When The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue opens, wealthy dilettante Henry Montague and his best friend Percy are setting off on the Grand Tour. Unfortunately, it looks to be more educational than Monty and Percy would like, since they’ll be accompanied by a chaperone/guide employed by Monty’s uptight father, plus they’ll be escorting Monty’s annoying bluestocking sister to finishing school.

But don’t worry, all the best-laid plans of beneficial social connections and cultural education go wrong, very quickly. With a game of strip poker,  a little petty theft, piracy, the love that dare not speak its name, a sinking crypt, a secret and incurable illness, evilly plotting noblemen, and enough family secrets to fill two gothic novels, I was pretty sure this adventure story was actually about Lord Byron.

The twists and misadventures are half the fun of this novel, and the other half is the cutting, carefully-observed character description. Is there such thing as a Gothic Manners novel?