Having tried something a touch more serious, for her next book, Sprig Muslin, Georgette Heyer returned to the formulas that had served her well in previous bestsellers: a charming older hero, an atypical, shy and retiring older heroine, a spirited teenager, a hopeful poet, social misunderstandings, and intense focus on clothing, tailoring, and whether it’s a great idea to bring along someone who might be mistaken for your mistress to a dinner party where everyone is hoping you will ask another woman to marry you—especially when the said other woman is the daughter of your dinner host. (Short answer: no.) Also, fake highway robberies and a gunshot. It’s almost entirely great fun, with some of Heyer’s most sparkling dialogue, and if we could just get rid of or completely rewrite the last 30 or so pages I’d so be on board. Alas, not so much.
[Wherein I rather wish I had a pair of elegant dueling pistols which I could use to put those last 30 or so pages out of their misery.]