Twenty-five and unmarried, Elizabeth Thorne decided to assert her independence. She would spend the summer visiting Crowle, the Sussex manor house bequeathed to her by an uncle. When Elizabeth set out from London by mail coach, she was delighted by the prospect of a quiet spell in the country.
But in Lewes, where she put up for the night, she was puzzled by the behaviour of Mrs Wood, a fellow traveller. Why was the woman so intrigued at the mention of Crowle? What was her connection with the sinister pedlar at the inn? And why had a letter addressed to Crowle Manor been mysteriously put into Elizabeth's guide book?
Robert Garnham, a former admirer, was also a guest at the inn and Elizabeth was pleased to see a friendly face. But for some reason he was suddenly very suspicious of Elizabeth. And it was then she began to realise that her plans for a peaceful country summer were unlikely to be fulfilled. Letters For A Spy
Alice Chetwynd Ley ß 4 Download
The writing is great, of course, and to my inexpert reading eyes, quite historically accurate. The heroine's characterization is well-done. But I never really liked the high-handed hero much, and the plot is predictable and weak. It was a clumsy mix of Heyer's Reluctant Widow and Austen's Persuasion. I liked Ley's Beau & Bluestocking far better, start with that if you're new to her work. Letters For A Spy Letters for a Spy is a really nice book that kept me well entertained. It is not one of those books that you can't put down and that are highly addictive but it is one of those books that are like the familiar cup of tea on a winter's eve after a glass of champaign at the party the day before. You know what you want, you get what you want and you enjoy every page of it. Reliable, sweet but nevertheless never dull or boring.
The story is well written and the characters are also well developed which draws the reader in and lets him take part in the happenings. I enjoyed to see Elizabeth find her happiness even though - well, who am I to doubt the magic of true love and how fast it works, so... I am just happy to find Elizabeth well settled at the end of the book with someone I can whole-heartedly approve of.
If you want to read the book because you like a good spy story, well, then I'm not sure if it is really the right story for you because the focus is definitely not on espionage, this is just a part of the story. Oh, actually there's not much romance in it at the beginning either but it is a fast-paced and interesting story that is really nice and I enjoyed reading it.
It is not the first book by Alice Chetwynd Ley that I've read and it won't be the last. Like a cup of tea, this book is something nice to read on a cozy winter's eve - or in the afternoon or whenever you like! Letters For A Spy Wow, an actual lady fight. Usually everyone is too civilized. Letters For A Spy An amusing adventure/Regency romance mash up. Most entertaining. Letters For A Spy Nothing like a large print Regency to keep you occupied while spending the night at the hospital...I'd never read anything by this author; I have a couple more by this author so I'll make up my mind about her before summer ... Letters For A Spy
A different kind of Regency Romance... more like adventure and espionage with a bit of rekindled love.
The heroine gets herself in the middle of an adventure when she is traveling to her new inherited home along with her older companion, meets an old love (ex-fiancee from 6 years ago) who turns out to be a spy.
Nice reading but nothing outstanding (not her best work), the heroine, while a bit useless, was smart enough and the adventure wasn't too dangerous. Romance was meh, I could not get invested, and while it is a short book, there were parts a bit slow. Letters For A Spy Oh dear...
I really like and enjoy this author’s novels, and the story in this one is just as good. My 3 star rating is because it all seems a bit unbalanced. There is too much unnecessary writing in the first half that would have been better employed in the second. Margaret’s repeated dismissal of Elizabeth’s concerns was annoying. Equally, the sudden revival of the relationship between Robert & Elizabeth as if six years had not passed, was frustrating to say the least. This is where all that wordage wasted at the start would have been better employed.
Still, a good story I enjoyed. Letters For A Spy Some books written in years past are quaint but charming. This isn't one of them. It's more of the run-of-mill, simplistic in the extreme (which isn't a virtue for a spy story), light on everything, tedious kind of a book (especially because of side characters). If you left it for a year and then came back to you, it'll require no recollection at all as it's so placid and expected as a puddle. Each character is dull as ditch water and that's saying something with the 'hero' as a special agent/spy! What's more, it's supposedly a romance but till the very end there's hardly any sign of any such thing and suddenly it's my love this, my love that. I admit, I read it in a very off-hand manner but then again, because of its placidity and lack of mental stimulation, it's a great choice as a nodding-off-to-sleep read! Letters For A Spy I received a free copy for a honest review
Elizabeth Thorne sets out from crowded London to visit Crowle Manor, the Sussex house bequeathed to her by her uncle, Elizabeth could not be more delighted by the prospect of a quiet spell in the country.
Elizabeth’s suspicions about the Manor are awakened when she discovers a strange letter addressed to the manor house has been slipped into her guide book
Elizabeth finds herself reacquainted with her former lover, Robert Farnham, a man that she had once refused to marry out of loyalty to her sister. However Robert hardly recognises her.
An intriguing novel that kept my interest throughout. I’ve only recently discovered the author’s books & I’m really enjoying them. This book was written about 45 years ago & has stood the passage of time well. Certainly not the bodice ripper of recently written books but the language far more in keeping with Regency times & the bonus of no Americanisms added to my enjoyment Letters For A Spy OK, so this novel by popular regency (1960's/70's) author Alice Chetwynd Ley is:
- Prefaced with the standard Rudyard Kipling quote ' Five and twenty ponies, Trotting through the dark...';
- Contains a plot line that has nothing particularly original about it;
- Features characters that are largely unmemorable;
- Confines the 'romance' element to less than ten pages; and
- Frankly, offers up a whodunit that wouldn't tax a nine-year old familiar with The Secret Seven
But somehow 'Letters For A Spy' works. I think it's the atmosphere the author conveys- a sense of dark and drunken Napoleonic Sussex similar to the one's Heyer evokes in her tales - in summary, a three-and-a half star vintage regency romance read.
Letters For A Spy