To Steal a Heart: (A Historical Romance and Intrigue set in an 1880s New York City ladies detective agency) (The Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency)

To Steal a Heart by Jen Turano is the first entertaining installment The Bleeker Street Inquiry Agency series. We go back in time to November of 1886 in New York City where Gabriella Goodhue is working to prove the innocence of friend and housemate, Miss Jennette Moore. She thought her days of skullduggery and thieving were behind her, but Gabriella's skills are needed. Gabriella soon finds that there is another party working the case and it is none other than her old thieving partner, Nicholas Quinn. Gabriella is none to happy to see the person who abandoned her nor is she willing to team up with him. Fate seems to have other plans as the pair are thrown together in one situation after another. Friendship is rekindled and new feelings begin to bloom. I laughed so often while reading To steal a Heart. There are a variety of quirky characters with Daphne, a female mystery writer who finds herself in unusual situations and tends to swoon frequently, standing out. I did find the beginning of the story confusing until the explanations began and characters were identified. Once I understood what was happening, I just kept reading. I did not want to put down my book. I thought the author captured the time-period with the language, attitudes, conveyances, fashions, etc. I also enjoyed the descriptions of the opulent homes, balls, parties, and New York City. The pacing varied in the story, but there was so much going on that I tended not to notice. The mystery was fun. There was one bit of information early on that gave me a clue as the guilty parties' identity and I was eager to see if I was correct. It was a riot following Nicholas and the ladies of The Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency as they worked the case. I chuckled, giggled, and outright laughed my way through this engaging historical novel. The ending was delightful. To Steal a Heart has faith, humor, intrigue, love, and mystery. I am eager for Daphne's story in To Write a Wrong. To Steal a Heart is a lively historical novel with a one-eyed pirate loving pooch, a gawky writer, curious costumes, matchmaking mamas, missing gemstones, gossip galore, and messy skullduggery.