Fire Must Burn, by Allison Montclair

What with one thing and another, I missed the release of this book–and I had so been looking forward to it! So in the spirit of ‘better late than never’, here are my thoughts. Beware: drinking; rape; suicide; serious burning; hospital scenes; institutional/systemic abuse and complicity. Fire Must Burn, by Allison Montclari I am not sure how it’s come to pass that this is the eight full-length novel in the Sparks and Bainbridge series; since it is, I would strongly encourage any new readers to start at the beginning, by reading The Right Sort of Man. Not, mind you, that you couldn’t read this book as a stand alone and enjoy it, but you would miss a lot of the nuance and character development that happens in the previous stories. At any rate, it’s summer again in London, the business of matchmaking is doing quite well, as wedding bonuses are being paid with encouraging regularity by satisfied clients. With Ronnie and John gone to stay in the country with Lord and Lady Bainbridge over…