Review: Nice collection of Chater stories
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 1, 2013
I liked this collection.  The Gamester involves a story in which the family home is lost due to a teenager's lost bet.  As one reviewer pointed out, since the young man was a minor, the bet shouldn't have been collected as he had no business placing the bet in the first place.  But, to the brother and sister who live in the home, it is obviously a sense of honor which compels them to hand over the house to the bet's winner.  And of course, the winner is the H, so how could the h and H meet other than in this fashion?  The h is very likable, as is the H, despite the bet.  The brother is not likable, being just plain mean as well as stupid.The King's Doll involves the story of a mother and daughter who flee France and are welcomed (or rather, not welcomed) into a dowager's home in London.  However, unlikable characters redeem themselves by the end of the story.  You really feel for the mother and daughter and root for them to find happiness.Lady Dearborn's Debut is a comedy of errors.  A case of mistaken identity leads to all sorts of misunderstandings and misadventures.  Fun, madcap story.Lord Randal's Tiger keeps you guessing with constant surprises.  Just when you think the story will go down one road, the story ends up taking another path altogether.This Kindle version was transferred from the print version, and in the process, mistakes were made that were not caught.  There are typos, and in some of the stories, a "1/4" takes the place of a letter.  Very confusing, but you can figure it out.  All four of the novels contained in this collection are clean, as is the case with all of the other Chater novels I have read with the exception of Emerald Love (which contains rape scenes).Chater is not on pare with Georgette Heyer, but most of her novels are worth reading.