Someone to Watch Over Me

The first book in the Bow Street Runners series, Lisa Kleypas’s historical romance Someone to Watch Over Me (1998) follows a wealthy bachelor who rescues a woman drowning in the river after a random attack, falling in love with her as he searches for answers. Popular with romance readers for its fresh take on Regency romance, the book received multiple award nominations. Kleypas is an award-winning, bestselling historical and contemporary romance writer. Named Miss Massachusetts in 1985, she competed in the 1986 Miss America Pageant.

Set in London, the story centers on the infamous “Bow Street Runners,” London’s first professional police force, who are determined to clean up the city’s dangerous streets. Police officer Grant Morgan is the protagonist.

Although Grant is one of London’s wealthiest and most attractive bachelors, he is more concerned with solving crime than finding a wife. When he’s not working on official police business, he’s running his own private detective agency. Everyone knows he is a great police officer with a sharp eye for details, and he has an impressive reputation for solving complex cases.



One night, officers call Grant down to the Thames to investigate a drowning. The victim, a beautiful young woman, is presumed dead. Grant checks her over and realizes that he recognizes her. Vivien Rose Duvall is a popular London courtesan with a wealthy and exclusive client list. Grant hates to admit it, but he is happy she’s dead. She once spread wicked lies about him, making it hard for him to trust women now.

Continuing his inspection of the body, Grant finds finger marks around her neck; someone strangled Vivien and threw her into the river. What looked like an accident is now a murder investigation—that is, until Vivien starts moving. Whoever strangled Vivien didn’t finish the job, and now, Grant has a greater chance of catching the perpetrator. Unfortunately, Vivien has severe amnesia and can’t remember anything.

Grant knows that Vivien isn’t lying. She truly cannot remember who she is; she doesn’t even know that she is a courtesan. She doesn’t know where she lives, and there’s no one to look after her. Deciding that she is safest with him, Grant takes her back to his townhouse to recover.



Vivien sleeps off the incident at Grant’s house, but when she wakes up, she still can’t remember anything. She is not lying about her amnesia; it’s as though she were a different person. She is modest, shy, and horrified at the idea of sleeping in a strange man’s bed. When Grant tells her that she is an infamous city courtesan, she refuses to believe him. Despite Grant’s taunts and cruel words, she claims that she is a virgin.

Grant doesn’t know what to believe. All he can do is work with the limited evidence to find the perpetrator before he strikes again. In the meantime, he spends time with Vivien, reading books to her and eating meals with her. Although he still despises her for spreading lies about him, he admits that maybe she is not such a bad person after all.

Vivien and Grant grow closer as the days go by; there’s undeniable sexual chemistry between them. Despite his efforts to resist her charms, Grant is falling in love with her. He doesn’t care that she’s a courtesan—since she can’t remember anything, it’s a chance to start a new life. However, when they sleep together, he’s in for a surprise. She is a virgin, just as she claimed.



Assuming that Vivien is playing a nasty trick on him, they fall out again. He decides to convince her that she is his mistress and that she belongs to him. Vivien, who still can’t remember anything about her life before the incident, believes him; she feels terrible for forgetting her supposed one true love.

Everything falls apart for Grant, however, when he realizes that this woman is not Vivien Rose Duvall—she is Vivien’s twin sister, Victoria. She is nothing like her courtesan sibling. Vivien doesn’t care that someone tried to murder Victoria; she only cares about her own survival.

Grant will do whatever it takes to protect Victoria from her vengeful sister and whoever tried to strangle her on the Thames. Victoria, however, resents Grant for tricking her into sleeping with him. Her resentment doesn’t last long, and she agrees to consider his marriage proposal when he offers it.



Finally, Grant tracks down the culprit. The man responsible is Keyes, a fellow Runner. He planned to rape and kill Victoria, letting everyone believe that it was Vivien who died. He assumed that the Runners wouldn’t care too much about a dead courtesan, and he would get away with it. Victoria and Vivien make amends.