One Night for Seduction

For readers who don't mind anachronistic attitudes and lingo (“at the spinster-adjacent age of five-and-twenty”, e.g.) and are delighted by plucky eccentrics (“I'm most useful as a covert agent out on the streets avenging misapplied mathematics.”)
If I wanted historical fiction that embodied the spirit of the age, I'd give Ridley a miss, but when I'm in the mood for zaniness and vivid characters and utterly inventive twists on the old tropes, then: hooray, Ridley! I'll be reading more of this author; this was my second by her.
“Do you think I've nothing else to do all day but root up* suitors for determined wallflowers? I've the Royal Mint to mind–“
“I'm busy, too,” she interrupted hotly.
”–and the Consolidated Fund to consider–“
“Which would work better if monies could be appropriated for public works.”
”–and smoothing vendor discrepancies regarding the weight and size of their products–“
“If the extremely busy, super important featherwits of the House of Lords would spend as much time on logic as on their mistresses, perhaps England could standardize its units instead of juggling twenty-seven definitions of ‘bushel.' Not to mention the peck, the jigger, the pottle, the firkin–“
“That's how measurement works.” He arched a brow. “Next you'll want to switch from yards to meters.”


*unintentionally rude pun? I doubt it–written by an American.