Nocturne for the General

Miss Hannah Pym, Sir George Clarence, Miss Emily Freemantle, Lord Ranger Harley, Mrs. Bisley, Mr. Fletcher, Captain Seaton, Mr. Hendry, Mrs. Bradley. This is the first adventure for ex-housekeeper Miss Hannah Pym, the traveling matchmaker. After her employer, Mr. Clarence, leaves her 5,000 pounds in his will, housekeeper Miss. Hannah Pym decides to spend time traveling on the stage, looking for adventures. Her first trip to Exeter certainly has plenty of adventure for Hannah. The very beautiful and horribly spoilt Miss Emily Freemantle is running away from home, dressed as a boy, to avoid an arranged marriage with Lord Harley. The wealthy Miss Bisley is going to Exeter with Captain Seaton to marry him. The stage being held up by a highwayman is the least of Hannah's adventures. The whole stage is snowed in at a small Inn for a few days. Unfortunately, the Inn staff is snowed out of the Inn and the stage riders must wait on themselves. This proves to be too much for the spoilt Miss. Freemantle to handle, after behaving badly and demanding a wig back from Mr. Fletcher, she walks off into the storm to find another Inn. Miss. Freemantle gets lost, walking into a snow drift; Lord Harley and Mrs. Bradley come out into the snow looking for her. After they get back, Hannah orders Mrs. Bradley into a bath, and gets stuck in the tub needing Lord Harley to pull her out. While at the Inn Mrs. Bisley decides not to marry Captain Seaton, but falls in love with Mr. Fletcher. The group decides to put on a play to help alleviate the boredom. However, Captain Seaton fires a gun at Mr. Fletcher, and if Hannah hadn't held up a silver platter Mr. Fletcher would have been killed. While having a snow ball fight, Mr. Fletcher is wounded by a snowball with a rock in it. Everyone assumes that the Captain is responsible. One night the whole Inn, excluding Miss Freemantle, are drugged. Because she is not drugged, Miss. Freemantle sees someone being pushed away on a hand cart. Enlisting the help of Lord Harley they discover Mr. Fletcher abandoned in a barn. While trying to decide what to do, Lord Harley and Miss. Freemantle are locked in the barn themselves. Miss Freemantle has to climb out of a skylight to unlock the door. Back at the Inn, they discover that Mr. Fletcher's kidnapper left a note behind. Hannah comes up with a letter writing contest to discover who wrote the letter. After leaving the Inn, continuing on to Exeter, Hannah writes to Lord Harley and Miss. Freemantle love letter supposedly from each other. It works, and the two make a match. Hannah is excited because Sir. George Clarence entertained her to Gunters and invited her to view his gardens on the return from her next trip.

Marion Chesney has been compared to Georgette Heyer, as a lighter version of Heyer, while others do not see the comparison. I belong to the latter group. There are some similarities, of course - they both write about the Regency era, and they are both very faithful in the depiction of the time period they write about, but I am afraid that in my opinion that is all they have in common. Georgette Heyer's books were written many years ago, and the flavor and style of her books are certainly very different from those written with the contemporary hand of Marion Chesney. Heyer concentrates on manners and dress, while Chesney is usually more focused on the minutae of everyday living in the Regency era - and does a good job describing the very different mindset of those people of long ago, as opposed to the modern way of thinking. While Heyer writes mainly about the upper classes, Marion Chesney will often focus on the lower classes - something, I might add, which I have never seen before in a Regency novel, and find engrossing for that reason alone. Heyer is probably a better writer - but that is not an insult to Chesney - while Heyer is simply a classic, Chesney is certainly one of the best of the writers in today's Regency Romance genre. The fact that there is a comparison made at all is a compliment to Ms. Chesney, though, I think. While I liked both Georgette Heyer and Marion Chesney, they are very different writers, and I can see how someone who loves Georgette Heyer may not like Marion Chesney, and vice versa (although I can't quite imagine someone not liking Georgette Heyer). In "Emily Goes to Exeter" we are introduced to Miss Hannah Pym, a former housekeeper who has come into a small inheritance and decided to use her money on her life-long ambition. All her life she has watched the "Flying Machine" pass by her window, and finally she will have the chance of her own for Adventure! For Living Life! I thought this was one of Marion Chesney's best books, Miss Hannah comes across as a very vivid and sympathetic character, and we are caught up in her until-now dull life, the sad life of her former employees, and finally her chance for adventure. Nor does Ms. Chesney let her down, as in page after page, there is never a dull moment! If you are a Regency fan, you will certainly like "Miss Emily Goes to Exeter" as this is one of the best regencies in today's market.

When I find the world just to terrible to bear I pick up one of these magical Regency Romances and escape to Chesneyland. There is no finer place to recover after a strenusous day sorting out life's little problems. Though Chesney is not readily available here in the UK I find the chase through abe or ebay well worth it to find a little treasure. The Travelling Matchmaker series of which this is the first are pure genius. Mrs. Chesney I salute you as a brilliant antidote to depression!

Charming froth, I don't suppose I have ever read a Regency - or known any distinction between them and the American bodice-ripper - and this was an absolutely exquisite introduction. I have thoroughly enjoyed the almost anti-romances the author writes as M.C. Beaton in the Hamish MacBeth and Agatha Raisin series. Ms. Chesney/Beaton is deliciously clever, is a master of the setting, and is absolutely merciless with her characters. And she must write these books with her tongue firmly in her cheek.