Best Laid Plans (Grace Hitchcock) Books in Order

With Best Laid Plans, Grace Hitchcock leaves Gilded Age America for Regency England and seems to enjoy the change quite a bit. These books are lighter on social realism than her true-crime work and quicker on their feet than some of her Gilded Age romances. The mood is witty, adventurous, and a little chaotic, in the best way.

The first book, To Catch a Coronet, starts with a heroine who has already made a mess of polite expectations. Muriel Beau is a country baker turned heiress who has no talent for behaving quietly, and after a spectacular public embarrassment she heads for London determined to win a title grand enough to drown out the gossip. Instead, she collides with Captain Erik Draycott, a privateer and heir who has problems of his own. The story moves between drawing rooms, financial worries, and shipboard danger without losing its playful tone.

To Kiss a Knight keeps the pattern of clever setups and spiraling complications. Vivienne Poppy has escaped her family and is happily writing under the pen name Lady Larkby, until she learns the Larkby title still belongs to a very real man. That man is Sir Sebastian Larkby, a recently knighted Yeoman of the Guard who definitely does not remember marrying her. What follows is part fake marriage story, part identity tangle, and part affectionate comedy set in Bath.

That is really the heart of the series. Every book begins with a plan that seems manageable, at least to the person making it. Secure a title. Keep a pen name. Outsmart a scandal. Protect a family name. Then feelings, secrets, danger, or pure bad timing turn the plan sideways. Hitchcock uses that structure to keep the stakes moving while still giving readers the fun of banter, attraction, and carefully delayed honesty.

These are not quiet Regency books.

They lean into motion, mishap, and a touch of caper energy. Titles matter, but so do disguises, unwanted notoriety, hidden pasts, and men who look respectable until the story asks more of them. If you like your historical romance with lively plotting, quick wit, and enough adventure to pull the lovers well beyond the ballroom, Best Laid Plans is a strong place to start. The books can stand alone, but reading from To Catch a Coronet to To Kiss a Knight lets you settle into the series' playful rhythm.