This Chick-in-Pants novel by newcomer Shirley Karr was a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart winner in 2001.

Benjamin, the Earl Sinclair, has had quite a run of bad luck lately. His father committed suicide several years ago, creating a great scandal and throwing his mother into seclusion and mourning from which she has not yet emerged. To escape the gossip, he joined the army, was grievously injured at Waterloo, and upon his return had a marriage proposal refused because he was a “cripple”. His home is in disarray for his servants seem more interested in conducting romances than working, and his secretary has run off with a downstairs maid, leaving his business dealings in chaos and himself buried in paper. Desperate, and trusting his instincts, he hires young Mr. Quincy to be his secretary.

Mr. Quincy is so efficient he is almost scary. The staff takes to him immediately, as does Sinclair’s mother, who begins to perk up and talk about venturing out into society again and finding Sinclair a wife. Quincy quickly makes an impressive dent in the mess of Sinclair’s library, finding evidence that the previous secretary was embezzling great sums while Sinclair was at war.

Mr. Quincy is also a woman, which Sinclair discovers fairly early – he recognizes a very nice feminine backside when he sees one. They strike a deal where Quincy will remain in Sinclair’s employ until she has unraveled the tangle of Sinclair’s finances and discovered the extent of the embezzlement. But even more important to him is how having Quincy around has wrought such changes in his mother and his home.

Josephine Quincy has lived as a man for the past five years, since her father’s finances drove them to the city and his health made it impossible for him to offer his houseful of women the male protection they needed. Since his recent death, they have all worked, saving money to purchase a cottage in the country as Jo’s sister’s health is delicate and it is feared she won’t survive another winter in the city. Jo knows that her actions have made it impossible for her to ever marry, a decision she doesn’t regret until she meets Sinclair.

There is much to like in this novel. Karr has a nice voice, her characters interesting. I liked the camaraderie between Sinclair and Quincy (as they call each other). For the most part he is able to treat her as a man and there is a nice sense of friendship and joie de vivre in their masculine exchanges. Sinclair’s household is very vivid, the servants more than just stock characters, and his mother a delight.

Less well-drawn is Quincy’s family, as she spends most of her time in Sinclair’s home, and there is not a whole lot of forward momentum to the narrative. The last quarter of the book especially felt as if it dragged and it happened at exactly the same time Quincy was no longer in drag. Once she reverted to feminine clothing and behavior, the story was less interesting and took too long to wrap up.

I debated as to whether to give this book a grade of B- or C+. That the book slows so much toward the end – and that the ending dragged as well – that decided the lower grade for me.

One other note – for those of you who are alpha hero fans, What an Earl Wants may not be your best bet. Sinclair is physically incapacitated for much of the book and at times requires others to care for him. Quincy is most definitely the stronger, dominant character, and she has the pants to prove it. While I might cheer this on intellectually, I will admit to some emotional shallowness and a desire to see my heroes being a bit more heroic.