Regency Christmas [Mass Market Paperback]

Sandra Heath's contribution, "The Solid Silver Chess Set" irked me, sadly, although it was clever and amusing enough. I just don't like fantasy and especially not mixed with Regency fare. Sorry - this one gave me indigestion! Elves. Yeech!

Amanda McCabe's "Partridge in a Pear Tree" is better. She has used a tried and perfected "winner takes all format" where through the machinations of a rich elderly relative, a poor woman and a poor man trump everyone and walk away with the prize of the inheritance. Using a "scavenger hunt" (in England more likely to be called a treasure hunt) a couple win the ultimate prize as well as riches - true love. Well enough done.

Edith Layton's story is a reworking of the Scrooge story with a twist. A poor woman (and not in her first youth!) wins her love when she is set up by her particular Scrooge. There is sparkling conversation here and a fun few pages. Layton always does this sort of thing well.

You can rely on Barbara Metzger for comedy and wit. Here is a sample "His lordship (our hero) was known to be pockets-to-let, seeking to repair his tattered fortune with a dowry darning needle". And another: "She (our heroine) was used to Hanbury House and Ravencroft, not a ramshackle residence for rats and bats and down-at-heels aristocrats". Enough said - this story is delicious and peopled with amusing characters. Gregory and Claire deserve each other and it was fun to watch them!

Carla Kelly is simply one of the best in the business and she NEVER lets you down. Her story of Mary McIntyre, suddenly set adrift from all she has ever known, and Joe Shepard, a not-so-ordinary simple man from a humble background, is peopled by wonderful secondary characters all of whom add to the story in a tight-knit tale of love, greed, humility and acceptance - all in a few short pages which sum up so well all that is important about Christmas. This woman never ceases to amaze me with her huge talents.

A lovely Christmas holiday read; highly recommended particularly for the Layton, Metzger and Kelly contributions.

We begin with Layton's The Amiable Miser. Joy, orphaned in her teens, has lived with her miserly uncle for several years, and she works in his bookshop, mainly because he realised that a pretty young woman would bring in customers. One of Joy's innovations is a romance section: Minerva Press books for the ladies, run as a circulating library. As a result, a number of local ladies meet there regularly to swap recommendations. The hero comes into the picture when Lady Gray, a regular, is ill and her nephew Niall returns a book on her behalf. Joy's uncle engages in a bit of matchmaking by ensuring that Joy and Niall have to spend some time in each other's company. This is an enjoyable little story, although I'm not really convinced that it's all that credible.

A Home for Hannah is second; Barbara Metzger borrows what is now a very over-used idea, that of the poverty-stricken hero. Gregory, Viscount Bellington, has inherited the family title and estates, but his late father and brother gambled all their money away. So he needs to marry someone wealthy in order to survive and rescue his estates. Unfortunately, his proposal to an heiress is interrupted by the appearance of a child who is Gregory's image. Everyone thinks that she is his illegitimate daughter; Gregory realises that she must be his brother's child from one of his many liaisons. The only person who will help Gregory with Hannah is Clare Haney, sister of a neighbour. Is it possible that together they could make a home for Hannah?

Amanda McCabe's A Partridge in a Pear Tree is an unusual and delightful short story. Lady Kirkwood is trying to decide which of her relatives to make her heir. So she decides to hold a house party, and to give the guests a challenge: find the gifts of the eponymous Christmas song. Allison Gordon and William Bradford form part of one of the teams, and come up with some extremely imaginative ways of meeting the challenge. The story is a lot of fun and has some delightful moments. The only thing which bothered me was that I really couldn't see Allison and her sisters leaving their mother alone in the family cottage for Christmas.

Sandra Heath's The Solid Silver Chess Set is the poorest of this collection. The chess set of the title is being carried by an elf as a gift from one elf lord to another, and the elf is present as part of the need for intervention between the two estranged lovers of the story, Philip, Earl of Allensmore and Julia Talbot. However, I found Philip and Julia - especially Julia - rather immature and unconvincing as lovers; both were too quick to jump to conclusions, and Julia especially came across as extremely fickle.

Finally, the gem of the collection is Carla Kelly's No Room at the Inn. Kelly specialises in unusual situations and heroines, and this novella is no exception. Having been brought up as the daughter of an earl, Mary now discovers that she was adopted shortly after her birth and is in fact the illegitimate daughter of a courtesan. The true circumstances of her origins having emerged because her grandmother traced her, Mary's adoptive parents had to tell her the truth - and effectively evicted her from their home. So she is now travelling to her grandmother's home, escorted by the family solicitor and his wife and children. Her new status is evident in the way the solicitor now treats her. Brought up as a lady, but now the bastard daughter of a nobody, where does Mary belong? But when her party is forced to seek shelter at the home of Joseph Shephard, son of her 'father's' estate steward, she realises that there is indeed a place where she belongs.

With one excellent and three very good stories, this is a collection I'll certainly want to keep.

In some years, the books have had a theme, but this year they're just wonderful, heart-warming stories. Edith Layton's "The Amiable Miser" gives us a different look at a miserly sort of fellow, but one with the proverbial heart of gold. And even though he didn't really have to spend any of his valuables, he was still able to provide his niece with her heart's desire.

Barbara Metzger turns from her usual menagerie to the 'infantry' in the delightful "A Home for Hannah". Hannah is an orphan, or so she and the rest of the world thinks, until one day in the park, she spies a likely candidate to be her new 'Papa', thus setting in motion all sorts of interesting activities. Her new Papa is a penniless gentleman who discovers that love can indeed conquer all.

"A Partridge in a Pear Tree" by Amanda McCabe proves that the eye of the beholder may not always see the same things as the rest of the world, but in the end, it is the one who sets the rules that wins the game. Simplicity is, in many instances, much better than grandiose ideas, as established by Lady Kirkwood with her competition. Of course, the Lady wins out, bringing together two young relatives, Allison and William, who discover the true meaning of Christmas.

Certainly there are elves afoot at Christmastime; if you have doubts, you need do no more than read "The Solid Silver Chess Set" by Sandra Heath. If you then still have doubts, you can have no heart, no soul, and no sense of humor, either. The trials of poor little Bramble Bumblekin will bring a smile to your heart if you will but let them, and your soul will be warmed by the reunion of the formerly-fickle Miss Julia and her erstwhile suitor, Philip. Even young Bramble's holiday is made brighter by the inventive imagination of the author.

And finally, Carla Kelly unveils the solution to a mystery in "No Room at the Inn", allowing the young Mary to find not only her identity but her family as well. Twice over, in fact, when Joe also settles her into a love-filled home she'd never thought to have.

Any of these stories will provide a magnum of holiday cheer; together they'll warm your chilly nights and make you think of happy holidays! Enjoy!