A PERFECT GENTLEMAN

RITA Award–winner Metzger's trifle of a Regency presents a truly charming hero, when he can be spotted through the larded-on argot of the period ("nipfarthing," etc.). Viscount "Stony" Wellstone has a glamorous title but no money to restore his ruined home and no employable skills, even though he's willing to stoop to trade. He hits upon the scheme of becoming an escort-for-hire, leaving bored husbands and fathers to their clubs while he dances, dines and charms the young ladies of London. Ellianne Kane, a banker's daughter, wouldn't normally move in Stony's circles, but money opens many doors, and she hires him to be her guide to the mysteries of society. She's looking for a husband, not for herself but for her younger sister, who wrote cryptically of a new love before disappearing from town. Naturally, Stony's initial horror at Ellianne's merchant background and her completely improper family turns to fondness, and she's similarly attracted to the staunch heart underneath Stony's foppish ways. The novel is at its best when Stony and Ellianne are braving London's ballrooms and theaters—the two have good chemistry and the plot has an Ugly Duckling charm—but readers will likely be bored by the thin mystery and its weak conclusion. Agent, Harvey Klinger. (Oct. 5)