Miser of Mayfair (G. K. Hall Nightingale Series Edition) [Large Print] [Paperback]

Marion Chesney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1987 | Series: G. K. Hall Nightingale Series Edition

It was the fashion during Regency to hire a house for the Season in Mayfair—the heart of London’s fashionable West End—at a disproportionately high rent for sometimes very inferior accommodation. So why is it that Number 67 Clarges Street, a town house complete with staff, remains vacant season after season? The home of numerous families in the past to whom ill luck—even death-has befallen, Number 67 has been damned as unlucky. In the Miser of Mayfair, salvation seems to come at last in the form of a Mr. Roderick Sinclair, who has confirmed his intentions to let the house for the Season. The staff are overjoyed—until they find that Mr. Sinclair is a trrible miser and is planning so parties. Furthermore, his ward, Fiona, seems not to have a bright idea in her head. Only Rainbird, the clever and elegant butler of Number 67, plots with Fiona to bewitch, bedazzle, and confuse the earl into seeing things their way

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 270 pages
• Publisher: G K Hall & Co (April 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816142564
• ISBN-13: 978-0816142569
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,549,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Unique Impression, March 15, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Miser of Mayfair (House for the Season) (Hardcover)

This is the first and best of the series. It introduces the eclectic group of servants of the unlucky house: the resourceful ring-leader of a butler, Rainbird, sympathetic and downtrodden Lizzy, and the effeminate, vain Joseph, and the rest.

Fiona Sinclair, taken from an orphanage to be raised and educated as a lady for her benefactor's dubious purposes, is accustomed to using her wile and cunning to dodge the exploiters and schemers of her day. Usually, she gets the upper hand until she meets Lord Harrington. His aloof manner and haughty views leave him the only man in London society impervious to her extraordinary beauty, or so it seems. To that end, he is the only one who does not want to exploit her. To Fiona, for this reason, he is the only man who will do.

For an orphan of questionable birth, albeit a beautiful one, to ensnare an autocratic Lord who is rich and handsome would require a miracle, one which the servants of the House on Clarges Street are all too ready to manufacture- a plan to make this arrogant Lord see the beauty of Fiona's heart.

This novel plays out like a situated comedy much like Chesney's others with the same twists and turns, yet with the undertone of sweet melancholy unique only to this book. Fiona appears to be too wily and stoic at first to deserve such fortune until she ventures to risk everything by revealing her heart. Miser of Mayfair portrays the harshness of Regency society and the triumph of those who gamble and win, weaving not only a poignant love story, but more, a lasting impression.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An easy, fast historical love story., February 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Miser of Mayfair (House for the Season) (Hardcover)

I enjoyed this novel, along with all of the other "A House for the Season" novels I have read. The plot and characters were simple but the story was amusing and uplifting. I was able to read The Miser of Mayfair in one night and despite the simplistic nature of the novel, I was not disappointed in the experience.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars delightful "downstairs" Regency......, February 25, 2008

By 

retroredux - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Miser of Mayfair (A House for the Season, Book 1) (Paperback)

another enjoyable addition to Marion Chesney's long list of funny, witty, and romantic "old school" style Regency romances.

The quite different but very entertaining aspect of this book, and this series, is that half of the story is about the servants in the house that has been let. Miss Chesneys forte' of introducing complex and fun secondary characters shines in this book. Chesney's subtle wit is present in both the upper echelon and the staff. I look forward to reading future books of this series to learn more of the servants "Upstairs, Downstairs" misadventures.

As to the romance in this story. Fiona was a great heroine-a foundling who learned quickly in life to hide her intelligence, because society frowns upon "bluestockings", and the good hearted albeit snobbish Earl an excellent change of pace.

Another great novel by Chesney and highly recommended. 5 stars.