The Toll-Gate (Regency Romances)

The Queen of Regency Romance, bestselling author Georgette Heyer, enchants readers with what the New Yorker called "a witty cheerful extravaganza."His exploits were legendary...Captain John Staple, back from the battlefront, is already bored with his quiet civilian life in the country. When he stumbles upon a mystery involving a disappearing toll-gate keeper, nothing could keep the adventure-loving captain from investigating.But winning her will be his greatest yet...The plot thickens when John encounters the enigmatic Lady Nell Stornaway and soon learns that rescuing her from her unsavory relatives makes even the most ferocious cavalry charge look like a particularly tame hand of loo. Between hiding his true identity from Nell and the arrival in the neighborhood of some distinctly shady characters, Captain Staple finds himself embarked on the adventure—and romance—of a lifetime.Praise for The Toll-Gate:"Spritely and good fun."—New York Herald Tribune"Once again Georgette Heyer has directed her comic genius along the fictional highway of early nineteenth-century England, but this time...cleaves with refreshing persistence to the commoner levels of life."—Chicago Sunday Tribune"Told in elegant prose with exceptionally humorous dialogue by the Queen of Regency romance."—Good Book Guide

"Witty...a cheerful extravaganza."
-The New Yorker

His exploits were legendary...

Captain John Staple, back from the battlefront, is already bored with his quiet civilian life in the country. When he stumbles upon a mystery involving a disappearing toll-gate keeper, nothing could keep the adventure-loving captain from investigating.

But winning her will be his greatest yet...

The plot thickens when John encounters the enigmatic Lady Nell Stornaway and soon learns that rescuing her from her unsavory relatives makes even the most ferocious cavalry charge look like a particularly tame hand of loo. Between hiding his true identity from Nell and the arrival in the neighborhood of some distinctly shady characters, Captain Staple finds himself embarked on the adventure-and romance-of a lifetime.

"Spritely and good fun."-New York Herald Tribune

"Once again Georgette Heyer has directed her comic genius along the fictional highway of early nineteenth-century England, but this time...cleaves with refreshing persistence to the commoner levels of life."-Chicago Sunday Tribune

"Told in elegant prose with exceptionally humorous dialogue by the Queen of Regency romance."-Good Book Guide

Review "* "Wonderful characters, elegant, witty writing, perfect period detail, and rapturously romantic. Georgette Heyer achieves what the rest of us only aspire to." - Katie Fforde * "My favourite historical novelist - stylish, romantic, sharp, and witty. Her sense of period is superb, her heroines are enterprising, and her heroes dashing. I owe her many happy hours." - Margaret Drabble * "A writer of great wit and style - I've read her books to ragged shreds." - Kate Fenton, Daily Telegraph * "Sparkling" - Independent on Sunday" Product Description Captain John Staple is bored by the constraints of civilian life. To shake things up, he takes an invigorating ride across the countryside. A storm forces him to take shelter at a tollgate where the gatekeeper has mysteriously disappeared. The Captain stumbles into an adventure more thrilling than his days battling Napoleon. While searching for the missing gatekeeper, he inadvertently uncovers a smuggling operation, and his only recourse is to bring the villains to justice and rescue the enigmatically charming young Lady Nell from her unsavory relatives. "It takes a lot to unnerve Captain John Staple, a man with a reputation for audacious exploits and whimsical nonsense. But when he finds himself mired on the moors--on a dark and stormy night, no less!--John hardly expects to find a young, frightened boy who's been left alone to tend a toll gatehouse. Never one to pass up an adventure, John decides to take up residence in Derbyshire as a gatekeeper until he can find the lad's father. But as John investigates the suspicious disappearance, he begins to unravel a far more complex mystery. And at its center is a woman--the very one to tame John's reckless spirit"--Publisher's web site On his 38th birthday, lonely Scott Williams fervently wishes for a wife and family, but he never expects to become so utterly captivated by the beautiful, yet troubled Jennifer St. James A captain who finds a toll gate unattended and solves the mystery of the disappearance of the gate keeper and wins the heroine with the help of an robber.