The Impertinent Miss Bancroft (Zebra Regency Romance)

Rating:
Summary: an engaging read
Review: After having been turned off from no fewer than six positions in the past two years, Miss Sophia Bancroft realises that this latest post as governess to Viscount Lucian Northrop's young nephews and niece, could well be her last chance to make good. And with two younger sisters to provide for, this situation is not something she can take lightly. And so she resolves firmly to be the ideal employee, and not to let anything get in her way. But that is before she realises that there is something nefarious going on at Number Nine, Clarges Street (the viscount's London home), and that this is something that Sophy, with her lively sense of curiosity and her strong sense of justice, can help put right. If only the viscount would let her do so!

Someone in the Northrop household is a petty thief. And when evidence points to his beloved Aunt Addie, Viscount Northrop knows that he has to do something in order to restore her good name. The thing is that he wasn't bargaining for a mere slip of a girl interfering in his plans to bring the miscreant to justice, no matter her claims to having had a lot of experience is solving petty crimes! But Northrop cannot deny that Sophy, with her lively sense of humour and her sharp mind, is having an effect on him. And when things take a very sinister turn indeed it all Northrop can do to keep Sophy from carrying on with her quest to unmask the wrongdoer, as well as vindicate his aunt's good name.

"The Impertinent Miss Bancroft" was first published about 10 years ago, and in some ways, this Regency does show its age. For example, Sophy is just a little too spirited and pushy for a twenty-one year old governess, to be very credible. Add to that her unhappy circumstances -- having been fired once too often, and needing this post so as to be able to pay for her sister's tuition, and you really begin to wonder at her pushy behaviour! However, because Sophy is a charming and taking heroine, who does put the welfare of others (well, the members of the Northrop family at any rate) before her own, and one is able to overlook all these improbable flaws. Another factor that dates this book is the manner in which Sophy's and Northrop's romance unfolds. Given what's published today, you'd be forgiven if you somehow missed the fact that there was a romance simmering between the two! Both Sophy and Northrop go in for some heavy flirtation, but very little else. Well, with theft and other crimes going on in the Northrop household, it may have been a little difficult for the two principal characters to have conducted a very satisfactory courtship afterall.

I read this novel many years ago, as well as the second book in the series, but somehow missed the third installment. So, I'm really pleased that Zebra has undertaken to reprint these books. Finally I'll get to see what happens to Sophy's sisters -- there's something going on there, only hinted at but I'm dying to discover what it is. So here's to hoping that the following books in the Sophy Bancroft series gets republished soon. But to get back to "The Impertinent Miss Bancroft," on the whole, I found this novel to be a very charming and lighthearted read, and one that I would not hesitate to recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Romance?
Review: I have to wonder if I missed something reading this book. Was it a romance???? While the author tries to be clever in making our heronie feisty, yes, yet again another feisty smart heroine, the theft story takes front and center over the romance. That is too bad. I don't mind mysteries in romances, however, let us at least have a romance too!