Affairs of honour, affairs of the heart, and all the gallantry, villainy and elegance of the age that Georgette Heyer has made her own are exquisitely revived in these eleven short stories of the Regency.

Dispossessed of crown and kingdom, the young Charles II must flee for his life, across Cromwell's England bound for a Channel port and a ship to France. But the irrepressible King, with his love of adventure and his unmistakable looks, is not an easy man to hide.

"From the Paperback edition."

John, Duke of Bedford, grew to manhood fighting for his father, King Henry IV of England, on the wild and lawless Northern Marches. Filled with the clash of arms, bitter rivalries and deadly power struggles, this was Heyer's last novel.

Robin and Prudence Merriot have been dissemblers since they were children. And in this age of slippery politics, they need to be. So it is nothing for them to rescue a rich heiress from her abductor. But once committed to their masquerade, they must see it through.

William the Bastard, base-born son of the Duke of Normandy, must fight the King of France to regain his Duchy. Spurned in love by the Princess Matilda, the fighting Duke dares to take a whip to her in her own father's palace, before making her his bride. William the Conqueror sails to England to claim the Saxon King's crown and sceptre for his own.

Sir Nicholas Beauvallet has fallen in love with a Spanish noblewoman. She and her father were aboard a galleon captured by Sir Nicholas. He vows to make her his bride even though it means returning the pair to Spain and entering the lion's den.

Even as a boy, Simon Beauvallet knew his own mind. Later, friend and foe alike would know better than to cross the flaxen-haired mountain of a man whose exploits in battle earned him a knighthood, lands and gilded armour.

Kate Malvern, rescued from penury by her aunt Minerva, finds the grand household at Staplewood very unhomelike even family dinners are formal. When she begins to suspect the shocking reason for Minerva s generosity, there is no one to confide in."

Superintendent Hannasyde's powers of detection and solicitor Giles Carrington's amateur sleuthing are tested to their limits as they grapple with the Vereker family - a group of outrageously eccentric and corrupt suspects.

The sixtieth birthday party of Silas Kane was marred by argument and dissension among his family. And then, the morning after the celebrations, Kane is found dead at the foot of a cliff. When Kane s nephew is also murdered, all clues point to an elderly lady of eighty as the killer. But as the redoubtable Superintendent Hannasyde discovers, nothing is quite as it seems."