With the imminent demise of the traditional Regency, I find myself becoming more and more attached to them. I can’t help feeling nostalgic, and I keep snapping them up, paying little heed to whether I even liked the author in the past. June Calvin’s The Ruby Ghost is a fairly tepid offering, one that probably won’t appeal to most readers (unless you are suffering from a buy-them-all-while-you-still-can compulsion similar to mine).

Penelope Jones is a clergyman’s daughter from Wales with a large number of step-siblings. She’s had to support herself, and since her most recent companion job just ended, she’s searching for work as a governess. During her interview for a position as governess to the Marquess of Silverthorne’s son, she must struggle not to reveal her desperation; she’s nearly starving, and about to run out of funds. Still, when she realizes that the Marquess’s cousin, James Betterton, is sitting in on the interview, she is ready to refuse the job out of hand. He flirted with her a bit a few months ago, and because she was improperly pursued by a wealthy employer in the past, she is very leery of any environment that will put her in contact with young, handsome gentlemen. Then, just as she’s about to leave, Penny sees a painting of a castle on the wall, and immediately faints. All her life, she has had the same few vivid dreams about this castle. When she comes to and explains this, James insists that she accompany him back to the castle. His cousin’s wife, Allison, has been haunted by ghosts who have become increasingly demanding. James believes that Penny and her dreams may provide the answers for which they’ve been searching.

Penny reluctantly journeys to the castle, chaperoned by the Marquess’s secretary and Aunt Agatha, a really nasty old woman who complains about the Marquess all the way there. When they arrive, Penny meets Lord Silverthorne and Allison (Lady Sliverthorne). Allison is heavily pregnant and obviously sleep deprived, and Penny immediately wants to help her and relieve her of her suffering. The basic problem is that Lord Silverthorne found a ruby necklace, and the ghosts are very insistent that it be given to its proper owner, who must be a true descendant of Lady Winifred. Lady Winifred has appeared in ghost form to Allison and in dreams to Penny.

It is fairly quickly determined that Penny must be Lady Winifred’s long-lost descendent. As such, she is likely the proper owner of the necklace and a nearby property currently overseen by the crown. However, there are problems. Aunt Agatha sees Penny as an opportunistic usurper bent on robbing the family blind. Then another man shows up, claiming that his wife is Penny’s older sister (and the true heiress of the necklace and fortune). While all of this is going on, Penny is busy with another enterprise – writing and illustrating books for young children. Allison sees her work and decides that it would be an interesting and worthwhile business venture. And of course, Penny and James are falling in love.

I actually liked both Penny and James. Penny is unassuming and perhaps overly selfless, but she’s also intelligent and ambitious in her own way. The plot about her writing is fun, but it gets short shrift here; most of the emphasis is on the ghosts and treasure. James is your basic nice guy. He is interested in Penny early on, and his relations are squarely in his corner, helping him manipulate events so that Penny stays in the castle long enough to fall in love with him. Penny does take considerable winning over, but her reticence to engage in any sort of romance makes sense, especially given her past experience. Even when she learns that James’s intentions are honorable, she’s worried about the class differences between them. The other characters are a little more problematic. Aunt Agatha was flat-out rude and irritating, and I couldn’t imagine why they even put up with her. I thought Lord Silvethorne should have thrown her out in the street early on, and I couldn’t understand why they invited her to be their houseguest when everyone hated her.

If it were all children’s books and class differences, I would have liked the story a whole lot more. The ghost plot is more than a little overwhelming. I was willing to put up with it to a point. Many ghost plots have a bit of silliness to them, and this is no exception, but it goes without saying that reading a ghost romance involves considerable suspension of disbelief. I found that this one went farther than I was willing to go, mostly because the ghosts seemed to have endless rules governing their behavior and a list of demands a mile long. I lost patience with them, especially toward the end.

But the thing that put the minus on my C grade (and really, almost took the book into D territory) was the climactic action at the end. Naturally, the denouement occurs at the castle, and it involves treasure and villains. You’d expect no less. But the actions of James, Penny, and another character go beyond stupid into the realm to utter ridiculousness. It’s hard to talk about specific actions without wandering into spoiler territory, but suffice it to say that their trust of the villain (who had been trying to kill them minutes before) made them look sadly gullible at best, and idiotic at worst. Any respect I may have previously had for their intelligence was completely erased.

So even if you generally enjoy paranormal or ghost plots in traditional Regencies, this is probably one to skip. Even if, like me, you’re feeling depressed over the Regency’s demise, you’d probably be better off stocking up on oldies but goodies at the ubs.