DEVILISH DILEMMA

by Judith A. Lansdown

Regency Romance

copyright 1998. A Zebra book, published by Kensington Publishing Corp. 288pp. ISBN 0-8217-5826-8 $4.99

The basic premise of this book promises a pleasant read: handsome young earl, considered by society to be libertine and rake, is actually using his scandalous reputation to search for his kidnapped nephew. It's the variation I don't like: he and his friends hit upon the idea of using a gently bred, innocent young girl, whom they feel won't be suspected of being involved in their plots to locate, retrieve, and hide the little boy---because presumeably honorable gentlemen would never expose a gently bred innocent to such danger. And so they wouldn't! I cannot imagine any man with pretensions to gentility during the 19ca so casually involving someone a) who by their society's rules is supposed to be protected from everything sordid, b) they don't know that well, and c) by virtue of training, (or lack of it) would be expected to give the game away.

However, the worst problem is not actually the plot, which is convuluted in the finest Baroness Orczy tradition, but the characterization. The author (unlike many) does appear to be tolerably familiar with the customs and technology of the time, and blessedly acquainted with the various inflections and other grammatical conventions of formal english, as well as what I suspect is carefully researched period speech patterns, thereby lending the story authenticity, though her habit, admittedly a minor one, of ending statements with queries can be irritating. A judicious use of commas would give dialog greater naturalness as well. The prose displays sprightliness and humor, reminiscent of Georgette Heyer; the real weakness is that there isn't enough explication---in terms of the characters' thoughts, or description of their body language, to get a sense of their deepest motivations and feelings.

Though I like the concept of the protagonists' fondness for each other from the beginning, and not deliberately playing games with each others' feelings, there is no question that setting up emotional tension in such circumstances becomes tricky indeed, and this is where the book fails. Landsdowne partially solves this dilemma by allowing the action/adventure subplot to emotionally stress her characters; Yet, even when Rossland has very good cause to be afraid for his lady's life, in a situation that could be considered his own fault, he still displays remarkably little fear or remorse.

The light humor, amusing side characters, especially Aunt Letty with her baleful threats for the hero, and generally high quality prose make this a pleasant read, but nothing special. 2 stars.

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Sylvus Tarn

Last modified: Fri Sep 11 14:24:06 EDT 1998