Sir Carlton Morley has been a fixture in the Victorian Rebels series, most often as the antagonist. Now it’s finally time for him to tell his own story and receive a HEA.

By day, Carlton is a respected police detective. By night, he roams the streets of London, dishing out vigilante justice—kind of like Batman.  

Pru doesn’t want to marry her fiancé after she finds out that he sleeps around and has multiple illegitimate children. Her father refuses to allow her to break the engagement, and insists that it’s perfectly normal for the aristocracy.

So Pru goes to an exclusive brothel for one night of passion because she knows it’s her only chance in what will be a loveless marriage.

Guess who she meets there? Carlton! He’s skulking around on a case, and she mistakes him for one of the workers, and he doesn’t correct her.

They both think that this is the only time they’ll ever see each other, but they were wrong, of course.

I can’t say anything else without venturing into spoiler territory, but needless to say, this was an awesome way to end the Victorian Rebels series.

Carlton is like all of Byrne’s other heroes: ruthless in his pursuit of justice. Of course, over the course of the series, we’ve learned that the definition of justice is quite broad. Likewise, Pru is emblematic of Byrne’s heroines: steadfast in her beliefs and not afraid to stand up for herself. While their initial encounter was fireworks galore, it takes a bit of time for the sparks to reignite later, but when they do, boy do they ever!

There’s a bit of a mystery element afoot, and I thought it played out very nicely. The big climactic scene at the end was riveting.  

I would absolutely recommend A Dark and Stormy Knight, but I am going to strongly caution readers to start the series at the beginning because there are many plot elements that are integral to the series that would be spoiled by reading this book out of context. Plus, by starting at the beginning, readers will be able to appreciate Carlton’s character arc over the first six books. Kerrigan Byrne is one of my favorite historical romance authors, so I can’t wait to read her next book!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review