Ready Set Rogue

Collins (Good Dukes Wear Black) sets her new Regency series south of London near the coast, which is where Quill Beauchamp, Marquess of Kerr, encounters Ivy Wareham, late of Oxford, en route to the country home of recently deceased Lady Celeste Beauchamp. Ivy and three other bluestockings (whose romances and scholarly interests will doubtless be explored in sequels) have an opportunity to inherit the home and continue their studies; Quill believes the house should be his. The thoughts and dialogue of the scholars feel a little anachronistic, but Collins’s knack for humor moves the story along . Quill and Ivy’s intimate relationship blooms surprisingly quickly as they traverse bucolic and rainy pastures where conveniently abandoned cabins beckon. Once established as a couple, they work together to solve the mystery of Lady Celeste’s untimely death. It’s not a mystery, however, whether they and the other ladies will find their happy endings. Agent: Holly Root, Waxman Leavell Literary. (Jan.)