Captain Bennett Wolfe is believed to have died while exploring Africa; his companion, Captain David Langley, has written a book about their travels. When Bennett Wolfe turns up in London alive, he finds that society feels less favorably toward him - David Langley's book suggests that Bennett Wolfe isn't much of an explorer.

One woman who doesn't believe that, having read Bennett Wolfe's previous two books, is Lady Phillipa Eddison. She's a bluestocking with no beaux but finds Bennett Wolfe taking an interest in her. The fearless adventurer is rather out of place in society's drawing rooms. He doesn't entirely know how to behave, and when he begins to court Phillipa  he doesn't always get it right. But how can a stay-at-home avid reader and an adventurer with wanderlust ever make a good pairing?

That final question is one of the problems with this book, in that it isn't convincingly solved. There are other problems - no less the rather odd name of the hero, which sounds very un-British to my English ears. The historical setting doesn't feel too accurate, and although there are some nods to contemporary events (such as the Rosetta Stone), the book doesn't sit all that well in its time period.

While the romance is sweet and believable, it's hard to believe that Phillipa has been so overlooked previously when she comes across as a nice young lady. Bennett (that odd name again!) is a rather brash and uncouth character but I liked him, if not his propensity to violence. The subplot of some missing journals doesn't work very well, I did find it a reasonable read overall.

• A Lady's Guide to Improper Behavior
• After the Kiss: The Notorious Gentlemen
• Always a Scoundrel: The Notorious Gentlemen
• Before the Scandal: The Notorious Gentlemen
• Sin and Sensibility
• The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown