Alex and Emmy first met at a masquerade ball several years prior to the main events of the book, and Alex has been thinking about the mysterious young woman with the unique scent ever since that night.

Now, Alex is working as a Bow Street Runner, along with his friends, and Emmy is the elusive jewel thief that he’s trying to catch, so a romance between these two personalities seems impossible.  

The irony of the situation is that Alex and Emmy encounter each other socially in addition to the cat-and-mouse game they’ve been playing. Naturally, the lines between these two worlds begins to blur as the stakes increase.

I loved Emmy. She’s resourceful and clever, and I loved how she was able to outwit Alex at almost every opportunity. Likewise, Alex is the perfect foil for Emmy; he’s stalwart and a bit serious, and he’s determined to catch this elusive thief, especially once he realizes that Emmy is the jewel thief.  

The book is fairly light in tone, but not so much that the tenser moments felt out of place. I haven’t read the first book in this series, but I didn’t feel “lost” at any point; it’s fairly easy to pick up on the rapport between the friends.

I would recommend To Catch an Earl. This book was a lot of fun, and I’ll certainly keep an eye out for more of Bateman’s books in the future.

I received a copy of this book from St. Martin’s/NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.