When Viscount Desford comes upon a young lady walking to London, he stops to ask her where she is going. Charity says she is running away to her Grandfather, so the Viscount vows to help her find her eccentric relative and ends up travelling all over England looking for them. The rather funny antics of Charity and the Viscounts difficult search make a funny story. The outcome is filled with fate, but it all ends well. It is all Georgette Heyer!

While I'm a fan of almost everything Heyer writes, this one was vastly amusing. It's filled with busy plot where the hero attempts to be just that: a hero to laud, all without compromising Charity or himself in the meantime. And of course, we cannot forget about prior romantic connections, the expected behavior of a gentleman, or the comedic lenghths at which the hero must travel to honor his word. The conflicts and characters all add up to great entertainment.

This is a good book in the Heyer mystery collection. It is written like many of her other mysteries with increasingly higher levels of suspence which make you want to finish the book before you can put it down. The biggest question is why the body is found in the stocks, and who put him there? And like most of her mysteries, there is romance. But mostly there is just a lot of good humor and a murder.

This book is funny and clever. As in most of her novels, mystery and romance, Heyer writes wonderful characters and gives them entertaining dialogue. As an added bonus the mystery keeps you guessing, too. This is a book that is hard to put down and one you will find yourself reading again. Special note: some of the characters in this book reappear in Heyer's Behold, Here's Poison.

Let's be rational. Heyer wrote this book when she was only 17. In that case - the book is WONDERFUL, an amazing product for a teenager to have written. But let's consider what the author went on to produce - and how can you compare this debut - awesome though it is - to Heyer's other major swashbuckler - These Old Shades, which is by far the greater novel, widely believed to be a reworking (but NOT a sequel - that is an urban myth) of the themes explored in Black Moth.

Let's take Black Moth. In its favour, we have a good, old fashioned D'Orczy-type swashbuckler, with silk coats and lace ruffles, a scary villain, and a beautiful heroine who doesn't really have very much to do - in marked contrast to Heyer's wonderful female leads in later novels. She is really just there to be rescued. It has moments of Heyer humour too, but Heyer was not at her best when using the stilted "Ecod!" language of the traditional 18th century swashbuckler. The female characters are strangely weak and border upon the two-dimensional, the male characters are not much better. As juvenilia, this is a masterpiece. As a mature novel, it seems faintly mediocre - but it is very readable and amusing. If you love Heyer, you MUST read this book, and see where it all started. You may even fall in love with it! it is not so unknown, after all. But if you, like me, dislike stilted pseudo-18th century language sprinkled with "ecods!", "t'were" and "t'was"; and like more gumption and character in your heroes and heroines, this book may prove slightly disappointing.

The Black Moth, though a wonderful book, is NOT (I repeat NOT) part of a series with any of Georgette Heyer's other books - certainly not with These Old Shades, Devil's Cub, and The Infamous Army. Devil's Cub is a sequel to These Old Shades, and An Infamous Army is a sequel to Regency Buck! The Black Moth is Georgette Heyer's first novel, and though it is not yet as mature as her later regencies, it is still good, lighthearted fun. Her characters are not greatly developed, and the plot is nothing special, but Heyer's charm and dawning style show through.

I believe The Black Moth was written by Georgette Heyer to entertain her brother who was ill. It was published in 1929. The Black Moth is a light tale of adventure, honor and love written with humor. Heyer's typically well-developed and charming characters struggle with questions of honor and family loyalty before they can resolve their problems. Georgette Heyer's romances and her mysteries have entertained me for years. I have read and reread this book and am delighted to own it. I hope others enjoy it too!

Georgette Heyer is known mainly for her Regency romances rather than her mysteries, probably because she wrote more of them. Although all of her mysteries are good--and witty--Footsteps In The Dark seems to be the only one where Heyer went for outright comedy. There are chills enough in this tale of five people (husband-and-wife, two siblings, and an aunt) who have moved to what seems to be a haunted house, but there are some extremely funny moments as well. (There is one line in the book--which I will not quote--which sent me rolling on the floor for fully five minutes. You'll know when you reach it.)

Enjoy.

I adore Georgette Heyer and snapped this one up with much anticipatory glee. At last, I thought, someone will give this author the respect and scholarly attention she has long deserved. Instead I found the author gave up on scholarship somewhere around the second page of Acknowledgments and instead settled for a compendium of previously published reviews. Yes, there are several rarely published short stories (although not "previously unpublished" ones, since I had already read them) and a few republished pieces by other authors. Certainly if a newish reader wants an extended bibliography of Miss Heyer's works and doesn't mind the having plot endings routinely given away without warning this book might help set the chronology straight. I can't help feeling cheated by paying for something I could have well researched on my own. The one bright spot is that my disgust sent me back to the bookshelves to read "These Old Shades."

Georgette Heyer officianados will want this book. I'm talking about those of us who have a complete list of all her titles and notes about the ones we liked. There isn't much bio on this exceptionally private author, and this effort focuses on a history of critical reviews of Heyer's work. But, it also contains several unavailable shorts published in the 1920s, as well as excerpts from the out-of-print 1998 biography of Heyer by Jane Aiken Hodge, and a 1996 print interview with Heyer's son, Sir Richard Rougier, that are worth the price in themselves. Highly recommended.

Georgette Heyer gets no respect. Reviled by both feminists and literati, her work has been consigned to a small neighborhood in the literary ghetto that is romance fiction. What a sorry fate for a woman whose craftsmanlike prose, unerring eye for the absurd, and genuine wit have delighted loyal readers for 80 years! Heyer is often compared to Jane Austen, as both wrote novels set in the Regency. This isn't really a valid comparison. Austen wrote ironic comedies of manners about her contemporaries. Heyer--who could sling irony with the best of them, when she chose to--wrote what Graham Greene referred to as "entertainments." Although her historical scholarship was formidable, the world Heyer created in her novels probably bears little resemblance to the real Regency. Heyer is more usefully compared to P.G. Wodehouse, a master farceur who created an immensely pleasant fictitious universe. (I've always been at a loss to understand why Wodehouse is remembered with such critical affection while Heyer is routinely dismissed. I have a sneaking suspicion this is because Heyer's audience is composed mainly of women; her work therefore cannot be concerned with the important, weighty issues that so exercised Wodehouse.)

Mary Fahnstock-Thomas's Georgette Heyer: A Critical Retrospective is a long overdue compendium of articles written about this influential yet underappreciated writer. Fahnstock-Thomas has gathered and organized 50 years worth of book reviews, articles, critical writings, short stories, obituaries, and remembrances into this volume. (Among them is A.S. Byatt's excellent 1969 essay "Georgette Heyer is a Better Writer Than You Think." Ms. Byatt has persistently championed Heyer; I can only surmise that she has been summarily tossed out of the Intellectuals Guild for her crimes.) Georgette Heyer: A Critical Retrospective is a welcome addition to the bookshelves of not only the Heyer addict, but to anyone interested in 20th century fiction and good writing. It is beautifully published in softcover by Prinnyworld Press, a small private publishing house (reason enough to purchase this book--support the small publisher!). Despite her modest claims to the contrary, Ms. Fahnstock-Thomas's scholarship is also formidable. To paraphrase Nigel Tufnel, Georgette Heyer: A Critical Retrospective goes all the way up to eleven.

He's shy. He's well looking but small in stature. He is immensely rich. The posthumous son of the last Duck of Sale, His Grace, the Most Noble Adolphus Gillespie Vernon Ware has been orphaned and sickly from birth. He has for years been suffocatingly coddled and swaddled by well-intentioned relations and old family retainers. While his rank and financial interests are cared for and his every want met, his wishes are dismisssed as inappropriate to his rank and duty. Poor sweet Gilly nurses wistful dreams of being Mr. Dash, a Nobody, of Nowhere in Particular. Now about to attain his 25th birthday and take control of his large estates and larger fortune, Gilly is informed that a match has been arranged for him with a young woman of impeccable credentials. Although he has known Harriet from childhood and sympathizes with her situation--her guardians dominate her too--she is not the choice of his heart. But his sweet nature and upbringing does not permit him to hurt anyone's feelings and he obdiently offers for her. Then unexpectedly, Gilly's attempt to help a young relative offfers him the chance to disappear, to break loose and become Mr. Dash for a few last days, and Gilly plunges headlong into his first adventure. For the first time, he finds people turning to him for help. As plain Mr. Dash, he rescues an outrageous schoolboy escaping his own moralising tutor as Gilly himself had often longed to do. Then an innocent dasher of the first water throws herself on his mercy. Together the ill-assorted trio fall from one escapade to another, in the process throughly alarming Gilly's old retainers and well-meaning guardians. There is humour, adventure, and a sympathetic hero, but this is not a top rate Heyer and I found it ultimately disappointing. Her stories often start slowly, but I was impatient with Gilly until he broke loose from his moralizing guardians, who were too boringly real to be truely funny. However, when the story does break loose along with Gilly, how he finds himself and his heart's true choice and learns to turn the tables on his preceptors is an enjoyable read. Although it contains some good characters and characteristic Heyer humour, the whole confection lacks the energy and fizz of her best brews. I thought it might be fun to look at what I think are some reasons for this. In The Foundling, both the hero and heroine are unconventional in the genre sense. There is no problem with this in itself. In many of her books it is a strength. Heyer assembled a stock cast in her early books, rather like traditional Italian Comedie with its Harlequins and Columbines--or like the pieces in a chess game. There were standard characters--the sardonic rake, the impulsive romantic young woman, the hedonistic bachelor, the effeminate tulip of fashion, the dowdy governess or relative, the empty-headed beauty. Each played their bit or supporting part as friend, uncle, brother, or mother, sister, governess--or took center stage as hero and heroine. But then, having set up these expectations, Heyer tossed the characters into the air and let them fall and inhabit new roles. And in the process taught us to like something else even better. A put-upon poor relation wins first the heart of the reader then that of the handsome Earl. A forceful, charming rake turns out to be selfish and becomes unattractive. A stammering comedy part reveals unexpected qualities which win the heart of the reader before than of the heroine. However, these surprises delight. They enhance the genre and do not disappoint our essential reason for reading the book in the first place. They intensify the coming together of two people as a relationship develops based on values and characater rather than appearance. In fact, Heyer teases us with appearances in order to provide us with something richer. In The Foundling, however, Gilly is the only protagonist. The story is about Gilly's development more than it is about the development of a relationship between two people. It is really more a coming of age story than it is about two people coming to love and appreciate each other. One does not preclude the other, but here, the woman and the relationship take a seat so far from centre stage that they are merely a subplot, a token. What there is of her has potential, but that is not developed sufficiently. Not only does this remove some needful tension from the narrative, but it disappoints my reason for being there. By ignoring the heroine, Heyer fails to keep her contract with her readers. The Foundling is (possibly)one of Heyer's early experiments with the role surprises which are fully realized in books like Cotillian and A Quiet Gentleman. As such it represents only a partial success. Gilly himself is sweet and the supporting cast well drawn and humourous. And that is fine as long as you only expect a trip through a Regency countryside without the London Season.

Another Heyer gem!

Adolphus Gillespie Vernon Ware, the Duke of
Sale, is tired of all the pompous trappings of his position. A mild
mannered and kindly young man, he's also tired of being treated like a
semi-invalid child by his family and retainers alike. Longing for an
adventure, he leaps at the chance to help a young realtive who has
written some unwise love letters to an unsuitable young lady, and who
is now being sued for breach of promise. What follows is a series of
adventures, some hilarious, a few somewhat dangerous, as the young
duke comes into his own.

A truly excellent book. The young Duke of
Sale is exactly the kind of romantic hero one wishes one read more of
instead of the autocratic-almost-a-rapist "hero" one comes
across more often in regency romances today.

I've been a reader of Georgette Heyer books for quite some time now and I adored most of her novels. However, I was really disappointed with this one. If you expect a traditional Heyer novel, you also will not like it very much. The story is boring and I really had a hard time continuing the book. However, if you're intersted in history, and especially in English history at Lord Wellington's time then you probably will enjoy the novel very much, because Heyer gives a very specific account of the war on the Iberian peninsula against the French. Nervertheless, it is not a novel that I would recommend.

Another superb book from Georgette Heyer, focusing on the early life of Brigade Major Harry Smith and his marriage to a 14 orphaned Spanish girl in the midst of Wellington's Peninsular campaign. Unlike her other great Napoleonic book 'An Infamous Army' the principle characters in this book are based on actual people whom she vividly brings to life again.

The story begins with the battle and sacking of Badajos and continues right through the Peninsular campaign, drawing a wonderful tapestry around the hardships and privations suffered by the soldiers and civilians caught up in a global conflict.

A wonderful book by Georgette Heyer, dealing with the true story of the marriage between Harry Smith, a brigade-major in Wellington army, and Juana, his Spanish bride. It's a marvelous blend of romance and history, and it has been very well researched. It would be interesting not only to Georgette Heyer fans, or those who love a good story, but for all the military buffs out there. I really reccomend i

Georgette Heyer wrote so many wonderful books that I recommend you skip this one, unless you are trying to read the whole oeuvre or are a serious scholar of the progress of her writing style. It is set in medieval times (as is her unfinished and rarely read history, Lord John) and her gift for dialog and characterization seems to be lost beneath the weight of the armor. If I remember right, according to her biography, The Private World of Georgette Heyer, this book was an early effort which she did not wish to be published. Instead, go on to one of her other novels. For mysteries, I recommend Blunt Instrument or Who Killed the Butler; for romances, any of the historical ones. And if you are new to Miss Heyer's work, you have many blissful hours ahead of you.

I am a devoted fan of Georgette Heyer, and have read a couple of her suppressed books--which number about six, all from her early publishing period, before she found her 'voice'. This was among the suppressed titles, but her husband decided to republish it after her death. I think her judgment on the matter was better, unfortunately.

Heyer started publishing at age nineteen, and 'Simon' is obviously juvenilia. Sometimes embarrassingly so--c.f. Simon's affection for small boys (!) and the fact that he falls in love with the putative heroine only after seeing her in male garb. (!!) And unfortunately, the middle ages is not her era. The dialogue is heavy and not particularly realistic--far from her witty efforts in the Regency books.

There is the occasional good scene that suggests Heyer's future triumphs--such as Simon's encounter with his father. But for the most part, this book should have stayed in the obscurity to which Heyer consigned it.

This book is a fun read because you really get into the characters and find yourself anxious to see the outcome. What also made this book even more enjoyable was to follow reading it with reading "Beauvallet" which, set in the 16th century, revisits the family that Simon the Coldheart starts.

Leave this way down on your list of Heyer's books to read. Heyer's usual virtues of good writing and period detail can't make up for characters who are unpleasant (Rotherham), unlikeable (Serena), or just boring (everyone else, with the exception of Mrs Floore). The story is as slow as Serena finds life after her father's death. Read "Black Sheep" instead for a fun tale about romance in Bath.

On the whole I enjoy this story, although I can see why some readers have a hard time with Serena and Rotherham. I can take them because they are both decent people at heart, in spite of their faults. And their clashes of temper can be fun to watch! The one thing I find really unacceptable is the scene where Serena berates Emily. If you've read the book, you know the scene I mean. (Rotherham also berates Gerard, but he has a purpose. Serena means it.)

I also like the romance that blossoms between Fanny and the man she least expects.

Heyer makes one of her favorite points with both couples, one that is probably snobbish but has some truth to it, about the importance of similar "background" (class).

Serena and Rotherham were both born to the ruling class. Through the story the reader sees that Serena will never be happy outside that world. It's too much a part of who she is.

Hector, Serena's old flame, was born to the more modest rank of "landed gentry" and doesn't want her life. Neither does Fanny, Serena's friend. The life Hector can give her is exactly the kind that makes her happy.

In Heyer's eyes, it is this clash of background and values that makes Hector and Serena wrong for each other. It is the similarity of background/ values that makes both couples right for each other.

The study of Regency manners here is rewarding if you pay attention.

Serena and her Aunt Teresa are a portrait of aristocratic ladies: how they spoke, thought, and gossiped, and what they gossiped about. Fanny, Hector and his mother show the manners and values of the landed middle class, Jane Austen's level of society. Mrs. Floore and Ned Goring represent the up-and-coming merchant class (though Mrs. Floore is really more caricature.)

One problem is that GH makes many elliptical references to political events of the time. Her original readers probably knew what she meant. For the modern reader it's frustrating--she tells just enough to make you curious. It needs footnotes.

The story is well written and plotted. Though it is complicated, everything is kept tangled until the end. Not as easy to do as it seems. It's worth reading for the portrait of Regency life, and several vivid characters, even if you don't like Serena and Rotherham.

In spite of the negative reviews posted prior to this one, I must give this book a thumbs up. I've read this story several times, and each time I gathered new details and discovered a funny line I didn't remember from the previous reading.

Heyer's style of writing, as usual, is sophisticated and informative. The details in any of her books make you inquire more deeply into the period of which she writes.

Personally, I LOVED Rotherham and Serena -- perhaps it's because I'm a bit tempermental myself. The clash between them and eventual realization of their respect and love is amusing. The twist in plot by the end makes for an endearing read. The reader does feel a sort of short-circuited denoument to the story by the time Rotherham and Serena realize their love - one awaits more - though it's not necessarily a drawback (Austen's own writings reflect similar tendencies).

It is not a fast-paced story, but watching the love develop in this story makes me think of a dawn. The sun rising over the horizon has never been a quick event, though it is always a beautiful setting with incredible shades of color to add the most intriguing character to our day.