An impoverished widow opens a hotel serving the society she has fallen from in this regency romance featuring characters who “leap off the pages” (Publishers Weekly).

After her husband’s death, Lady Fortescue knows she must work, even though the thought will appal her society relatives. So she decides to transform her once-grand Bond Street home into a hotel, the Poor Relation, offering society guests the pleasure of being waited upon by nobility.

With the help of other down-and-out aristocrats, London’s newest, most fashionable hotel is born. And it is the perfect venue for Lady Fortescue to play with the love lives of her guests and staff, starting with her nephew, the dashing Duke of Rowcester. Lady Fortescue has it on good authority that the duke once shared a dance with darling Harriet James, the hotel cook. When the duke comes to London, Lady Fortescue orchestrates a reunion that is sure to scandalize the ton...

New York Times bestseller M.C. Beaton, the pen name for regency author Marian Chesney, “expertly sets the scene, recapturing the bawdiness and color of a long-ago time. . . . Hilarious and tragic; larceny, attempted murder, a satisfactory love affair and unlikely alliances make the hotel the liveliest spot in London” (Publishers Weekly).

“A charming and humorous Regency.” —Library Journal

“A solid cast of eccentrics.” —Booklist