LOVING ROSE: THE REDEMPTION OF MALCOLM SINCLAIR is the third book in the Barnaby Adair series which deals with the investigations of Barnaby Adair and his wife Penelope. They have been joined by several friends who now investigate as a team. While placed in this series, this book is actually a sequel to the Cynster series book, THE TASTE OF INNOCENCE. In that book, the villain Malcolm Sinclair falls to his apparent death at the end of the book. In LOVING ROSE Sinclair has barely survived and comes through the five years of recuperation a changed man. He has taken up his alter ego Thomas Glendower and goes out to discover what penance he must satisfy for his prior misdeeds.When Thomas arrives at his home, he discovers that a widow and her two children. Rose is his new housekeeper but Thomas soon realizes that she has some dark secret that she is hiding. That secret brings the two together, brings them to London and to the attention of Adair and his investigative group and ultimately requires Thomas to confront his past.I loved this story of Malcolm Sinclair's redemption. The story does not rush the transformation of Malcolm into Thomas. It also clearly demonstrates that Thomas feels remorse for his past. I believe this book works better after reading THE TASTE OF INNOCENCE because in truth the transformation begins in that book. In this book Thomas is really the star. While Rose has a plant character, she is really more of a catalyst for Thomas and I felt the real drama of the book was Thomas's journey.Rose's secret provides the mystery that Adair and his cohorts investigate. While it was nice to see these characters again, once again, they seemed to really serve to demonstrate the transformation of Thomas. I was much more interested in that then the mystery.For fans of Laurens this book is a great treat. Malcolm Sinclair had been present in several novels and it was satisfying to have the loose ends of Malcolm Sinclair's life so well resolved.I'd rate this one a 4.25 on the strength of the redemption story.