Barbara Metzger jumps aboard the paranormal bandwagon, but in a subtle, very Traditional Regency way. The results are mostly fun for this Metzger fan.

Sir Coryn of Ardsley, a knight of the Crusades, has, since his death, acted as Death. For centuries he eased people into death all the while longing to make amends, to atone for his actions in the Crusades - to have another chance to be a better man. After much planning, he gambles with the Devil and wins his chance. He and his hourglass brooch, the symbol of his office, are cast out, landing in the aftermath of Waterloo. Coryn is given six months to find his brooch and his humanity. The gremlin who had attached himself to Coryn's leg makes the journey as well. Metzger always has "a bit with a dog" in her stories. The gremlin, who transforms himself into a crow, stands in for the Metzger "dog" and is sent off on reconnaissance missions to find the brooch.

Imogene "Genie" Macklin was widowed on the eve of the battle when Elgin, her husband, was found in bed with another woman and killed by the angry husband. She is in an awful predicament, for no one believes that she and Elgin were married. Wellington insisted that his aides be single men, so Elgin passed her off as his sister. Now he is dead, she is pregnant and rejected by the officer's wives who denounce her as a fallen woman.

Genie and Coryn meet in a makeshift hospital where both are working on the battle's victims. Coryn is able to give comfort to and calm those with a chance to live, and ease the way for those who do not. He admires Genie's courage and compassion - and her looks - and when he learns her story, asks her to marry him, thinking that saving this damsel in distress is the perfect way to begin his road to redemption. Genie thinks he is dotty, but he is also kind and she really has no other practical choice - she has no money, no reputation and, with her pregnancy, no opportunity to find work. They marry and return to England.

Coryn and Genie settle into London and become friends, though Coryn scares Genie sometimes. She knows he is honorable and kind, but she also knows that there is something distinctly odd - almost otherworldly - about him and she has seen him doing strange, seemingly magical things. But as she grows to care for him, she is most afraid that her scandalous reputation will reflect poorly on him. Coryn for his part, soon adores Genie and is determined to repair her reputation and see her accepted in the ton for her own sake and the sake of her child whom he will claim, but also so she can continue his charities and foundations after his time is up.

What of the hourglass brooch? Coryn doesn't really expect to ever find it, knowing that if the Devil doesn't want him to, it is highly unlikely to happen. He just wants to do as much good as he can in the time allotted him. However, he sets up envoys and searchers. Rewards for the hourglass are posted and they are soon up to their eyeballs in hourglasses. They eventually have to set aside a room in their home to receive, inspect and process all the hourglasses, but none of them are correct.

Genie and Coryn are interesting, fully-fleshed characters, genuinely nice people without being "too nice," if you know what I mean, and I enjoyed reading their story. Metzger's artful alliteration and wry humor is firmly in place here and, for the most part, gave me a feeling of "coming home."

And that is the best and the worst part of the book. For someone like me, a dyed-in-the-wool Regency Trad fan, Metzger's storytelling is familiar and comforting, with the added twist of the touch of the paranormal. If you are a Traditional Regency fan, a Barbara Metzger fan, you will enjoy this story, as I did. However, Metzger has a very stylized voice, and it is a voice I find best suited for the shorter format of a Regency. In a longer length, I find myself feeling that she has added too many situations, almost vignettes or set-pieces, packed with too many characters in order to achieve an historical romance's page length.

The Hourglass would have been a DIK for me if it were a Traditional Regency. As an historical, it is still a good read, especially for Regency fans who are still wearing their black armbands in memorial to the Trad.