell), the two arrive back in civilization. Meredith leaves almost immediately for London, but not before she and Archer have shared a few kisses – and she’s extracted a promise to leave her alone.

Archer has no intention of doing so. Not only is he still watching her on orders from his superiors; he is also emotionally invested, even if he can’t quite admit it to himself. He discovers that someone is manipulating Hector Hamilton, a penniless gambler/Cambridge professor, into starting a relationship with Meredith for a nefarious purpose. He continues to pursue Meredith, demanding that she break ties with Hamilton – but refusing to tell her why. After Hamilton is attacked and injured while walking Meredith home, Archer whisks Meredith away to a ship docked near his estate. The two make love, but leave on poor terms. Archer won’t be honest about his feelings or his Whitehall connection, and Meredith can’t come to terms with the fact that her life may still be in danger.

This, in a nutshell, is the conflict of the book. The plot continues on as Meredith heads to Cambridge with Hamilton (Archer tells her it’s a bad idea, but not – for reasons I could not fathom – why it’s a bad idea). They then proceed to France to confront the ominous Feron (or maybe someone else), and after a few more perils, they admit their love.

First, the good news: Though the plot is intricate and a little hard to explain, some aspects of the book really shine. I particularly liked the characters. Both Meredith and Archer have some mileage on them. They’re older, and they’re experienced. Meredith isn’t a virgin and doesn’t particularly care what people think about that. She doesn’t feel that she needs a man to make her life complete; she’s happy to finally have the time and security to pursue her intellectual interests. When she finally gets together with Archer, it’s on her own terms. Archer is perhaps a little more conventional as a romance hero (sails the world, spies when it suits him to do so, never thought of being tied down, etc) but he manages to be likable anyway. Maybe it’s his good looks, or the way he climbs in Meredith’s window in Cambridge just to have sex with her. Or is it fun to watch a formerly carefree guy fall head over heels for an intellectual? Anyway, I liked him.

I also found Richards’ writing smooth, eloquent, and beautiful to read. Her prose is a cut above, her descriptions vivid and elegant. The writing almost, almost makes the book worth reading despite its flaws.

The problem is that it does have flaws, and I kept pausing to wonder why, since it was so beautifully written, I wasn’t enjoying it more. I think the main problem is simply that aspects of the plot do not make sense. The most significant is Archer’s refusal to be honest with Meredith, which flies in the face of reason. He has information which she should know. Information that would save her from danger. He has no compelling reason not to share it with her – unless you count his need to keep the plot rolling. I guess he can’t climb in her window in Cambridge if she doesn’t go there in the first place, but I wish the author could have found a more logical, believable way to get her there. Similarly, Meredith insists upon going to France to confront her nemesis at the end of the book. For the life of me, I couldn’t think why she needed to do this – especially alone. Oh wait: She needs to go alone so Archer can save her.

The point is, you can drive a truck through some of the holes in this plot. Part of the problem is that it is the third book in the series, and some of the relationships are not adequately explained (perhaps because Richards supplied the information in previous books). Maybe readers familiar with the previous books will find the characters’ behavior more credible.

So despite its eloquent writing and deft characterization, The Deepest Sin isn’t really a book I can recommend. That said, I think Richards’ writing shows promise; I wouldn’t be adverse to trying her books again.