The Toll-Gate
Captain John Staple’s exploits in the Peninsula had earned him the sobriquet Crazy Jack among his fellow Dragoons. Now home from Waterloo, life is rather dull. But when he finds himself lost and benighted at an unmanned toll-house in the Pennines, his soldiering exploits pale away besides an...
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Captain John Staple’s exploits in the Peninsula had earned him the sobriquet Crazy Jack among his fellow Dragoons. Now home from Waterloo, life is rather dull. But when he finds himself lost and benighted at an unmanned toll-house in the Pennines, his soldiering exploits pale away besides an adventure — and romance — of a lifetime.
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Format: hardcover
Publish date: 1954
Publisher: Heinemann
Pages no: 283
Edition language: English
Umpteenth re-read. I love this book. Nell is one of Heyers older, sensible heroines, John is steady as a rock but very nosy and delighted to stumble across mysterious and sinister goings on. Heyer is in top-form here, there are a host of memorable secondary characters, and the language is simply won...
I really loved this one. My mother, who I introduced to Heyer a few years ago, read it before me and recommended it, commenting that it was interesting to see things through a man's pov. I agree with her. I've read several Heyers told through the hero's pov, but this one was very refreshing, because...
I last read this book about 16 or 17 years ago. I couldn't recall a single thing about it, even as I read it now. It is one of Heyer's romance mysteries. I found it similar to another of her novels of this kind -- The Unknown Ajax -- perhaps because the heroes of both these stories are so alike -- b...
This novel is not exactly a romance. It’s a mix of a love story and a mystery. The protagonist John Staple is a former army captain, big and amiable but extremely astute. During the Napoleonic wars, he was a dauntless officer, earning himself the nickname of Crazy Jack for his risky but invariably v...
While I enjoyed reading this book, I found it to be somewhat slow going. Captain John Staple was very entertaining, but I felt like I never got a particularly good feel for Miss Nell. Certainly their relationship came about rather faster than I really think is possible, but that's likely as not a re...
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