Illustrations by David Boyd.
A huge collection of Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a redneck" jokes. His jokes poke fun at the more countrified denizens of all parts of the US, but especially the South. It's not literature but it is a lot of fun. I've included an image of the back cover which shows David Boyd's art work and a few of Foxworthy's jokes. Enjoy!
Mount Olympus, but in modern times: the gods have cars, apartments, cell phones. New girl in town is innocent Persephone who attends her first adult party and drinks too much. As a joke, a boyish god put her, passed out, in the back of Hades' car. Hades leaves the party and heads home to the Underworld and so Persephone finds herself in his kingdom. They kind of hit it off and Hades gives her a white fur coat to wear because it is cold in the Underworld. He then takes her back to her apartment.
Once she gets back, the other gods tend to tease her about her feelings for her new boyfriend. She sends Hades a message but number shows as unknown so he just deletes. His lack of response confuses Persephone about whether they had a connection or not. Complications ensue.
Did I really need a retelling of the myths of the Greek/Roman gods? No. I have no affinity for myth and superstition. Frankly, I only picked up the book because I was in a hurry and I couldn't find anything better and I was looking for an easy read to soothe a stressful day. So this book was definitely not for me. Gods and myths don't interest me.
Here is a review by Etelka Lehoczky on NPR.
A Leaphorn/Chee mystery.
Delbert Nez assured fellow office Jim Chee he didn't need help apprehending a vandal who was painting rocks in the desert. But when Nez failed to join Chee for coffee, Chee became concerned and went looking for him. He got to the location in time to pull Nez's body from Nez's burning patrol car, injuring himself in the process and to arrest a drunken Navajo man who was on scene and holding a gun. But Chee was too late to save Nez, who was already dead of a gunshot wound. And all the drunk man, Ashie Pinto, would say, when questioned, was, "I am ashamed."
Chee has to spend some time in the hospital due to the burns he suffered pulling Nez's body out of the car. Still recovering and facing more surgeries, Chee is off duty and feeling guilty. So he starts to investigate Nez's murder unofficially. He is helped by Nez's defense attorney, Janet Pete, who is also an ex-girlfriend of Chee's.
And of course there is Lieutenant Leaphorn, who, even though the murder did not occur in his area, is drawn into the investigation because it turns out Pinto is a relative of Leaphorn's recently deceased wife, Emma. Leaphorn feels like it is what his wife would have wanted, that he help prove Pinto's innocence.
This was an interesting story with a bit of a twist at the end. It all pins upon whether Butch Cassidy, the bank robber, didn't die in Bolivia, but came back to the States and continued to commit crimes and possibly died in the badlands of New Mexico on the run after a train robbery. And upon the antics of a shy teenage boy who wants to declare his love to his crush. But before the mystery of Officer Nez's death is fully solved, two more bodies will be found.
And here is a review by Publishers Weekly.
Delilah is just a teen but one of her videos went viral and now she is the new Influencer phenomenon. In fact, she has gained so many followers, that her parents moved the whole family from Minnesota to Los Angeles to help Delilah further her career as an influencer. In Los Angeles there are so many events and opportunities to get the attention so vital to a career as an Influencer.
Delilah meets two other teen influencers who become her friends, Jasmine and Fiona. Jasmine is a famous former child star of a hit TV show That's Hot! and has a huge following. Fiona has become famous with her online fashion critique show, Sizzle or Drizzle and she too has a large following. Delilah is thrilled to be recognized and included in these two girls' lives.
On the other hand, there is Scarlet, a very aggressive and manipulative Influencer who is not afraid to do what it takes to come out on top. She too has a large and profitable fan base.
And finally there is Jack, who is famous for his YouTube prank channel and who is also known to be Scarlet's boy friend. And who promptly begins to pursue sweet, innocent Delilah behind Scarlet's back.
All these young people have secrets: Delilah's is that she doesn't discourage Jack from chasing after her like she should and she is hiding from Scarlet's angry fans who have discovered Jack's unfaithfulness to Scarlet. Jack's, of course, is that he would rather be with Delilah but is finding it difficult to be honest with Scarlet, whom he selfishly keeps in the dark. Jasmine's is that she is tired of the role of child star and wants to move on from that part of her business life. And she is also not straight and is tired of keeping it a secret. Fiona's is that she believes she is responsible for the death of a classmate and finds herself being blackmailed by someone who claims to know her secret. And finally there's Scarlet, who may not be quite as in charge of her own life as she wants the world to believe she is.
So this is a murder mystery but it is also a fun look at the behind-the-scenes lives of the Influencers that are so important to today's online communities. I frankly enjoyed it although I think the murder plot was not necessary to the story and it would have been just as enjoyable without anyone having to be bumped off.
And here is a review by Kirkus Reviews.
When Stella was ten, she was left with her grandmother who had a small farm in the hills of Tennessee. Motty, as everyone called her, was a hard woman who used brute force to discipline her granddaughter.
It doesn't take Stella long to figure out that Motty and other members of the family have a secret they all share. And that the secret involves a small church located on Motty's property. Sneaking around, Stella discovers that there is a hidden chamber in the church that leads down into a cave. And in that cave is a strange creature that needs and takes and gives, but only to the women of Motty's and Stella's bloodlines.
The story then jumps to the about 10 or so years in the future. Stella no longer goes to the family church and attends its weird "god." She has become estranged from her family after the death of a teenage boy for which she is blamed. But when she finds out a new girl has come to stay with Motty, she feels she must intervene to protect this child, even though the girl, Sunny, seems completely enthralled by the church and its cave creature.
It took me a bit to get into this story, but once I did it really grabbed me. I didn't start out liking Stella much. But I began to understand her view point more and more as the story moved along. At first she seemed a real bitch. But she had her reasons. And her efforts to protect young Sunny were admirable if, it turns out, misguided.
Here is a review by Publishers Weekly.
Retief is a First Secretary in the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne. His boss is Magnan, Assisstant Deputy Undersecretary of Inter-species Affairs. The inter-species Magnan is currently concerned about are the Haterakans, a warlike species making inroads against a group of frontier Terran worlds. Magnan's solution to Haterakan aggressions is four fold:
A few parts of this story are amusing like Magnan's three programs meant to contain the Haterakans with what are basically bribes and Retief and Harrumph being tortured as Retief finds the torture mildly annoying at worst. But other than that, the book is mostly about the struggle between the local Terrans and the invading Haterakans, with battles and plotting and even a fist fight. I think Laumer is at his best when he is being funny and funny is mostly lacking in this story.
Barry travels around his home state of Florida and reports on some of the more out-of-the-way attractions.
As a fan of Dave Barry, this book is right up there as one of his funniest, which is saying a lot because he really is an amazing, funny wonderful writer. His books never disappoint. Here are a few of the jokes I encountered that made me laugh out loud:
"The Fountain of Youth is purely mythical, like the Easter Bunny, or edible vegan food."
"As an aging Boomer . . . if they really are having wild sex up there [The Villages], I say more power to them. It's good for people our age to have sex. It upsets the children."
. . ." I shot my brother Phil with it [BB gun] at a fairly close range and he did not die. In my defense, I had a good reason for shooting Phil; namely, I wanted to find out what happens if you shoot somebody with a BB gun. (Answer: He tells your mother,)"
It a fun book and almost makes me want to visit Florida. Almost.
Here is a review by Kirkus Reviews.
Anyone who supported the Pretender in the recent Scottish rebellion is going to end up dead if they fall into the hands of the English government. So perhaps this reason enough for Prudence and Robin to switch their genders and for Prudence to pose as young Peter Merriot and for Robin to pose as her sister, Kate. Anyways, this is what their enigmatic father has commanded them to do and he further wants them to travel to London and stay with a friend of his, Lady Lowestoft, and to be introduced to London high society. But on their way, they encounter a young woman in distress. The woman, Letty Grayson, set out to elope with Gregory Markham. But she has changed her mind and wants to return home to London. But Markham is a scoundrel and Prudence and Robin overhear him threatening young Letty. So they step in and rescue Letty and send Markham off on a false trail. Shortly after he is gone, Sir Anthony Fanshawe appears. He is a friend of her father's and set out to stop the elopement. He discovers she no longer needs rescuing, thanks to Prudence and Robin, who he believes are Peter and Kate Merriot. This chance meeting will change the lives of all four of these travelers on the London road.
The logistics of this masquerade are a bit problematic because it requires Prudence and Robin to remain in disguise continually without let up. Prudence is described as a tall woman, who is passing as a beardless youth. Her brother, Robin, is a short man with rather feminine features. At the time in which the story is set, the late 1740s, male and female clothing was bulky enough to make such a fraud possible, perhaps.
Basically, the story is a romance novel, with Robin and Letty falling in love, and Prudence and Anthony falling in love. The Robin and Letty plot line is a bit more believable because Letty falls for Robin when he is in his masculine persona, not knowing he is also Kate. But Anthony falls for Prudence without ever seeing her dressed as the woman she is. He sees through her disguise and decides she is the woman for him.
Anyway, it's a pretty enjoyable read although it does have some grim undertones: the threat of execution if Prudence and Robin are caught and Markham's continued plot to capture Letty and force her into marriage.
Here is a review by Austenprose.
A Witchworld novel
Peace of a sort has come to High Hallack. Not that it matters to Brixia, who has been on her own for three years or so. Her home, her friends and family are all dead and gone and she has been wandering the wilderness on her own, barely managing to stay alive, her only friend a cat she calls Uta. Even though the enemy has been defeated, there are still plenty of dangers for a woman alone. Looking for a secure place to make camp for the night, Brixia comes across a wounded man, Marbon, and his young companion, a teenage boy, Dwed. Brixia steers clear of the two but her cat, Uta, joins them. Marbon, who sustained a head wound, is clearly not in his right mind, but the sight of Uta awakes something in him. Brixia ends up joining Marbon and Dwed on their journey, even though she really doesn't want to. Together the four of them are searching for Zarsthor's Bane, which Marbon believes is a weapon that will restore his lost lands and which Dwed hopes will restore Marbon's lost senses. And Brixia accompanies them because of some strange urge that compels her to follow along.
Another entry in the Witchworld series, this follows a familiar path, people on a mysterious quest that they don't really understand into the dangerous lands of the Old Ones. It was an OK read, if a bit too similar to so many of the Witchworld stories.
Nora Spangler has a problem: her husband. She is a working mom and her husband, Hayden, doesn't put as much effort into helping out around the house as she would like. Basically she is tired of having to tell him what needs to be done. She wants him to pitch in without being asked or told. If there are dirty dishes in the sink, put them in the dishwasher. If laundry needs done, just do it. Pick up the toys, wipe your child's runny nose, stop at the grocery without being asked. He's a grown man, can he not see when there is spilled food on the floor? Or that the toilet paper roll is empty? Why does he need his wife to point these things out to him? It's not so much that Hayden isn't willing to help out. It's that he can't seem to figure out for himself what obviously needs to be done.
Nora also wants to move and has found a house she really likes in a subdivision called Dynasty Ranch. The homeowners association is really particular about who they want living there. The main leaders of the HOA is a group of professional women very much like Nora, all accomplished working mothers: authors, psychologists, surgeons, realtors. But unlike Nora, these women's husbands are helpful and self-motivated which puzzles and intrigues Nora. So when Nora and Hayden decide they could use some marriage counseling, one of the HOA women offers her services as a psychologist.
Not too far into the sessions with Dr. White, it becomes apparent to the reader, if not to Nora, the Dr. White is conditioning Hayden into becoming the ideal husband. When Nora finally grasps what is going on, she realizes that something deadly has been happening at Dynasty Ranch. And if she doesn't go along, it could be fatal for both her and Hayden.
This was a fun read. Nora is trying to make partner at the law firm where she works and all the stress of coping with her job and her child and her home life has her on the verge of a mental breakdown and yet she still decides this is the time to have another baby and shop for a new house and try to impress the ladies of the HOA. She just keeps piling more and more on her plate. No wonder she lies awake at night, crushed under the burden of unrelenting responsibilities. But life of the women she meets at Dynasty Ranch is everything she wants her life to be. Seeing her come to the realization that there is a steep price to pay to have that perfect life was an enjoyable journey and, I must admit, very beguiling.
Here is a review by Kirkus Reviews.
A collection of Retief stories, dating from 1961 to about 1966.
Young lovers of the late 1940s, thwarted in love. First is Stanwood Cobbold, a strong young fellow but none too sharp, Stan has a very rich father who does not approve of Stan's love interest, Eileen Stoker. She is a Hollywood actress and she is off to London and has told Stan she will not marry him because he is dependent on his father for money.
Next is Lord Shortlands, aka Shorty. He is in love with his cook, Alice Punter. But he shares his home, Beevor Castle, with his rival, the butler, Mervyn Spink. Spink also desires to wed Mrs. Punter, but neither man measures up to her demands: she wants to own a pub and be her own boss. The man she marries must be able to provide her with said pub. Neither Shorty nor Spink can do so. Shorty's income is nil after taxes and he depends upon his eldest daughter for spending money. And Spink is a gambler but not a very lucky gambler.
And then there is Lady Teresa, also one of Shorty's daughters (there's three of them). She would like to fall in love with Mike Cardinal, a Hollywood agent who is also in London trying to get Eileen to sign with his agency. Mike is leading-man-handsome and Terry had a bad experience with a handsome young actor who cheated on her. She fears that Mike is also what she calls a flibbertigibbet, according to her a man who chases after other women while wooing one woman.
They all end up at Beevor Castle, with Mike posing as Stan, and Stan posing as a Mr. Rossiter, with Shorty and Spink hatching various plans to get their hands on the funds needed to woo Mrs. Punter and with Terry becoming engaged three different times to Stan and Mike. And I can't leave out Augustus Robb, a former burglar and booze-hound who has reformed and is now an ardent Christian and employed as Stan's valet and who turns out to be a dark horse.
To quote the Scottish poet, Robert Burns, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley / An' lae'e us nought but grief an' pain, / For promised joy." So it is with the schemes of the plotters in Beevor Castle. But unlike Burns' little mouse, all comes out beautifully in the end. A fun and lighthearted story, typical Wodehouse, I really enjoyed reading it again.
Daily strips from the comic strip Crock. Copyrights from the late 1970s. Authors only listed by their last names but Parker is Brant Parker, Rechin is Bill Rechin and Wilder is Don Wilder. Parker worked on the strip from 1975 to 1976. Bill Rechin from 1975 to 2011. And Don Wilder from 1976 to 2011. The strip ended in 2012 but still appears in reruns. Source: Wikipedia.
A mildly funny comic strip, it tells about the lives of the men of a Foreign Legion post in some nameless desert country and their encounters with the locals, including bandits and rebels and lovely maidens (some the maidens are not so lovely and some are probably not so maiden). The Commandant is the vicious Vermin Crock, who delights in the suffering of his men and whose cruelty is one of the main features of the strip.
A slice of daily life for the men of Crock's command:
The first book in the Chet and Bernie mystery series.
Chet is Bernie's dog. Chet was in training to become a police dog but failed his final exam. Bernie used to be a police officer but now he is a private detective whose personal life is a mess. He smokes, he sometimes drinks too much, he is divorced, he doesn't get to see his young son enough, his car is about thirty years old and he is chronically short of cash. But at least he has Chet, the police dog drop-out. And Chet is a loyal companion and enthusiastic doggy detective alongside Bernie.
Bernie's latest case is that of a missing teen girl. Madison is only fifteen and she goes missing twice. The first time she shows up the next day. But the second time she doesn't show up. So her mom hires Bernie to find her daughter. Unfortunately Madison's dad tries to throw a monkey wrench in the search, claiming that she will come back on her own in due time. But that isn't enough to keep Bernie from investigating. Then Chet disappears and doesn't come home for days. Chet gets back home and then Bernie disappears and only Chet has a clue as to where Bernie is. But Chet is only a dog and can't ask anyone for help!
This was a pretty good read. Chet is the narrator of the story and even though Chet's thoughts are probably a lot more complex than a dog's probably are, it was still fun to read a story told by a dog. Chet is a good boy and he loves Bernie and is completely loyal to him. Chet does get into some serious danger and is injured which I didn't care for. Over all though, other than the principle voice of the story being that of the dog, this is a typical and fairly mild mystery story without much gore and with no murders.
Review by Kirkus Reviews.
Persephone was abandoned when she was just a baby. She grew up in the foster care system and never found a forever home. She was a child around whom strange things happened, strange things for which she seemed to be the catalyst.
Now a grown woman in her thirties, Persephone is still plagued by strange occurrences and lives her life on the run, ready to bolt at a moment's notice.
Unknown to Persephone, someone has been looking for her. That person is Hyacinth Evers and when she finds Persephone, she invites her to come stay at her family home on Wile Island. She believes Persephone is her long lost cousin whose mother and grandmother were forced to leave their home on Wile Island and live in exile. Hyacinth also believes that Persephone is an untrained witch and that together with herself and her sister Moira, who are trained witches, they can lift a curse that was placed on the island a hundred years ago.
But Hyacinth and Moira are not the only witches on Wile Island. Two other sister witches live on the island. Ellison and Ariel Way are certain that the Evers sister's attempts to lift the curse will actually destroy the island. That combined with bad blood that dates back to their shared childhood has turned the Way sisters against their Evers cousins. And against Persephone as the unwitting, untrained tool of the Evers witches.
This was an OK read. The first part is pretty intriguing as Persephone accidentally causes several men to attempt to kill themselves simply because she looked them straight in the eyes. But once she arrived on Wile Island, it got a bit boring, living the rural witchy life with the two sisters. But just in time, Persephone meets a man of mystery who sets her toes to tingling. That certainly made the story a bit more engaging. But overall the story never really grabbed me.
Sibling Dex is a monk at Meadow Den Monastery. Dex is feeling a bit discontented and decides they (throughout the story, Dex is never referred to as he or she, only as they) want to be a tea monk. Tea monks are monks who travel around making tea. They brew the tea they feel their clients need and listen to their problems and give the client feedback. Sometimes it is just sympathy, sometimes it is gentle advice, sometimes it is just a quiet moment in which to relax and enjoy their tea. Tea monks hitch a camper to a bike-like vehicle and peddle along to the next destination on their route. They are very popular with the communities they visit.
Back before Dex's time, the people on this world were just like us, with their factories and their technology. Part of the technology was intelligent, humanoid robots. Who suddenly one day became self-aware and who walked away from their robot jobs and into the wilderness. This event caused the people to rethink their way of life and they shut down most of the factories and put aside much of the land to let it return to wilderness. And they tried their best live their lives in the most sustainable way possible and with the fewest negative impacts on their world.
So Dex learns to be a very skillful and valued tea monk. People enjoy his teas and they appreciate his care of them. But Dex is not satisfied. The same feelings that caused him to leave the monastery now push him to leave his tea route and venture off into the wilderness, ostensibly to search for an abandoned monastery, Hart's Brow Hermitage. But soon after setting forth on his search, a robot wanders into his camp and kind of attaches itself to Dex. So together Dex and his new companion, the robot Mosscap, will travel through the wilderness, searching for Hart's Brow and getting to know each other and possibly becoming fast friends.
The first part of this story was the best part, with Dex setting forth to become a tea monk and learning his craft. But after Dex is joined by Mosscap it became a lot more philosophical. And I'm not the least bit interested in philosophy.
Here's a review by Publishers Weekly.
The war with the Xik was finally over and humankind won but at the cost of the complete destruction of planet Earth. Hosteen Storm was a Galactic Commando and Beast Master in the galactic Confederacy and now that the war is over, he has no home to go back to. He chose to be repatriated on Arzor because it has a climate similar to his Navajo homeland. His four "beasts" will be with him, as the military as no further use for them. They are Surra, a dune cat; Baku, an African black eagle; and two meercats, Ho and Hing.
Arzor is a frontier world and it has a native population referred to as Norbies. They are tall, thin humanoids with yellow skin and horns. They can't speak human language and humans can't speak their language so they communicate by using sign language. The Norbies are hunter/gatherer people that live in tribal groups scattered across the planet. They have accepted the presence of humans settlers. Humans activities on the planet consist mainly of ranching the local herd beasts. So basically it's the Old West, revisited.
Hosteen has another purpose in coming to Arzor. He is on the trail of a man, Brad Quade, from Arzor who killed his father when Hosteen was little.
Hosteen's skill with horses quickly lands him a job and earns him the respect of the locals. And his work with his animal companions impresses him employers even more. One of his fellow workers is a Norbie, Gorgol who becomes Hosteen's friend and who teaches him the sign language Norbies and humans use to communicate.
Once Hosteen and his new employer and company are on the trail, they run into trouble when they get caught in a heavy downburst. The valley they are in quickly floods and only Gorgol and Hosteen manage to survive. They rest are swept away along with most of the supplies. But both Gorgol and Hosteen are no strangers to surviving on their own. They bury the bodies of their companions and set out to find a way out of the deadly valley. But before they can, Hosteen discovers that the Xik, who he thought had been thoroughly defeated, have a secret base on Arzor. And that they are trying to foment a war between the Norbies and the human settlers.
This is pretty much just a frontier Western, with the settlers as the cowboys and the Norbies as the Natives. With the twist that the Navajo man is the cowboy who sympathizes with and understands the Natives. Frankly, I found the story boring.
Here is a review by Kirkus. This is their review from 1959 and they refer to the author as he. Andre Norton was the author's pen name. Her real name was Alice Norton.
Bertie has woman problems once again. When Lady Florence Craye asks Bertie to escort her to a night club, Bertie ends up being arrested in a police raid and Florence ends up breaking off her engagement to G. D'Arcy Cheesewright. Florence then transfers her attention to Bertie, to whom she was once engaged, laboring under the misapprehension that Bertie always has been and still is hopelessly in love with her. Which he isn't. But he is too diffident to tell her the truth.
The rejected suitor, D'Arcy longs to murder the man he blames for Florence's defection. But he has placed a large bet on Bertie winning a darts tournament and the money is more important than revenge.
Bertie's favorite aunt needs his help with a financial matter and Bertie travels to Brinkley Court to help Aunt Dahlia out. Things being what they are, D'Arcy and Florence are also staying there along with several others. All of these people are involved in various plots, with poets and novelists and ladies' magazines and hen-pecked husbands and fake necklaces and angry accusations and blackmail and burglary and broken engagements and new lovers and plotting spouses and mustaches and ladders at windows. And, of course, Jeeves, Bertie's manservant, who is the only one who can see the way through.
This is a classic Bertie and Jeeves story. It is silly and fun and it makes you wish so very much that you could be there, with Bertie and Jeeves and jolly Old England. It has everything you want in a Bertie and Jeeves story and it does not disappoint. Lighthearted, comical and a grand trip to a time and place that never really existed except in the mind of P.G Wodehouse.
Back in 1978, four teens snuck off to the woods to get high and fool around. But what should have been just teenage nonsense resulted in all four kids murdered.
Now teen sleuth Stevie, famous for solving a cold case dating from the 1930s, has been invited to Sunny Pines camp for kids by its new owner, Carson. Carson wants to do a podcast about the more than forty year old mass murder and he hopes Stevie can use her sleuthing skills to solve what the professionals could not. As a bonus, he will give jobs to any of her friends she brings along with her.
Stevie has been working at a grocery store for the summer and the idea of a summer at a camp in the woods is very appealing, especially since two of her friends are eager and willing to join her. So the three head off to Sunny Pines and Stevie is happy to be on the trail of the person or persons who brutally murdered four teenagers one warm summer night forty-two years ago.
As far as mysteries go, this was a pretty good read. It wasn't as engrossing as some mystery stories I have read. But it also wasn't as boring as some I have slogged through. It kept me engaged. The one thing I didn't much care for is the killer was not one of the main characters and is only briefly mentioned in passing a few times in most of the book. I don't like it when authors pull some obscure character out of the background of a story to be the killer. But other than that, I enjoyed the book.
See also Kirkus for another review of the story.
Adolphus Gillespie Vernon Ware, Duke of Sale is only twenty-four years old. An orphan, he has been raised by his uncle, Lord Lionel Ware. A sickly child, Gillie has grown up to be a biddable and diffident young man. Currently his uncle is in charge of Gillie's money and of his many estates but in a few months, Gillie will be of age and will gain control of his vast wealth and many properties.
All his life, Gillie has been closely cared for by his uncle and the people hired to care for him. His butler, his valet, his nurse are all old family servants and they truly love the young Duke. But Gillie is feeling a bit oppressed by the close care and supervision and sometimes wishes he was just an ordinary fellow, free to come and go as he chose.
Gillie is unpleasantly surprised that his uncle has arranged a marriage for him with Lady Harriet Presteigne, a quiet and docile young lady he has known for a long time. Although he doesn't dislike Harriet, Gillie still feels like he is not in control of his own life. But despite this, he travels to town to propose to Harriet and his proposal is accepted, both young people doing exactly what they are expected and required to do.
But after be coming engaged, Gillie is wishing even more that he were free to live his life as he chooses. So when he finds out his cousin is being blackmailed, Gillie decides to pose as his cousin Matthew and confront the blackmailer himself. So he sets off on a grand adventure in which he rescues a runaway school boy and a hapless maiden and thwarts a villain determined to squeeze as much money as he can out of the wealthy young Duke.
This is one of my favorite Heyer stories. It is not so much a romance as it is the adventures of the young Duke. The Duke proves his capability over and over again, dealing with thugs and rogues and rambunctious school boys and a very beautiful but very stupid young woman, the Foundling. It's a lot of fun and a lot is going on in the story and the ending is not only very satisfying but also a bit surprising.
See also a Review by Austenprose.
