In the 1790s, George is a lawyer who is tasked with assisting Jasper Shrig to investigate a murder which took places decades ago. Jasper has many agents in the area, listening to old tales of the Earl and the scandal of years ago that may have led to his death. George is entirely confused about the mystery, but he meets a young lady, Clyte, and the two begin a vexatious flirtation. At first they annoy and tease each other, but gradually their irritation turns to love.

The story is much more focused on the romance, rather than the murder mystery. No less than three different couples meet, fall in love at first sight, and get engaged through the story. The mystery had some weird plot holes that did not make sense to me. The whole scandal of the Earl's cousin was never quite explained.

I did not like how Clyte's personality kept changing. In the beginning, I thought she was a villain. George despises her, because she has a cold and haughty look, and she swears and has bad manners. He literally calls her "evil" more than once, and tells everyone how much he hates her. Then a few chapters later, it's like she has a different personality. She still swears a little, but now she's all loveliness and kindness and grace. It just felt really weird to change gears so quickly.

The characters are really one-dimensional. The dialogue is painfully dramatic and trite. But it is delightfully old-fashioned and fun!