The recap
Guy Frisby and his sister Amanda live quietly in the English countryside, born to the gentry but brought down in the world by an old family scandal, and respectability is the one thing they cannot afford to lose. So when Amanda breaks her leg and must recover at Rookwood Hall, Guy is appalled. The house belongs to Sir Philip Rookwood, whose circle of friends goes by the alarming name of the Murder and is whispered about across the county as a hellfire club. Guy arrives braced for wickedness. He finds instead a household of clever, engaging, unconventional people, and a host whose charm is far more dangerous than any rumour, while the village gossips sharpen their knives. KJ Charles borrows the elegant comic machinery of the classic Regency novel, with its rakes, chaperones and reputations hanging by a thread, and rebuilds it around a love story between two men. The result is witty, warm and generous, a comedy of manners that gently asks who gets to decide what a respectable life looks like.
Why read it
For Georgette Heyer lovers who have always wanted the comedy of manners to make room for queer love, and for anyone who wants a Regency romp that is as kind as it is clever.
Fun facts
- 01
Charles has been open that the novel is an homage to Georgette Heyer; the book bills itself as 'Full Heyer', and its cover borrows Heyer's classic style.
- 02
Despite the rakes' society being called the Murder, there is no murder mystery in the book, something reviewers took pleasure in pointing out.
- 03
It was released on 11 October 2018 by KJC Books.
- 04
The audiobook edition is narrated by Cornell Collins.
