A Need for Deception

In the summer of 1815, Tristan Davenport, Viscount Henge is tired of racketing around London. He goes to his uncle?s Sussex estate, Ravenslea, in the hope that his uncle, Sir Richard Fanshaw, will teach him a bit about estate management. There, Tristan finds a warm, loving family, and is made welcome by all except one daughter, Anna. She cannot get over the fact that the home she loves is entailed to him. By midsummer, he has begun to melt her chilly fagade, but his father?s accidental death calls him home to Bath. On the way, he is attacked by highwaymen and must return to Ravenslea to recuperate. Tristan and Anna start to become friends, but he must return to Bath. Once there, he finds his somewhat sinister uncle installed and begins to discover a diabolical plot. When the Fanshaws go to Bath to visit, Anna expects the friendship they are building to resume, but does not find a warm welcome. Tristan and his mother, Lady Riverton, have different reasons for their distance, and all of the Fanshaws are puzzled. Eventually Sir Richard convinces Tristan to let the family help and they conceive an elaborate deception to trap the dastardly Uncle Chester.