Trouble with Harry [Mass Market Paperback]

Harry is the hero he is an ex-spy a widower and father of 5 energetic children. The children need a mother and Harry wants a companion but Harry does not want to do the 'season' thing so places and advert in the local paper (he is new to the area).

Over 30 women apply but Harry chooses Plum and they marry. However both are keeping secrets. Plums secret is that she is also Vyvyan La Blue author of the famed "Guide to Connubial Callisthenics". Harry has 3 secrets 1) He is a Marquis, 2)He has 5 children and 3) His spying days maybe coming back to bite him on the butt.

A light hearted romp follows with an odd over enthusiastic butler, plus blackmail and kidnapping thrown into the mix.

If you have read Katie Macalister s books before you know what to expect, if you have not and want a funny light take on a middle aged couple in a regency romance with a dash of adventure this is the book for you.

And Trouble With Harry is a sheer delight from page one! One of my favourite Hitchcock movies carries this name. It was deadpan humour that was just so on target, so it's not surprising to find this book is the same. It's a delightful Regency - and from the opening scene where beleaguered Harry is trying to explain the facts of "womanhood" to his eldest daughter - you are already laughing out loud!

The Trouble with Harry, 45-years-old- is a father, coming to parenthood late in life. There in little India - no longer the little angel sent to grace her life since she is in urgent need to know about the birds and the bees, the twins trying to "fly" from the barn roof again, Marston - Harry's heir - who thinks he would rather be a blacksmith than the next Marquis Rosse, and MacTavish who presents his father dear with his latest "finds". Harry, left to raise his five hellions...um, precocious darlings on his own, faces the decision he has to remarry, find a good stable woman who can bring some semblance to his chaotic life. Being a smart man, he immediately instructs Templeton, his man of affairs to find him a suitable wife by advertising for one.

He would like a companion suited to him, and one who could bring peace to his herd, so he wants Templeton to move quickly before word gets out Lord Harry needs a wife. He dictates he wants a woman between 35-50, who must like children and be possesses a "certain charm to her appearance", though it's not absolutely necessary. While she might not have to be toothsome, he would like to look at her and not think of a bulldog!

Enters Plum. She desperately wants a family, would love children, but no man in all of Dorset would accept her "after the scandal" - well, no man except Harry. She was married once, well almost married. Charles her husband, forgot to mention one little thing before their marriage - that he already had a wife! But Plum is understanding and does not judge all men by Charles. Also, she is an author of "The Guide to Connubial Calisthenics" - a book deemed so obscene to be banned by the government. Plum answers the ad in the paper and is shocked to find after answering three questions that Harry and she are engaged to be married the day after tomorrow. And the fun begins.

Katie Macalister gives us a wonderful, funny tale of middle-age people who think romance has past them by. Three cheers for Macalister and let's hope she keeps them coming! No one does them quite like her!