"Lively, amusing...done to a turn!"—Kirkus Reviews A fateful mistake... When Elinor Rochdale boards the wrong coach, she ends up not at her prospective employer's home but at the estate of Eustace Cheviot, a dissipated and ruined young man on the verge of death. A momentous decision... His cousin, Mr Ned Carlyon, persuades Elinor to marry Eustace as a simple business arrangement. By morning, Elinor is a rich widow, but finds herself embroiled with an international spy ring, housebreakers, uninvited guests, and murder. And Mr Carlyon won't let her leave ... What readers are saying about The Reluctant Widow "Delightful and purely entertaining. The plot involves comedy, intrigue, espionage, cloaks and daggers, and things going bump in the night - served with a sauce of witty repartee that is the Heyer hallmark. Unforgettable." "One of my favorites!" "A delightfully funny and mysterious romp." "Reading Georgette Heyer is the next best thing to reading Jane Austen." — Publisher's Weekly

Old Eustace Cheviot may have been a scoundrel and a drunkard, but he was Elinor Rochdale's only hope. The destitute widow was drawn into the marriage scheme by Cheviot's own cousin, dashing Lord Carlyon. Casting her pride aside, she married the ailing Cheviot and soon became the sole heiress of Highnoons.

Parsons compares cultural responses to widowhood, chastity, marriage, etc. in countries around the world.