by Georgette Heyer..a historical romance/ mystery, copyright 1935

     I've been steadily collecting Heyer's works for the past year.  I balked at paying the price for this novel, since no recent printings are on the market, but I found Regency Buck at Abebooks.com for $8.00, plus S and H. If you can get your hands on a copy, do so!  Mine is a paperback in fairly good condition. 
      Many of Heyer's novels plod into the introduction.  Not this book.  Perry and Judith Taverner, traveling to London for the first time, are caught up in the atmosphere of a prize-fight.  Corinthians and boxers and country bumpkins, innkeepers and scoundrels spring into action.  A dandy hauls Judith into his curricle, kisses her, and enrages her.  By chapter two, we find that he is her accidental guardian.  

     Heyer weaves her tale so skillfully that detecting the true villain is difficult until the very last pages.  Evidently, Regency Buck and Devil's Cub (another favorite) are both preludes to An Infamous Army-- I'll buy a copy before the night is over!
     The really marvelous quality of Heyer's writing is her ability to convey in digestible paragraphs and dialog so very many aspects of Regency life.  From the nobility to theives and farmers, amusing and engaging characters emerge.  The storyline is never one-track.