Claudia Milmont has lived most of her joyless life with her grandparents, though her mother enjoys the fringes of society in London. When Claudia’s Aunt Sophie dies, a whole new world opens up for her. Cantankerous Sophie has instructed that her diamonds be buried with her–and Claudia is determined to help her cousin retrieve them. But the charming Sir Hillary Thoreau, a nonesuch, is co-executor of Sophie’s will and he’s keeping a sharp eye out for any mischief–and for Claudia, too, apparently…
It seems Aunt Sophie had a bizarre sense of humor. At least, her will is terribly strange. Rather than immediately bequeath her set of diamonds worth 50,00o pounds sterling, she informs her heirs they must wait a year—and in the meantime the diamonds will go with her to the grave.
This is a crackling comedy of errors is reminscent of Heyer’s The Nonesuch in more ways than it features a Nonesuch as hero…there is the older and wiser heroine who is not looking to make a match and clearly embracing adventure, the younger foil who is a bit silly, and several gentlemen vying for attention.
Smith adds in a delightfully awful mother, who really is all about the money–and has a Cit DL BF (downlow boyfriend) to prove it.
Most of the plot is the race to unearth the diamonds and the many foibles that follow which are super funny. The banter is witty and delicious, with the H/h skirting around their attraction enough to provide a great romantic tension.
The ending was actuallly suprisingly unexpected—at least a couple of the wrap up details–although Smith doesn’t slouch in the HEA department.
5 out of 6 Funny traditional Reg Rom with genre true characters in a unique comedy of errors. Worth a couple of reads!
| Content Rating/Heat Index | |
|---|---|
| Mature Content |   |
| Not really unless you count estate planning. | |
| Intimacy | |
| A couple of kisses | |
| Violence | |
| Mysterious head coshing. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| Appropriate for most ages. | |
