TIME'S FOOL

More Georgian romantic adventuring with a dollop of mystery, amatory chaos, gallops and alarms, and, as always, chirpy chatter of the ton. Instead of Bonnie Prince Charlie's treasure—at the center of Veryan's novels in The Golden Chronicles—there's now a sinister secret gang at nasty work with perhaps international implications. Captain Gideon Rossiter, who languished for many months in a military hospital, is back from the wars to find that his sire, banker Sir Mark, has been ruined and that the family name is in disgrace. Moreover, Gideon's fiancÇe, the lovely Lady Neomi Lutonville, now a reigning ``toast,'' burns with loathing for him (for reasons too silly to detail). While the two attracted—though proud and furious—lovers blurt out their feelings to lively bosom bows and sidekicks, and sideswipe each other with insults, events pop and pound along. There's a suspicious highway robbery; assaults from several dark quarters; a duel marked by hilarity; a kidnapping; and a fiery rescue—and of no small aid is an unlikely Cockney valet who uses his rhyming slang to advantage. At the heart of all this is the hunt for a jeweled chess piece, of singular importance to a clandestine cartel that could have caused the downfall of Sir Mark and that has other dirty business in the pod. It all ends with a bizarre and enigmatic close. One of Veryan's better Georgian galas, with virile men who hail one another as ``Tulip'' or ``my pippin,'' and tough little beauties who ``La!'' their way to their hearts' desire. Froth and frantic action—all in the period vein.