Capturing the Devil - the fourth Audrey Rose Wadsworth novel

It is always bittersweet to read the last book in any series, because you know this will be the last adventure you get to share with some of your favorite characters.  Although this series was rather short-lived, with only four books, the author, Kerri Maniscalco, created such endearing characters and such a vibrantly real world that I took my time reading this one, relishing every scene, every interaction between Audrey and Thomas, and every clue that would lead them to solving a mystery that had been haunting them since they first started stalking Jack the Ripper!  It has been fun watching the relationship develop and strengthen between Audrey Rose Wadsworth and Thomas Cresswell - their bantering always makes me smile.  And with this book, Maniscalco provides readers with resolution to more than just the mystery!

Capturing the Devil finds Audrey and Thomas in America, preparing for their big wedding day.  As much as they both relished the ghoulish crimes they have solved, they are content right now with getting everything ready for the most important day of their lives.  But Audrey is receiving some rather unsettling notes, unsigned, about a surprise for her beloved.  And some women have been found murdered in New York City, raising questions as to whether someone is copying the Jack the Ripper murders.  Audrey had thought all of that was behind her, now that her brother had been put to rest - but what if it weren't?  What is her brother had an accomplice?  And what if that accomplice had come to America?  Or, and she daren't even consider this possibility - - what if Nathaniel Wadsworth was not the killer at all?

Maniscalco gives Audrey and Thomas some of their most challenging puzzles ever to solve - and in so doing, ties in everything that has happened to the dynamic duo to date!  Their stalking of Jack the Ripper and the clues Audrey's brother had left behind in his journals; the hunting of Prince Dracula in Romania and the surprising assistance they receive from fellow students at the academy there; and the escaping from Houdini aboard the U.S.S. Etruria and the lessons they learned about each other and what they were capable of while on that journey.  Now, the two of them must take everything they have experienced and learned to capture the devil that has been taunting them ever since they first met!  Of course, if that were all they had to face, it probably wouldn't have been so difficult - but throw in a surprise fiance that claims she was already betrothed to Thomas, thus putting a halt to the wedding of Audrey and Thomas right in the middle of their ceremony ... a father who will do anything in his power to see his son married to the woman of his choosing so as to further his family's political and financial status ... and the ever-increasing desires of both Audrey and Thomas to be with one another when they can't, forcing them to fight their own cravings for each other!  Plus, a trip to Chicago for the World's Fair of 1889, where women are disappearing and a diabolical killer stays one step ahead of the pair, ultimately getting Audrey into his clutches, where he plays a deadly game of cat and mouse that only one of them can possible survive!

While I certainly hate the idea of this series coming to an end, this book is probably the prime example of how an author should conclude a series.  While there was a lot more romance and sexual encounters than in the prior three books put together, the author brings together everything that has been building over those books and creates a very satisfying conclusion to the overarching tale (which the reader will likely not realize was an overarching story until this book!).  At the same time, Maniscalco also provides her main characters with a happy ending that they definitely deserve, and it is one that they have to fight tooth and nail to achieve - but it is well worth it.

So, even though I much prefer ongoing series, I can honestly say that this 4-book series was most certainly worth the purchase and worth the read.  I thoroughly enjoyed all four books, and who knows? Maybe some day in the future, Maniscalco will return to the world of Wadsworth and Cresswell and give us some more great crime-solving adventures!

RATING:  10 sugar cubes doused in rosewater out of 10 for providing a conclusion to the adventures of Wadsworth and Cresswell that will please even the most die-hard fan!