A Grand Deception
Elizabeth Mansfield
Signet, Jan 2005, $5.99
ISBN: 0451213831

Lady Horatia Verney is having cardiac arrest because her unmarried daughter Georgianna is a bluestocking. Besides fretting that her oldest daughter is heading towards the shelf if she is not already there, Horatia needs Georgianna married to a wealthy man because the family lacks the funding to keep up their appearances. Her other daughter Alison is only fourteen so is not a variable alternative at this time.

To avoid the matchmaking antics of her mother who has chosen Anthony Maitland for her, Georgianna flees from her home. Horatia sends her son Jeremy to find Georgianna, but he fails on his quest. Instead he meets the abused by a nasty father, Peggy, who could be Georgianna's twin sister. Feeling a need to protect Peggy from her odious father, Jeremy brings her home where Horatia concoct a diabolical plan. Horatia decides that Peggy will serve as a fine replacement until her daughter returns to her senses and comes home, but did not count on Jeremy falling in love with the substitute.

This is a reprint of a delightful mid 1980s Regency romance. The cast is the key to the fine plot as the lead couple and the secondary characters are a likable group albeit with differing objectives. Sub-genre fans will take immense delight as Elizabeth Mansfield's tale remains a grand historical.

Harriet Klausner