Regency romantic suspense
The parents of 23-year-old Emma, Lady Wright, married her off to a wealthy aristocrat, who is much older than her, when she was in her late teens. Lord Benjamin Wright is a well respected member of the House of Commons in public, but he is a vicious brute of a husband in private. In particular, their sex life is a nightmare of (implied, not shown onstage) marital rape. Then one night he is murdered in their London home. If it had not been for the fact that her husband had locked her in her room that night, Emma would have been accused of his murder. But in spite of her ironclad alibi, Emma's reputation is ruined among the ton.
The Comte Saint-Juste is a handsome, charming, wealthy French emigree, who is very popular among the ton. Because he is deeply attracted to gentle, exquisitely beautiful Emma, he takes a strong interest in discovering who the real murderer of her husband is. In the process of his amateur detective work, he and Emma spend a great deal of time together, and they are frequently endangered by the vicious villain who killed her husband and the evil minions of that villain.
At age 23, Emma is one of the oldest FMCs that MC ever wrote, which is mainly because she is not a debutante, but has been married. We are never told how old the Comte is, but going by the age range of virtually every one of Chesney's Regency MMCs, I would presume he is between 32-34. The age gap between them is a big improvement over the typical 15-17 year difference in Chesney's Regency novels.
This story is a frequently melodramatic romantic suspense. There is only one moment of levity, and it is Chesney at her most comically bizarre, when the villains are improbably finally defeated via a series of slapstick maneuvers of an entirely unexpected set of subcharacters.
Chesney has written many Regency, romantic-suspense novels in which the FMC is quite dynamic. Unfortunately, Emma is not one of those FMCs. In this story, the Comte and various significant subcharacters save poor Emma every time she is in dire danger. She is never allowed to save herself.
Overall, this is a quick and entertaining read. However, though it is not one of the worst Regencies that Chesney ever wrote (and she has written some real clunkers), it is definitely not one of the best.