Any Old Diamonds

I always include major spoilers (hidden), to help with my memory  issues. Read them at your peril! 

Entertaining heist/MM romance. Aristocrat and jewel thief with nothing in common. Alec, 2nd son of a duke, wishes for revenge on his father and asks jewel thieves to help him. The story covers the planning and execution of the heist, with them gradually finding common ground, and revealing more of their histories. But complete trust is never quite there, with consequences. Graphic sex scenes.

20 years ago, Alec's father murdered his mother in order to marry his mistress, who in turn murdered her own husband. Both are caricature baddies, with no redeeming features. Alec and his siblings have lived in comparative straitened circumstances after a final breach 10 years ago, when the duke's callous selfishness led to the death of Alec's sister. Alec asks Jerry and his partner to steal a diamond parure before it can be given to the duchess on her wedding anniversary. They get to know each other in order to be convincing best friends, and after some humiliating grovelling to his father by Alec, they are both invited to the fateful house party. Alec eventually tells Jerry about the murders, but doesn't tell him the big twist... it's all been a ploy to get the thieves to the house party in order to break a different safe than they have been planning, and get at proof of the murder of the duchess's first husband. It hits the fan when Alec fetches the private detective working in the house to Jerry's room to tell them what's really going on. 

ETA: Upon re-read I would give this 4.5 stars, maybe close to 5. Knowing the how the plot was going to unfold, I was able to pay more attention to the characters, and Jerry really grew on me this time. I believed that a matter-of-fact jewel thief could fall truly, madly, deeply in love - and that Alec was perfect for him. To paraphrase a music review phrase, this book “rewards repeated reading.” 4.25 stars. I love all of K.J. Charles' work, so 4 stars for her is better than 97% of the books I read. This just wasn't my absolute favorite of hers. Not sure why, because it checks off all of my must-haves: the dialogue was sparkling as usual, the plot was fiendishly clever and the characters were memorable. Plus the debate about good vs. evil (vs. “likes to steal jewels from people”), and the full cost of our actions was wonderful mind fodder. Also, lots of bonus points for including characters from [b:An Unnatural Vice 32161804 An Unnatural Vice (Sins of the Cities, #2) K.J. Charles https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1480582018s/32161804.jpg 52798546] and other Sins of the Cities favorites. All of these wonderful components just didn't add up to a 5 star read for me. Perhaps after the sheer perfection of [b:Band Sinister 39345944 Band Sinister K.J. Charles https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1537454594s/39345944.jpg 60995770] there wasn't anywhere to go but slightly down. The only problem I can put my finger on is that it bothered me slightly that we never hear Jerry's POV. Although plotwise there were good reasons for writing it this way, it kept me at a slight distance from him. I'll just have to re-read to figure out why I didn't fall head over heels - not a hardship! ARC received from the author in exchange for an honest review.