Andre Norton's Stand and Deliver

[RegLit]

Not quite regency romance, but it is a regency adventure, sort of in the tradition of Jeffrey Farnol or even Baroness D'Orczy.

Murray Lyon had just been released from an Indian tribe when he is informed that his father has inherited an earldom. Though the new position salvages their financial situation, his father had fled to China (to escape lenders) and no one had heard from him. Murray is forced to go to England to claim his inheritance while they attempt to contact his father.

Murray, of course, has no idea of how to behave in society, so a minor aristocrat is hired to give him some polish. Unfortunately, he runs into an unsavoury character who was intimate with the previous earl and held some power over him. As he tries to match his wits against Captain Whyte, with the help of a Bow Street Runner and a highwayman, the late earl's secrets are revealed.

There could have been a romance, if not for Murray, then for the highwayman, but Mr. Norton chose not to include that. Interesting read from an author well-known for science fiction.