Quiet Gentleman BY Georgette Heyer

This is one of Heyer's adventure stories, more of a mystery book than a romance. Gervase Frant, Earl of St Erth, returns to his family home in Lincolnshire, a year after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. He had been a professional soldier all through the wars and had not seen much of his family. His father, a severe man, had married twice. His first wife was Gervase's mother, who was unhappy in her marriage and who ran off with a notorious rake, within a few years of marriage. Lord St Erth was enraged and remarried a few years later, after her death. He had 2 more children by his second wife, a son Martin and a daughter Louisa. He disliked his eldest son, because the boy was a reminder of his mother, and Gervase spent more time with his mother's family. Martin was favoured by his father, who treated his second son as though he was the heir and not Gervase. Gervase went into the army and rarely came home, disliking his domineering stepmother and not caring much for his half brother and sister. His only friend at home was his cousin Theodore, the son of Lord St Erth's younger brother, who had been reared at Stanyon the family home. As an adult, Theodore took on running the estates. Gervase returns home, to take up his title and estate, but although he is a gentle man who does not like conflict, he feels ill at ease with his stepmother and the rest of the family, apart from Theodore. He tells Theo that he might decide to live at one of the smaller family houses, but he knows that his father left a lot of his property to Martin. He also finds that Lady St Erth has a young woman friend staying with her, and he finds the girl rather dull, and hopes that his stepmother is not trying to marry him off to her.