Georgie Turner is a con man who has landed on the bad side of a crime boss. His brother Jack, a sort of private fixer, has been asked to help investigate the mental state of one Lawrence Browne, Earl Radnor. Lawrence's late father and older brother were both known to be mad, and rumors have been swirling about him as well. Jack sends Georgie to Cornwall to act as Radnor's new secretary, find out if he's mad, and generally to lay low for a while.
Radnor's not mad. He's an inventor and a bit of a hermit, devoting all of his interest to working on what will eventually be a telegraph and not, for example, figuring out how many of his servants didn't quit after the last time something blew up. He'd almost certainly be diagnosable with something by modern standards but he's thoroughly competent to manage his own affairs. That doesn't mean he isn't worried that he won't someday go mad like his father and his brother.
Georgie quickly realizes that he likes Radnor, and that he'll have to abandon the part of his plan where he tries to steal something from him worth enough to placate that crime boss. But as the two of them fall in love, the question looms of just how long Georgie can hide from his past, and Georgie and Lawrence can ignore the fact that he's there under false pretenses.
For most of this book, there is not much in the way of conflict, and it says something for it that it didn't need more. It's a rather slow paced story, one of two people without much of a place in society forming a family, as Georgie puts Radnor's house in order and encourages him to open up just a bit to the world. Every now and then a hint of an outside threat arises, but until the last few chapters, each one turns out to be surprisingly less of a threat than one thought. It's not a terribly suspenseful book, but in a way it's quite appropriate, just as Radnor adjusts some of his habits and the results turn out not to be so terrible after all.
Overall: B+