The Quiet Gentleman (Heyer novel)

plot summary

This novel combines a mystery with a background romance.

Estranged from his father from childhood on after his mother ran off with another man, the firstborn son of an earl is reared by his maternal grandmother and then spends years fighting in the Napoleonic wars. Upon the father's passing, he inherits the Earldom while away fighting Napoleon.

A year after his father's passing, the quiet-spoken young earl, slim, blond, and beautiful, arrives at the ancient rambling castle from which the earldom is controlled, accompanied by a loyal valet and a groom from his army days.

The earl's stepmother and her son, a hot-tempered teenage half-brother, have spent their entire lives at the castle, where they were accustomed to living as rulers-in-waiting, doubting that the firstborn son would survive the bloody war. Also living there is a first cousin who has managed the estate in the earl's absence. The earl takes up residence in the castle, urging his relations to continue on as before, and leaving his cousin in charge of running the estate.

The stepmother also has a noble houseguest, an unassuming female who first comes to the earl's attention when she mediates his stepmother's sneaky resistance to small changes in the household. The guest is the well-born daughter of intellectuals, makes no attempts to lure the young Earl, and startles him with her calm air of assurance and knowledge of unexpected things.

The young earl, who has led a charmed life until this point, survives a riding accident, then survives being shot, his life saved by the female guest, who then assists the earl's valet in nursing the earl back to health. Her parents arrive, and the earl makes a big push to discover which of his cantankerous relations wants him dead.