The Haunted Miss Hampshire (An Avon Regency Romance)

Rating:
Summary: Poorly crafted Regency romance novel
Review: Coming from someone who is predisposed to liking ghost stories--regardless of whether they're chilling suspense or Thorne Smith's wily rascals--THE HAUNTED MISS HAMPSHIRE was big disappointment. The characters are passive and long-winded and the scenes lack tension.

Cassandra Hampshire arrives at Wormhill, the estate of a recently-deceased distant relative, Lucinda Benedict, who she had never met, for the reading of a will. At the reading, the impoverished Cassandra learns she is eligible to inherit Wormhill on the condition she lives there for two months with Philip Rayburn, the Earl of Hawkedon, and his grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Avonall, as a chaperon. During this time, neither Cassandra nor Philip are allowed to leave the estate for more than three hours without forfeiting the contest to the vicarage. Shortly after Cassandra's trial begins, she sits down in one of the ugly pair of her benefactor's favorite chairs and meets Lucinda in ghost form, as everyone else in the novel eventually does.

The biggest problem is that none of these characters ever really initiate any substantial action. Most of their dialog usually comes out in paragraphs where they end up talking about their emotions or what needs to be done instead of doing it. Real people just don't talk like this. Lucinda's dialog is mostly quotes from other sources and really irritating, especially when the other characters spend another long paragraph analyzing what she means by the quote. By doing this, Cassandra figures out that if she and Philip don't marry, Lucinda will spend the rest of eternity sitting in the opposite chair, even if Cassandra wins Wormhill. It would have been more compelling if Cassandra won Wormhill before that fact became clear.

Cyril and Cosmo Rayburn and Fish do absolutely nothing pivotal. Their only purpose to feed the reader more background information about the lovers. Learning that Cassandra had actually spent time on the stage should come out sooner. While the women who chose a career in theater were derided during this period, it's debatable whether they were completely ostracized. Many in the upper classes took on amateur theatrics as a pastime.

More time is spent playing "Can you see Lucinda too?" than building up the relationship of the lovers. In Regency romances it is traditional to have hero and heroine arguing, but these two lack any strong disagreement for doing so. Philip and the Duchess are there only to help out Cassandra, but if she has no gratitude, why do they bother? This is a distant relative that neither of them met before the reading of the will, there is no reason for them to feel they owe her anything.

For that matter, it's rather amazing that none of this noble family resents Cassandra as an interloper. Lucinda's will also flies in the face of the sexist conventions of the times. There is no explanation as to how a woman retained full possession of Wormhill when it "naturally" should have gone to a male heir (retracing family lineage, if necessary).

The horse riding scene, as the turning point in Cassandra's and Philip's relationship, felt contrived. With all of the focus on Lucinda, the buildup was weak. It comes awful late as Cassandra's resigned effort to give Philip a try. Since she came from a life where she constantly worried about when she was going to have her next meal, it's conceivable that she would be dazzled by the handsome earl from the start.

THE HAUNTED MISS HAMPSHIRE gives its readers story information instead of good dramatic conflict. The pacing is tediously slow and the characters need depth. It also fails to capture the "drawing room comedy" quality of the genre Georgette Heyer created.