The Quiet Gentleman

 

by Georgette Heyer (read by Cornelius Garrett)

No longer available on Audible 

 

 

 

Someone is trying to bump off the *Heyero

Gervase Frant, heir to Stanyon Castle and the family title, was pretty much disowned by his father, for no fault of his own. Now Pop has died and Gervase has returned from the war to assume his rightful place as head of the family, owner of Stanyon Castle and Earl of St. Erth.    But, someone is out to kill him and St. Erth has to figure out who and why. The book was written and published as a Regency Romance (a genre created by Heyer, who has been imitated but never equaled), so all of this intrigue is sprinkled among the budding romances and the merry dance of who will end up with whom.

Heyer is known for her secondary characters and in this tale , Gervase's valet/former batman  and his stepmother are the two stand-outs. I just love the valet's  Spanglish-- his blue collar, for want of a better word, English mixed with words and phrases picked up  on campaign in Spain (somewhat in the mode of the educated nobility and gentility littering  their speech with Gallicisms). Stepmother is the quintessential  Heyer dowager.

The Quiet Gentleman is one of a handful of Heyer Regencies that mixes romance and intrigue .

Not quite four star Heyer.

Definitely a contender for Halloween bingo:  Genre: Mystery, Cozy Mystery,  Murder Most Foul,Romantic Suspense

*  A fandom conflation of Heyer and hero.  There are also Heyeroines.