Love in Disguise

Ellie Moore takes on a position with the Pinkerton Detective Agency in a mining town in Arizona where her assignment is to discover who is stealing silver shipments. With a background in the theatre, she decides to disguise herself as a middle-aged widow and a her niece. This causes her some

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interesting and at times, humourous challenges as she tries to keep the two personas apart. This is Christian fiction but Ellie's faith did not seem to play a big part in the story until closer to the end of the story. If you like historical fiction with a bit of romance and suspense thrown in, this is a good story to read.

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Ellie may have hoped for a life on the stage, but circumstances dictate otherwise, and she finds herself without a job. She lands a position as a Pinkerton operative with an assignment in 1880s Airzona, identifying silver thieves. She uses her acting skills to disguise herself as two different

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people to seek out the clues she needs to find in order to keep her job. I won't give away the ending, but I will say that it's quite a surprise. This novel may be considered Christian fiction, but it's not overly preachy at all. It's a good, clean mystery story with twists and turns you wouldn't anticipate. While considered romance, it's not overly romantic either. The mystery and Ellie's deceptions take center stage. You'll like the main character and many of the townspeople of Pickford, Arizona. The author has done a good job of researching the time period, making the novel realistic and believable.

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I received this advanced reading copy of this book from Library Thing and I really appreciate it.

Ellie Moore has no job and no money and she hears about a job with the Pinkerton Detective Agency and thinks she could handle the job. Of her surprise they offer her a job to test her out. She disquises

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herself as a middle age woman named Lavinia Stewart and when the need arrises she changes into a young woman named Jessis Monroe who is very outgoing and can talk to anyone and about anything.

She got the job of trying to find out who is stealing the silver shipments from the mine owner Steven Pierce. Steven begings to fall in love with the gray haired widow Lavinia, never noing this is really his neice. What will he say when he finds out the woman he fell in love with never existed?

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Ellie Moore has been a wardrobe assistant for years, and loves her work. When her employer doesn't need her anymore, she finds herself only a step away from being on the streets. Desperate for another job, she applies everywhere but isn't ever hired. One day, when she's about ready to give up, she

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finds herself in the Pinkerton Detective office, pleading for the job of investigating silver thefts in Pickford, Arizona.

Love In Disguise was a great blend of history and romance with a good dose of suspense. Carol Cox made quite a few characters that I found myself attached to, so I seldom found myself able to put it down. Very fun and engaging read. The only complaint I have is that I wish it had been longer, or part of a series. I would have loved to see more adventures of Ellie.

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This is a nice historical fiction romance read. It was different in that the main character was a couple of characters, which was a nice change of storyline. It was very easy to read and was interesting to see the main character develop and try to continue her numerous roles. There were many other

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characters that weren't defined very much, but there is only so much time to do that. Also, the ending felt a little abrupt to me, but thinking about it, there really was no need to go further, perhaps I was simply interested in going further. It was a nice quick read in which you are trying to figure out who the bad guy is and when the good guy will win the girl.

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In this exciting tale, Ellie Moore aspires to be an actress, but makes her living as the wardrobe mistress to a self-serving theatrical performer. Then suddenly, she finds herself unemployed when the actress leaves for Europe. Alone in the world and desperate for any job, she used her knowledge of

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the theater and disguises to work for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Assigned to investigate the theft of silver ingots from several mines, Ellie, as an undercover agent, is soon targeted for trouble. Handsome mine owner Steven Pierce adds a bit of romantic interest for Ellie. But he doesn’t know the real Ellie, and after playacting in real life, is Ellie even sure who she really is? With a clever plot and well developed characters, this tale is entertaining as well as inspirational.

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Ellie Moore is a costume designer for the stage actress Magdalena. When Magdalena decides to perform in Europe she leaves Ellie behind and without a job. She does decide to leave Ellie her costumes, wigs and makeup which comes in handy when Ellie is hired by the Pinkerton detective agency to find

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out the mystery of why gold is being stolen from some mining companies in Arizona. Ellie is hired by the Pinkertons to play a middle aged widow. Ellie is supposed to have a partner to play the younger niece but when the lady told Ellie that she had gotten married Ellie decides that she can pull this out on her own and play both roles, the role of widow Lavina Stewart and the role of pretty red haired Jessie Monroe. Her hair is mousy brown but she does have a red curly wig. She is able to convince the town that there are two people living in that house. It is quite humorous how she is able to pull it off on the people of the town. In the meantime she has taken a liking to Steven Pierce one of the owners of the mine. He has a taking a liking to her but will he like the real Ellie or is it the Jessie Monroe he has taking a liking to? Will she discover the mystery of who is stealing the gold from the miners and will she get to keep her job with the Pinkertons? You will just have to read to find out. I don't want to give any spoilers away.

All and all I enjoyed the story but I did get confused at times at the men in the town. I had to read back to see who the miners where and who the townspeople were. This story did not keep me up late at night but I will will recommend this story to anybody who loves stories about the old west with a hint of mystery.

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When Ellie Moore loses her job as personal wardrobe mistress to Magdalena Cole, she is desperate to find a new one. So desperate she ends up working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency and investigating the theft of silver from mines in Arizona. She decides the best way to get information is to

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disguise herself as middle-aged widow Lavinia Stewart. While that works out okay, Ellie soon realizes she also has to disguise herself as Lavinia's niece Jessie Monroe. Ellie has her hands full – not only from portraying the two women but investigating the thefts. The last thing she expects is to fall in love with mine owner Steven Pierce.

“Love in Disguise” is a wonderful novel that does an excellent job of combining romance, mystery, history, humor, and suspense. That sounds like a lot for one novel but author Carol Cox makes it work. At first I wasn’t sure I was going to like Ellie - she was more than a little obnoxious and full of herself in the first few pages. But once she got to Arizona and began wearing her disguises I really started enjoying her as a character and began to admire her resourcefulness. Yes, the main plot line of having Ellie be two characters seems a bit over the top (and hard to pull off in real life) but Cox makes it work. Cox also does a great job with not only the various characters but the town itself and the time period (1881). The romance in this book is the strength of the novel – it is sweet yet also funny as Ellie, drawn to Steven, struggles to behave as Lavinia really would (and the fact that some in town are attracted to Lavinia is an added bonus). The mystery aspects are well done with plenty of suspenseful moments, especially towards the end.

“Love in Disguise” is wonderfully done.

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A cute read with a unique set up. I loved the interaction between the characters and while I didn't see the solution to the mystery, there really weren't enough clues for me to say "I should have known!".

"Love in Disguise", by Carol Cox, offers a delightful and entertaining heroine in Ellie Moore. An assistant to a demanding actress, Ellie suddenly finds herself adrift when her employer sets sail for Europe and leaves Ellie behind with only a wardrobe trunk filled with costumes and memories of

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years gone by. Alone and unemployed in Chicago of the late 1800s, Ellie is facing an uncertain future until she overhears two men talking about hiring a woman for a certain job. She follows the two men, who turn out to be Pinkerton agents, and tries to persuade them she is just the woman they seek. However, they turn her down and send her on her way. Ellie learned a lot during her years behind the scenes at the theater, and she returns in the guise of an older widow lady seeking employment. She makes an impression on the detectives, and they send her on an undercover assignment to Pickford, Arizona, where shipments of silver ore are routinely being waylaid. The desperate owners of the local mines have hired the Pinkerton Agency to investigate and stop the thefts. When the female agent who was supposed to be Ellie's partner suddenly quits to get married, Ellie finds herself playing two roles: matronly widow Lavinia Stewart, and Lavinia's dazzling red-haired niece, Jessie Monroe. Complicating matters is Ellie's attachment to the handsome and courtly mine owner, Steven Pierce, who grows fond of Lavinia and quite attracted to Jessie. Ellie knows that she is neither of those women, and she fears that Steven will reject her when he learns the truth. Ellie gets both of her alter egos into precarious predicaments, some of which are funny and some of which are suspenseful. There is villainy of more than one variety taking place in Pickford, and Ellie's two identities are right in the middle of the action. "Love in Disguise" is a very readable and enjoyable historical romantic suspense story with a lovely romance between two people who are both at a turning point in their lives and their faith. Ellie and Steven bring out the best in each other, and together they might just grab true happiness and hold onto it for a lifetime.

Review Copy Gratis Library Thing

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This was a very enjoyable story to read. It truly was a blend of romance, suspense and history as the back cover of the book states. Ellie Moore finds herself jobless, when she hears about a job with the Pinkerton Detective Agency. She needs to prove to the Pinkerton Agency that she can do the job

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(and to herself that she really can act) by disguising herself as a middle aged widow in a town where silver shipments are being stolen and no one knows who is involved. Steven Pierce is one of the mine owners who needs to find answers before he goes broke from all the robberies. He befriends the gray-haired widow, who is really Ellie, but starts to fall in love with her mysterious and beautiful niece (who is also played by Ellie). It gets quite complicated for Ellie at times, but she is determined to find the thieves.

The story line was quite interesting and the mystery of who was behind all the stealing wasn't fully figured out by me until the very end. I liked the mystery and the romance, but especially liked the character Ellie. It was a well written book and I want to thank LibraryThing for sending me the book for review.

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers (June 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0764209558
ISBN-13: 978-0764209550

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The story line was capturing. The writing in the first few chapters seemed a little bland, but as the book continued the characters personalities really developed. This book is about a young women with some confidence issues who has a stroke of bad luck as stage hand/costume helper for a theater

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crew. With no prospects for future work she finds herself working as an undercover agent unraveling a western style silver thieving mystery. The romance in the book was simple and sweet which I would almost say the whole story is that way. If your looking for an edge of your seat excitement kind of book this is not the one for you. But its a solid pallet cleanser. Just a little something fresh.

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Very enjoyable! Loved the dialogue and the people, very well written. Witty, wily and wild!

I've just finished this ER book and it was really quite good! I enjoyed the story of a recently become unemployed, about to be destitute young woman who takes on a job with the Pinkertons to solve the mystery of multiple thefts of silver from miners in a small mining town in the old west! The story

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had a few hiccups, being an uncorrected proof, but was still very worth my time. It kept me drawn in and wondering who of the many characters was the culprit and that was a surprise til the end. The ending wasn't much as it was a romance, but that wasn't a bad thing.

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Love in Disguise is Christian Romance in a western setting with a unique setup. Ellie Moore is a frustrated, wannabe, unemployed actress who stumbles onto a potential job with the Pinkerton Detective Agency as a chaperone to a young female operative.

When original arrangements fall apart, Ellie uses

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her acting and makeup skills to play a double role to foil a major theft ring in a mining town.

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Just who has Ellie Moore become? Even now, looking back she can't remember, but God can. Now that she has given up the life of an actress in Chicago and trying to find a way to make a living, she overhears a conversation between two men looking for a woman for hire. They are Pinkerton's and were

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hoping to locate a woman to send along with a younger one to find out who's been stealing silver from the mines in Arizona.

When Ellie applies for the job with little more than being aware of other's conversations as her only experience for the job, they look at her plain, young looks and politely decline to hire her. What they were looking for, was an older woman to accompany the young Norma Moore as an elderly escort to Arizona. Thinking back to her theater experience in Chicago, she quickly changes into a disguise as an elderly woman called Lavina Stewart, wearing a grey wig and elderly clothing. When she returns to the agency, neither man can recognize her and are ready to hire her, when she reveals who she is, begging them to give her a chance. Seeing no other options, they offer to send her along with Norma, an experienced field agent to Arizona.

However, when she meets up with Norma and learns she has no intention on going to Arizona now that she has fallen in love and gotten married, Ellie, heads off on her own, hoping to come up with a plan before she arrives in Arizona. Her only hope lies in the costume trunk she was left with from her previous work with the Chicago theater.

Steven Pierce is finding it hard to keep his silver mine going with the recent thefts. He agrees with the other silver mine owners to hire the Pinkerton's to help since they aren't sure their local Marshall isn't part of the recent string of silver thefts. He sure doesn't seem to want to do anything to bring anyone to justice. Now if only he can keep his head above water before his mining operations going under with this bank account become thinner and thinner. When Mrs. Lavina Stewart arrives to meet with him, he feels God has answered his prayer in finding a way to keep his mining operations afloat as an investment. If only he knew behind that wig and costume lies the help he was asking for in a different way.

In the novel, Love in Disguise by Carol Cox, Ellie Moore will have to use everything in her bag of tricks to deceive not only all the residents on the town of Pickford, Arizona to keep not only the disguise of Lavina Stewart up, but to answer for the missing niece the Pinkerton's have hired with Ms. Moore, whom she hasn't explained isn't there. Lucky for her, she has another wig in her costume trunk to play the parts of two women while questioning the town for clues to the silver mine thefts.

I received Love in Disguise compliments of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review and have to say this one was interesting in a variety of ways. First introducing not only the Pinkerton's into a historical fiction, but making her a woman character as well. Add to that mix, a woman who must master the art of deception and disguise while solving a crime. If she can do it, she knows it will secure her a job with the detective agency once this case is over. The character Ellie portrays is definitely believable and I can see how hard it would be to keep track of what towns person has told which character what information, as she switches between the two woman. Will anyone catch on why the two are never seen together? You'll have to read this one and find out. I personally rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars and can't wait for more from Carol Cox in the future.

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Ellir Moore was a personal assistant to an actress who was on her way to Europe. Just before leaving the actress dismissed Ellie and left her on her own. After hearing a couple men talking about hiring a certain kind of woman for a job she persuaded the company to hire her on a trial basis to find

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some thieves who were stealing silver from an Arizona mine. She used her acting skills to disguise herself as two people. This was a fun read with a little romance.

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I wasnt sure about this book at first cause I saw historical fiction and I'm not into reading those books but I gave it a try and was instantly drawn to the story. You really dont know its historical except for the fact that they tell you what year it is and a few sutle mentionings about clothing

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and stuff. I really enjoyed reading this book all the way to the end, I especially liked the end. The only thing I'd say negative about it is that Id love to read more about the relationship that evolves in the end of the book so it left me wanting more like a sequel or something but overall an excellent book.

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Being a fan of historical fiction, I was drawn to this story for that reason. I loved Ellie's character. This is my first book by Ms. Cox but I look forward to reading more in the future!

I love these kinds of books. Not only are they light hearted to read and perfect when you’re ‘in between’ heavy reads. I love the historical setting, it’s so well written and I could picture everything so easily. I would say it’s accurate to the history aspect of things and it certainly

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does capture the ‘Wild West’ picture quite well.

I loved Ellie. She’s so determined! I liked that quality about her. Her talent for switching between Jessie and Lavinia is very well done and as she dodges several obstacles here and there (the part with Amos being an unwanted admirer was fun to read). The other characters in this book are really just secondary characters - even Steven, who’s the love interest, doesn’t really develop in great detail as Ellie does. However, Ellie’s character development is very well done. The book focuses more on her, and how she realizes who she really is despite playing two very different roles. I liked this part of the book, it was very well done.

The plot itself was a great read. Although, I would have preferred more emphasis on the mystery part of the book. There is a mystery element, but it’s not that heavily emphasized. In certain chapters, there is a bit of suspense built up and makes you wonder who it could be, but there’s just too many secondary characters to really take a good guess and I personally found myself to not really care too much about the mystery part of the book. I was more focused on Ellie and her character development.

The ending itself was good - a little too quick on solving the mystery, but it was a sweet ending nevertheless. I definitely would recommend those that like these types of books, or who need a light read after the ‘heavy’ ones! I definitely enjoyed reading this one.

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"When one door closes, another door opens." That must be Ellie's motto, for when her employer leaves her to go to Europe, Ellie picks herself up and finagles her way into a position with the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The plan is for Ellie to travel to Arizona to help with an investigation into a

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series of silver shipment robberies. But when her partner has a change of plans, Ellie decides to try to do the job of two people. Not only is it more difficult than she imagined, but her growing attraction to mine owner Steven Pierce complicates the situation even more. She feels guilty for deceiving him, and he is thoroughly confused by Jessie/Lavinia.

An engaging mystery/romance, Carol Cox's novel Love in Disguise is an example of good Christian fiction. There is a good, strong plot with no silly loopholes that leave you shaking your head after you close the book, and it conveys Biblical truths without sermonizing. With a clean romance and no "adult" situations/language, this novel is safe for any age. And on a personal note, I really enjoyed Ellie's quick-changes between Lavinia and Jessie. For me, that really made the novel.

Definitely a 4 star novel.

“Available June 2012 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Revell. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

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It's not every day that a Christian romance comes along, so I was pleasantly surprised thanoring and respectful--sorry, but I just don't get into Fifty Shades of Gray, as I don't like to fill my mind with that kind of stuff. No smut here, but a fun story as our heroine becomes an undercover agent,

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with TWO false identities, and the funny and trying situations she finds herself in as the other characters start to wonder why they only ever see one of the false characters at a time. Further complicating the matter is when there is a romantic attraction, where she is torn, because she hasn't yet solved the mystery for which she was hired, and is finding evidence that points in the last direction she would have thought. I thoroughly enjoyed this read, and gives me hope that others find delight in "clean romance" novels as much as I.
The copy I have was an early reviewer copy, and as such was a "draft" transcript; I hope the powers that be don't change too much in the storyline!

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An amazing good story that is lighthearted and an easy read for a quiet evening. I love strong woman characters, like Ellie., that take the bull by the horn and make things happen. The romance in the book is old fashioned and fun to follow!! A good book for anyone to read!

Ellie Moore, the protagonist in Carol Cox's novel Love In Disguise, finds herself unemployed and on the verge of being homeless in the winter of 1882 in Chicago. Her possessions are few-consisting of a trunk filled with the wardrobe that once belonged to her former employer who was a vain and

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selfish actress. Ellie's only work experience was that of theater wardrobe mistress. A chance encounter and an overheard conversation leads to her applying for a position within the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Even though she is initially rejected because of her total lack of experience in the sleuthing business, she uses her theatrical skills to land the job and she is off to the Arizona Territory to investigate a case.
From the start much goes wrong. Ellie is assigned to work with a seasoned female Pinkerton detective. However, upon meeting her supposed partner the woman tells Ellie that she won't be accompanying her to Arizona. Instead, she is going on her honeymoon in New York. Ellie is shocked by the news that she is on her own. It is imperative that Ellie solves this case as she needs to prove herself to the Pinkerton people. Desperate times call for desperate measures as well as creativity. Thanks to contents of her wardrobe trunk, Ellie morphs herself into two diversely different women in order to conduct her investigation . As for the results, you have to read the book.
This novel has it all. There is tension, suspense, humor, romance and elements of faith. The characters are well developed and I found the story totally believable. I recommend reading this book.
I received this book free of charge from Bethany House Publishing and I give this review of my own free will.

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