Miss Delacourt Speaks Her Mind is a delightful romantic farce in the glorious tradition of Georgette Heyer.
When Ginny Delacourt’s great-aunt sends her on a mission to inspect some rosebushes and orders Sir Anthony Crenshaw to be Ginny’s escort, some pesky highwaymen, a stolen carriage, and a two-week quarantine (for fear of chicken pox) at a nobleman’s house all conspire to throw the young people together for a much longer period of time than was originally intended. Ginny, a young lady who is perpetually forthright, is determined to awaken something “real” in Sir Anthony, to startle him out of his urbane manners, but when her words and actions begin to bear fruit, she finds that their is far more depth to the polite Sir Anthony that she could ever imagine.
A conniving debutante, a lord who writes poetry, and some matchmaking parents complete the cast of characters, and the story plays all the right notes with fainting, duels, stolen kisses, preposterous misunderstandings, and a plethora of witty banter. The clever tie-ins to the work of Shakespeare make this a very clever story indeed, and I look forward to reading more about the world of Miss Delacourt from the talented Heidi Ashworth.
Rosanne E. Lortz 