Regency Buck features one of
Georgette Heyer’s truly fantastic heroes, The Earl of Worth, with his sardonic humor, clever conversation and social position. The romance between him and Judith Taverner, his ward, is not necessarily the major thrust of the book. Although the slow-burn romance between them
heats the pages, there is a great deal more to keep your attention. In fact, if I had any criticism of the book, it is that we are not there when Judith’s sentiments change toward her guardian.
Presumably it’s when she spends Christmas at his house with a group of people, but it’s left to our imagination; most of the scenes between the two of them are arguments.
The setting of the book, in London and Brighton, is flawless historically.
Reading of travel in Regency times is fascinating – the journey from London to Brighton by curricle takes 4½ hours, and
Heyer lists all the posting houses and towns through which they travel. The detail of the Royal Palace at Brighton and the Royal Dukes and their behavior
are also riveting. Many of the characters are historical, and it set me off reading up on their history. Not many novels can get me doing that.
The side plot of the threat to Peregrine Taverner's life works reasonably well, but it
is clear that Lord Worth isn’t trying to kill his ward; someone else has to be responsible.
Still, reading about the scrapes that Perry gets into, and his enthusiasm over sailing at the end, is great fun.
An Infamous Army, a sort-of sequel to both Regency Buck and Devil’s Cub, contains characters from both.
Captain Charles Audley, who features in Regency Buck, is the hero of An Infamous Army, but seeing Lord Worth and Judith after three years of marriage is a delight – that the spice to their relationship is still there, and the witticisms of Lord Worth haven’t dimmed. Peregrine and Harriet do less well in that book;
perhaps that is a background comment about marrying too young.
Regency Buck is certainly worth adding to your Heyer library.
While perhaps not as immediately engaging as some of the other books, its detail and the strength of the characters are well worth the time spent with them through these pages.