Wedgeford Trials Books in Order

The Wedgeford Trials series is set in Wedgeford Down, a small village in Kent during the 1890s. Every spring, the town holds an old, sprawling game called the Wedgeford Trials. Everyone takes part, visitors come from outside the village, and the annual event gives the series a built-in sense of bustle, competition, and reunion.

Wedgeford has another defining feature. Decades before the first book, two Chinese men arrived in the village when it was shrinking and had room for people looking for a fresh start. Others followed. By the 1890s, the village is nearly half Asian, and that community is part of the setting rather than a passing detail. Family histories, food, work, language, and local ties all shape the stories.

The first novel, The Duke Who Didn’t, follows Chloe Fong, who has plans, lists, and a growing sauce business to manage. Her childhood friend Jeremy returns after three years away hoping to win her back. He has one serious problem: Chloe demanded that he become serious before they spoke again, and Jeremy is still a mischievous man with a very large secret. He is the Duke of Lansing and owns the village where she has made her home.

Wedgeford remembers everything, except what people choose to hide.

In The Marquis Who Mustn’t, Naomi Kwan wants to take ambulance classes so she can save lives, but the rules require permission from a man in charge of her. Her improvised answer is a fake engagement to Liu Ji Kai, a Chinese nobleman with plans of his own. Their arrangement is complicated by the fact that their childhood betrothal was real, even if neither of them expected it to matter now.

The Earl Who Isn’t centers on Andrew Uchida, who has built a quiet life in Wedgeford, including an experimental garden. Lily Bei comes back from Hong Kong with a printing press and documents proving that Andrew is the rightful heir to an earldom. Andrew does not want the title, the danger that comes with it, or the chance to lose the life he has carefully made. Unfortunately, he is not very good at saying no to Lily.

These are warm, character-driven historical romances, but they do not ignore the legal and social limits of the period. Titles, inheritance, marriage rules, and racial prejudice create real pressure. The village provides a counterweight: a place where people with complicated pasts have found community, even when the outside world has treated them as strangers.

Start with The Duke Who Didn’t to meet Wedgeford, its yearly Trials, and its core families. Read the books in order for returning faces, developing local history, and the pleasure of watching a small place become more vivid with each story. Expect funny dialogue, food, secrets, old friendships, and romance that asks people to be honest about who they are.