The Elusive Miss Ellison

Miller sets the first of her Regency Brides series in St. Hampton Heath, England, a village suffering from ramshackle housing and influenza. Lavinia Ellison is the reverend’s daughter and exhibits great empathy for her neighbors’ plight. Nicholas Stamford, an ex-soldier, has become the 7th Earl of Hawkesbury upon his brother’s death but wants his bailiff to continue managing estate affairs. Lavinia’s mother was accidentally killed by Nicholas’s brother. Her father professes forgiveness, but Lavinia does little to hide her disdain for the new earl. She often subjects him to the opinionated speech acquired from the aunt who helped raise her. Woefully unprepared for the obligations he has assumed, Nicholas (who bears a strong resemblance to Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy) finds expectations of family and friends often conflict with his own judgment. As a cat-and-mouse game unfolds, an unexpected twist alters everything. The characters undergo obligatory changes in heart and soul, sometimes creating distracting contradictions with established characterizations, but this series launch is otherwise promising. Agent: Tamela Hancock Murray, Steve Laube Agency. (Feb.)