An intriguing premise that reminded me of an old television commercial for chocolates. Young, handsome, impoverished gentleman decides to propose to a charming, innocent, rich maiden. Unfortunately he needs the approval of the maiden's fearsome guardian -- who turns out to be a stunningly beautiful lady with a scandalous past. He quickly loses interest in the maiden (and she in him) and turns his attention to the alluring guardian.

The tale unfolds at a cracking pace, with burglaries, misunderstandings, arguments and even a cross-country chase.

Many of the characters in the book seem to have enigmatic problems with their families. A few hints about these problems are dropped here and there, but explained in detail only at the end of the book. Loose ends are tied off and mysteries revealed, but the denouement has a hurried, breathless quality about it, with too much over-the-top information crammed into a limited space.

The book should have ended with the climactic rescue of the innocent maiden and the capture of a dastardly Italian, but drags on for far too many anti-climactic pages of explanatory dialogue.
( )

Lady Wombat says:

Another I simply decided wasn't worth the effort to finish -- too stupid for words.