Amazon has been trying to recommend this to me for ages and I’m glad I gave in to my curiosity. Mrs Elinor Brascombe, a middle-aged widow, is out riding and stops to greet a neighbour when someone hidden by a hedge fires a gun, hitting Elinor. Lord Ryde’s house is closer than her own, so she is taken to his “bachelor establishment”. While she heals -- and as various staff and friends descend upon Ryde House to ensure Elinor’s properly cared for -- she and Lord Ryde begin unravelling the mystery of the shooting and of the night Lord Ryde’s father died.

A comedy of manners in a style very, and successfully, reminiscent of Georgette Heyer -- except for the part where the characters frankly discuss some of the physical abuse Elinor endured from her late husband. If Taylor had written any more Regency romance, I would have embarked upon them immediately.

She subsided in resentful silence.
“I did not mean to offend you,” he said mildly.
“Then I congratulate you on your performance. You have achieved maximum effect with minimum effort.” ( )

Introducing Isabella Barclay, the infamous Isabella Barclay, affectionately dubbed "Bitchface" by her erstwhile friends and colleagues, turning her deft hand to Regency Romance rather than murder!

Wow. Well, everyone ought to try out different professions, if this is the normal kinds of works that come out of such attempts. :)

Seriously though, her clear style and insistent classic romance matched perfectly with floods of females and mysterious gunshots and rather misty-eyed middle-aged romance that just happened to be rather delightful and sparkling despite such a rough beginning.

Well, this is Regency, after all, so expect plenty of misogyny and walled-off opportunities, but even so, the classic wish-fulfillment is in full swing and the setting is dragged, kicking and screaming, into warmth and decent meals, so I'm certainly not going to complain.

The audio version was quite nice, so I'm quite pleased not have to worry about misspellings, as such, and so my enjoyment was never once hampered.

Um. I just read romance. Again. What the hell is happening to me? ( )

I was enchanted by this tale by Isabella Barclay/Jodi Taylor. The mystery part is a bit disappointing but it's really not the point of the plot. The romance was accompanied by the snark and humour I've come to expect from this author and it made for a very agreeable light reading. ( )

Widow Elinor Bascombe has accepted that her life is confined to an impoverished estate, managing and economizing to keep the property together. Lord Ryde, notorious rake and owner of a nearby estate, has come home only to collect rents and scrape together as much money as he can wring from his own lands before departing again. When the two meet, sparks fly, and when Elinor is wounded by a stray gunshot and is taken to Lord Ryde’s home, she manages to set his whole world on end. To tell the truth, he kind of enjoys it. But was it really a stray gunshot, or was the bullet meant for her — or for him?

This was a pleasant, brief Regency with a bit of a mystery to it. I enjoyed it, and would recommend it to fans of the genre. My enjoyment was marred slightly by the proliferation of typos in the ebook version. ( )

This is mostly light mostly lively regency romp with a whiff of raunch. Only a misstep or two from being almost Heyer, in fact the closest of any I've encountered, bar the raunch and the fact that Lord Ryde just didn't jell as a Heyero, though his wit was appreciated. ( )