Fast and Fastidious: A Novel

Pride and Prejudice meets The Fast and the Furious in this rollicking, romantic Regency adventure in which a meticulous young woman must abandon the rules of propriety to save Britain—and perhaps even find love along the way. . . .

England, 1810. Lucy Elliot has often been described as fastidious, given her belief that there is an objectively correct and logical way to do things. And while she strives to be proper in every way, she does have one rather scandalous secret: Lucy, the prim and gentle lady, is  a frequent attendee of the entirely disreputable and illicit Night Races, where unchaperoned men and women from all social classes gather on dark country lanes to gamble on the outcomes of furiously fast carriage races.

But her secret might become more than just a danger to her reputation when her mysterious new neighbor, Captain Dashwood, begins partaking in the races. Lucy can’t help but feel there’s something more to the handsome Captain Dashwood than meets the eye, and she suspects that his arrival in the neighborhood in the midst of a spate of curious and alarming carriage robberies is no mere coincidence—something is most certainly afoot in the county, and it’s a mystery Lucy intends to solve.

 Though Lucy prides herself on her preparedness, she never could have anticipated the web of lies, deceit, and espionage that she finds herself and Captain Dashwood entangled in; nor could she have known that the very fate of Britain would hang in the balance. But will her meticulous nature be the very thing that saves her, or will it be her—and England's—undoing?

R.M. Caldwell is based in Hamilton, New Zealand, and writes and directs theatre, as well as being on the board of an independent theatre.