The Silver Lion was a book that was both hard to read and hard to grade. It took me nearly ten days to get through it (a very long time for me), mostly because I found it very easy to put down. On the other hand, by the time I neared the end of the book I was quite engaged. I finally decided that while the book was enjoyable after a fashion, anything that took that long to garner my interest deserved only a marginal recommendation.

Derek Leighton, Earl of Varden, went to India to solve a problem for a stock company, and ended up losing the use of his right hand, which was shattered in an ambush gone bad. Now he’s home in England and in need of a secretary, as his just married and left the position. Of all the candidates for the job, Helena Pryce seems the least suitable. It’s not the type of position one offers a woman, and she is far too bold for a servant. Varden ends up telling her that she can have the job on the condition that she secure a certain ruined castle for him. He thinks she’ll never be able to do it and that he’s just seen the last of her. He doesn’t know that Helena is intimately connected with the family who owns the castle. She secures it for him in a heartbeat, and enters Varden’s employ.

Varden passes her off to his sisters and journeys to the castle alone. Since Helena’s primary aim in securing employment with Varden is to instill in him a desire for political reform, she is very unhappy with the circumstances. She journeys north to tell Varden just what she thinks of him, and to provide him with a letter of resignation. He’s pleased to accept it, as he had planned to fire her in any case. But when Helena’s late-night spying leads to a night of unforgettable love-making, the two end up continuing their arrangement.

There is a lot going on here that I haven’t even touched upon. Varden has been commissioned by Wellington to solve an old mystery concerning a duke’s death, and Helena is involved intimately in this investigation. Varden is also in love with the wife of the current duke. The new duke is not only suspected of murdering his predecessor, he’s the man who injured Varden in India. Meanwhile, Helena has an ambitious agenda for social reform. The issues are personal to her because she grew up in the Rookeries, raised by a gentleman of sorts who presides over a clean, honest section of the slum. Varden is easily persuaded to take up Helena’s social causes. On top of all this, Helena has a huge secret which almost no one knows.

If this seems like a lot to read about now, you should try jumping into the book cold turkey. By the time I figured everything out, the book was practically over, and yet these are not spoilers I’ve revealed. I have not read the other two books in the series, and in this case that turned out to be a significant handicap. Nearly everyone in this book appeared in the other two, and I’ve no doubt that many aspects of plot and character would have made more sense had I not been an uninitiated reader.

Helena is an interesting character, but also a remote one. She is the consummate secretary, completely organized and on top of everything. She anticipates every need and can think of a solution to every problem. But the reader doesn’t really know or understand her until late in the book, when her big secret is revealed. Until that time, some of her actions do not make any sense. For example, she wears smoked glasses because her eyes are extremely sensitive to light. There are inconsistencies involved with this that niggled until all was explained. She also seems to hop into bed with Varden with both alacrity and amazing skill; this seems completely at odds with her buttoned-up character until, again, we gain the final insights. A little more explanation early in the book would have gone a long way toward making Helena a more sympathetic character.

Varden, on the other hand, is almost instantly likable. He won huge points with me for his willingness to recognize that the incident in India was largely his own fault, and to act accordingly when he reached this understanding. Thankfully, Varden apparently misplaced his Romance Hero Instruction Book – you know, the one that tells heroes they are supposed to wallow in misery if something difficult happens, and treat everyone around them like garbage. Varden is handsome, charming, modest, and resourceful. Actually, it’s too bad he’s fictional.

Once this book gets going, it really takes off. After I found out Helena’s big secret, I read for several hours straight. I could hardly put the book down. Unfortunately, it took me ten days to reach that point. I can’t help wondering if those who have read both preceding books will have an entirely different reading experience. In the end, there’s little doubt that it’s those readers who are best suited for this book. If you’re intrigued with this premise, I’d recommend starting with the first book and proceeding from there.