A Rather Charming Invitation »

C.A. Belmond has published novels, short fiction and poetry. She was rewarded the Edward Albee Foundation Fellowship and was twice a Pushcart Press Editors' Book Award finalist. Belmond was a writer-in-residence at the Karolyi Foundation in the South of France, and her original screenplays were shortlisted at Robert Redford's Sundance Institute and the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference. She has written, directed and produced televsion drama and documentary, and has taught writing at New York University. Her debut novel, A Rather Lonely Inheritance launched the original story of Penny and Jeremy. The second book in the series is A Rather Curious Engagement. And now, the third novel is A Rather Charming Invitation. For news of upcoming works and events, visit the author at her web site, www.cabelmond.com.

Her work has been hailed as "a return to the golden age of romantic suspense," and Belmond is back with her beloved characters and their search for a missing bridal tapestry.

Dateline: London, Paris, Antibes. It's time to get down to wedding planning. But while heiress Penny's distant relatives insist that the nuptials be held in their native France, Jeremy's kin won't have it anywhere but England. And either choice might just re-ignite the Hundred Years' War...

Then, in a family château high above the perfume fields of Grasse, Penny's French cousin offers her the loan of an ancient bridal tapestry. But Penny has barely begun to crack its perplexing imagery before a series of strange events unfolds, threatening to derail the wedding. From a secret chalet on Lake Geneva, to a nostalgic stop at the opulent Train Bleu, to a winner-take-all gamble in Monte Carlo, Penny and Jeremy are off on another romp...while the clock is ticking down until they say, "I do."

Publishers Weekly

American heiress Penny Nichols is supposed to be planning her nuptials to dashing barrister Jeremy Laidley in this pleasant if underplotted installment to Belmond’s Rather series (A Rather Curious Engagement), but she keeps dithering. Complications quickly arise when Penny and Jeremy visit her aunt Leonora and uncle Phillipe, who offer them use of a family heirloom at the wedding—a valuable antique bridal tapestry—and their chateau for the ceremony. But while the happy couple is away trying to convince Jeremy’s overbearing British grandmother that the French wedding they are planning will meet her exacting standards, the tapestry is stolen, and Penny and Jeremy put on their detective caps. Family secrets involving Penny’s French and Jeremy’s English relatives are revealed, but the couple’s investigation into the missing tapestry isn’t handled very well, with obvious details overlooked until the plot requires the simpatico duo to piece things together. Series fans may find this outing agreeable if slow; the uninitiated will have a hard time sussing out the backstory and should read the earlier books first. (Feb.)