These are not necessarily her best-executed books, although a lot of them probably would probably rank highly in that regard. These are the ones I like the best and turn to most often.

Frederica 

Why Do I Like It? Hands-down, the best cast of characters in the canon. We have a phlegmatic heroine, an unusually nuanced take on the rich selfish snarker hero, the good-looking but dumb beta couple who are related to the leads, the hero’s two very different sisters and his level-headed secretary, the heroine’s brother who wants to be a Jules Verne character when he grows up, and of course the “Baluchistan hound.” I don’t think there’s a dud in the entire cast. The first half or two-thirds contains some of Heyer’s funniest bits. 

Words of Warning: The last third, where the heroine is stonewalling the hero, Jules Verne Boy gets into serious trouble and the beta couple try very hard to do the same, is kind of meh. I feel like it gets its comedic mojo back towards the end and goes out on a high note, but the romance-minded don’t tend to agree with me. 

Cotillion 

Why Do I Like It? I feel like it’s her most consistently funny book, while also juggling two pretty charming romances and a couple of also charming but less romantic pairings. Unlikely hero Freddy Standen, a ditzy fop who triumphs over all obstacles thanks to his common sense and command of the protocols of his world, is one of my favorites. 

Word of Warning: The first couple of chapters, setting up the situation, can be tough sledding, and I never stop cringing at the early scene where heroine Kitty proposes a Fake Boyfriend gambit to Freddy, even though it is necessary to what follows. Also, this book subverts a lot of tropes Heyer usually plays straight (the snarky alpha jerk is more or less the villain of the piece, not the hero), so it plays better after you’ve read some of her other works.  

The Nonesuch 

Why Do I Like It? It’s one of the most Austen-influenced of Heyer works, set in a small town where everyone is up in everyone else’s business, complete with lawyer-friendly versions of Charles Bingley, Jane Bennet, Mrs. Jennings and Jane Fairfax (highly extrapolated of course, since Jane F. is largely a cipher in Emma). The Jane Fairfax analogue finds a much better beau than Frank Churchill, in the shape of the title character, who is rich, handsome, athletic, philanthropic and only snarks at people who deserve it. The spoiled, beautiful heiress in the supporting cast is both actually pretty funny and extremely monstrous, a classic Heyer creation. 

Words of Warning: Some of the comedic characters wear out their welcome by the end, and the main romance is delayed by a Big Misunderstanding which is understandable from the heroine’s point of view but absolutely infuriating from the audience’s, because we can see how badly she’s slandering The Nonesuch. 

The Quiet Gentleman 

Why Do I Like It? A Spooky Old House, a dashing hero who’s a master of social jiujutsu, his hilariously self-centered stepmother, a sensible, humorous Plain Jane who wins the dashing hero, Plain Jane’s equally hilarious parents, a bit of mystery, and a lot of hurt/comfort tropes, usually with the hero being hurt and the heroine doing the rescuing and comforting. 

Words of Warning: Mystery subplot doesn’t have enough suspects to carry the plot by itself, although I would argue that it doesn’t need to. I feel like the novel needs a few more lines here and there explicitly showing the hero warming up to the heroine, and I find some of the supporting characters, notably the Bow Street Runner, and the hero’s old war buddy, kind of a waste of space. The subplot about the hero’s half-brother being an ass to the ditzy local beauty can be annoying to modern sensibilities: Local Beauty blames herself for not setting boundaries with Young Ass sooner, and nobody really disagrees with her, but it’s generally agreed within the story that Young Ass is the one primarily to blame for being a Young Ass to her. Also, I wouldn’t mind another couple pages of the leads in full on courtship mode while their respective parents butt their heads together, but it does end on a high note, in my opinion. 

The Grand Sophy 

Why Do I like It? The title character is such a wonderful wish fulfillment figure: money, looks, cool clothes, cool horses and pets, almost infallible judge of character, and the ability to handle firearms. She’s basically what Emma Woodhouse would be if her dad was the exact opposite of Henry Woodhouse. Add Marianne Dashwood and Colonel Brandon knockoffs as the main beta couple, and a bunch of wacky hijinks, and you have one of Heyer’s funniest books. 

Words of Warning: There’s an embarrassing, awful stereotype of a Jewish moneylender, a dude so weaselly that Star Trek would probably cast him as a Ferengi. He is unfortunately inextricably linked to one of Sophy’s coolest moments, which would do credit to any Wild West hero. Some editions remove the references to him being Jewish, so you might get lucky. Sophy’s other big gun-happy moment is pretty cringey and could have turned out a lot worse than it does. The hero is fairly nuanced and entertaining as this type of Heyer hero goes, but he’s still an autocratic jerk, and a lot of readers can’t get past him being Sophy’s first cousin. 

Sprig Muslin 

Why Do I Like It? This is the funniest and best-executed of several novels she wrote where a dashing yet sensible gentleman of the ton gets stuck babysitting a young runaway woman. The hero’s a cool dude, his love interest (not the runaway) is a cool gal, and Young Runaway herself is actually a fairly gutsy and intelligent person with just enough conscience to escape full-blown sociopathy. 

Words of Warning: I personally have to be in the mood for this particular brand of absurdity, but I’m in the mood for it a lot oftener than I am for the Medium/Low Rotation titles. Some people are uncomfortable about the age gap between the late-teens Young Runaway and her early-twenties military boyfriend, and their decision to marry quickly at the end of the book, which happens basically because the major characters agree that being a military wife on campaign is probably a better outlet for Young Runaway’s brains and energy than what she’s been doing all book. 

These Old Shades 

Why Do I Like It? Justin, the arrogant, quasi-villainous male lead, is paired with Leonie, a young Frenchwoman who likes to stab people in the face. Heyer’s various male autocrat/female termagent pairings are ultimately inferior knockoffs of these two, lacking Justin’s suavity and Leonie’s charm. Justin and Leonie are adorable together, and the likable supporting cast all figure that out a long time before our lead couple does. Once Justin finds out that Leonie’s high-born birth-father a) abandoned her and b) is an old enemy of his, he hatches a revenge scheme worthy of the Count of Monte Cristo, but less drawn out. Also, one of Heyer’s most sympathetic clergymen shows up, and he belongs to my religion (Catholic). Not important to most people, but kind of a nice Easter egg for me. 

Words of Warning: I feel like the middle section in England kind of sags, and the anti-heroic lead couple are really the kind of people you either love or hate. 

Black Sheep 

Why Do I Like It? The heroine feels like what Jane Austen would have been after her father’s death, if she had money and actually liked Bath. Her relative/companion is possibly a mashup of negative stereotypes about the two Cassandra Austens (Jane’s mother and her favorite sister) but is still pretty entertaining. There’s also a Marianne Dashwood wannabe, a much younger but still East Indies adjacent Brandon wannabe, a cad who’s more Wickham than Willoughby, and a sardonic, nouveau riche hero whom Lee Van Cleef would have played with great panache if he could have swung the accent. It’s a fun set of characters who get into trouble in pretty entertaining ways. 

Words of Warning: The crosstalk scene where our heroine first meets her love interest never stops making me cringe, and sometimes a certain part of the hero’s backstory puts me off as well. It involves a fling, as a very young and clueless man, with an older but glamorous woman who was the aunt(?) of the heroine. 

Venetia 

Why Do I Like It? Beautiful young woman chafes at her sheltered existence, where she has no intellectual peers except her scholarly, self-centered (and disabled) brother. Then the dashing rake of the neighborhood, whom she’s somehow never met before, shows up and they banter their way to Twu Wuv. This is another one with a very entertaining, well-drawn cast, and a lot of fun dialogue. It is also one of the few times I actually buy the “reformed rake” trope. 

Words of Warning: The rake forcibly kisses her at first meeting, being under the impression that she’s a woman of the servant class who knows of his reputation and has come onto his property looking, um, for a good time. He does apologize once he finds out that’s not what she’s here for, but he’s pretty classist about it, and you kind of have to parse out for yourself the fact that he assumes any woman coming onto his property knows his reputation and has intentions as dishonorable as his own. Heroine finds some longlost relatives towards the end who are meant to be funny but can also come off as sad and creepy if you’re in the wrong mood.