George Kemble: Liz Carlyle's Man in Regency London

Every time I read a Liz Carlyle book I think, I really must do a blog post on her one day.

I've just finished Never Lie to a Lady. It was good, and better than the other two in the Never series for me. But this is not a review of Never Lie to a Lady.

Carlyle is a really solid writer for me. Even the books of hers that haven't worked so well IMO have nevertheless been well-put together. Her prose isn't particularly breathless or gorgeous but it's very good. Clear and well expressed. Good storytelling. The pages turn, I want to go on reading.

Her settings are excellent. There's always lots of well-researched detail in them that never degenerates into a history lecture. I also like the way she mixes up the classes/ worlds of the time. We don't just go to ballrooms in Carlyle books, we go down to the docks, into the seamier areas of London, into theatres and brothels; we meet servants and doxies and shopkeepers and cutthroats as well as peers. And these are proper characters rather than outlines. We see that the servants are part of a household, not invisible ciphers who conveniently vanish whenever something more interesting is about to happen.

In fact one of my favourite characters in Never Lie to a Lady is the hero's valet, Gibbons. Here is a classic exchange:

'Good God man - what are you doing with my coat?'

...'Making a futile attempt to dispel the stench of tobacco smoke and cheap eau de toilette,' (Gibbons) said over his shoulder, ' It utterly reeks, my lord. Where in God's name did you go last night?'

...'Played macao with Struthers at some Soho hellhole,' (Nash) answered, returning his gaze to the paper. 'Now stop waving my coat at Hyde Park before you spook a horse.'

'My lord, it stinks.'

'Take it down to the butler's pantry.'

Gibbons shot him a testy look. 'I cannot,' he said. 'Agnes has asthma. If I take it belowstairs she'll wheeze for a week.'

These two bicker away like the Odd Couple in a way I very much enjoyed. But Gibbons is only my second-favourite Liz Carlyle valet of all time. My favourite, of course, is George Kemble. I adore George Kemble.

Kemble (he is always referred to as Kemble rather than George) first popped up in Carlyle's debut novel, My False Heart, as the hero's valet. Whilst he hasn't been in every Carlyle book since then, he's been in a lot of them - certainly the Devil ones and all three of the most recent Never series.

Kemble is a resolutely secondary character, small and perfectly formed. He is not being set up for his own book but his character has continued to develop throughout the books he has appeared in. This is slightly unusual in the romance genre these days where characters are often only developed and richly drawn when there is the possibility of them getting their own books.

I always look forward to meeting Kemble again because he's a wonderful character. He's gay, slightly camp, flamboyant, dangerous, courageous, witty, slightly vain and - in my head - rather gorgeous. I picture him slender and shorter than the average romance hero with blond hair. Funnily enough, when I went hunting through a couple of Carlyles for a physical description, he was described as having dark hair. But I think he will always be fair in my head. I picture him a bit like Anthony Andrews as Sebastian in Brideshead Revisited but in Regency garb. Not that I'm at all specific about these things!

The high watermark for Kemble's appearances came in The Devil to Pay when we discovered his full backstory. The heroine in that book was his sister and the hero also had a connection to him. It was so rewarding to discover that Kemble - whose part I had enjoyed in other books - had a full and dramatic backstory worthy of a main character. By this time, Kemble had moved on from being a valet to owning a sort of antique shop with his 'very good friend' Maurice. But we've also learned that he knows every thief and whore in London, that he's lethal in a fight, that he's not above a little thievery of sorts himself and that he nevertheless has a strict code of honour of his own, though not necessarily one that fits with society's views. In one of the books, he begins to work with Max De Vendenhiem, the hero of another Carlyle book and sort of proto-police-detective. It's in this semi-official guise that he pops up in each book of the Never series.

There's a deliciousness to having this incrementally built-up knowledge about a character. We suspect how he may react in certain situations and are rewarded when he does so. (As I type this I'm reminded of Nix from Kresley Cole's Immortals series). And we're allowed to share secrets with him in seemingly innocuous exchanges. For example, in Never Deceive a Duke, in the early part of the novel, a number of characters, including Kemble are discussing the fact that the hero has just come into a dukeship (spolier ahead).

'And the most shocking thing, Mr Kemble!' (Xanthia) laid a hand on his coat sleeve. 'Gareth is going to be a duke!'

'Oh, Good God, Zee!' Gareth felt his blood begin to boil. 'Just hush, please.'

'I am perfectly serious,' she said, still addressing Kemble. 'Gareth has a secret duke in his family!'

'Yes, well, don't we all. ' Mr Kemble smiled tightly.

Part of me would love Kemble to get his own book, but I worry that that might spoil him a bit for me. In any event, Carlyle's own website seems to indicate that this is unlikely.

Perhaps Carlyle has it exactly right, serving up this fabulous character in small, delicious portions.