Published in 1935, Regency Buck was the first of Heyer’s Regency novels. Unlike quite a few of her later Regency novels, she did not dismiss this one as mere escapism, declaring to her agent that she believed it to be “a classic”.

Our heroine, Judith Taverner, is a beautiful heiress left to the guardianship of our hero, the 5th Earl of Worth. Possibly it was a mistake on Miss Taverner’s father’s part, and he meant for the guardian to be the Earl’s father (his friend), or perhaps it wasn’t, since the 4th Earl died first.

Among the supporting cast are Miss Taverner’s younger brother, Sir Peregrine, an eager boy with fashionable aspirations; Mrs Scattergood, the Earl’s cousin and Miss Taverner’s chaperone, a woman with no pretensions to beauty and so has eccentricities instead; sober cousin Bernard, offering a stolid alternative to the Earl for Judith’s hand; easy-going Charles Audley, the Earl’s brother, whom you might remember from An Infamous Army (though Regency Buck came first); as well as various historical personages, like the Royal Dukes (Clarence in particular) and Beau Brummel, who gives Judith tips on creating fashions.

Though Heyer may have called this one a classic, it’s not my favourite. A bit heavy on the historical detail and a bit light on her later absurdities and comedy. It has its moments, and you can see all the research she did for it, but -! Honestly, I think it’s Judith Taverner which is the problem.

I just don’t really warm to her. Or, really, the Earl of Worth. Which is odd, because he’s very much a Heyer-hero. Maybe it’s the guardian aspect, although that doesn’t really prevent me from liking the Duke of Avon and Leonie in These Old Shades. Probably, though, it’s just that it’s less of a romp. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read it and reread it over the years, and will probably continue to do so, but it doesn’t rank amongst my favourites. No stand-out comic moments or characters. Charles, invalided home from an 1811 campaign, does, I’ll grant you, bring an air of levity to the proceedings, but it’s not really enough to lift the novel up the ranks.

It does, apparently, also contain one of Heyer’s rare historical errors: the description of the Regent’s summer palace in Brighton describes it after John Nash’s redesign in the years after Regency Buck is set. Not that this really detracts from the story, and you’d have to know considerably more about Brighton Pavilion and its history (or, you know, have visited it) to know its various incarnations and their dates.

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