Library Journal
Chase has heeded the call and given Basil Trevelyan, the nonvillainous villain of Isabella, his own story. After completing three years of exile in India and Greece, Basil is asked by his aunt, Lady Bertram, to rescue goddaughter Alexandra Ashmore from an unwanted marriage to her father's assistant. Her father, Sir Charles Ashmore, is an archaeologist working in Albania. What ensues is a comedy of manners as the beautiful, bewitching Alexandra and handsome Basil behave like Beatrice and Benedick. Their dialogue is witty but not especially zippy, and plot disappears mid-way. Basil deserves better; still, the novel is much better than most of its genre.