<p><i>"Lively, amusing ... done to a turn!"</i><br> <b>- Kirkus Reviews</b></p> <p>A fateful mistake...</p> <p>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.</p> <p>A momentous decision...</p> <p>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 ...</p> <p>WHAT READERS SAY ABOUT THE RELUCTANT WIDOW:</p> <p>"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."</p> <p>"One of my favorites!"</p> <p>"A delightfully funny and mysterious romp."</p> <p><i>"Reading Georgette Heyer is the next best thing to reading Jane Austen."</i><br> <b>- Publisher's Weekly</b></p>