With
her twin Abigail married, Rachel Beverley has come out of
her shell and is hoping to be the sister who regains Mannerling
for her family. There is a new man in residence there, together
with his father the General and his two young children. But
Charles Blackwood is not only a widower but at least forty,
so surely too old for young Rachel to consider? Another woman
is after him, a statuesque widow called Minerva Santerton
who is staying with Charles and embarrassingly Lady Beverley
is setting her cap at the General. And why does Charles young
son think the house is haunted by a foxy-faced man?
As usual this one is a lot of fun; a dubious widow, an unusually
flirtatious Lady Beverley, a ghost, a possible murder, and
plenty to enjoy. We get to see Rachel having her turn to regain
the family seat and again see the house exert its baleful
influence, a feature of these stories that is rather well
done. But then so is everything else, from the romance to
the humor and feeling that the period has been captured perfectly.
Miss Trimble treats everybody to a description of a Bond Street
Lounger from the paper, and genially pulls strings to see
all ends well. Whenever I read reviews of other Regency romances
people are usually seeing how they measure up to Georgette
Heyer; Ms. Beaton has wisely gone ahead and done her own thing.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
Banishment
- Book I
Intrigue
- Book II
Deception
- Book III
Folly
- Book IV
|