The Reverend William Trent, whose mind was of a serious order, had several times warned his elder sister that too lively a sense of humour frequently led to laxity of principle. She now perceived how right he was; and wondered, in dismay, whether it was because he invariably made her laugh that instead of regarding the Nonesuch with revulsion she was obliged to struggle against the impulse to cast every scruple to the winds, and to give her life into his keeping.

The book appeared in the midst of the UK General Strike of 1926; as a result the novel received no newspaper coverage reviews or advertising. Her knowledge of the period was so extensive that Heyer rarely mentioned dates explicitly in her books; instead Georgette Heyer situated the story by casually referring to major and minor events of the time.

Heyer chose not to file lawsuits against the suspected literary thieves but tried multiple ways of minimizing her tax liability. For the rest of her life Georgette Heyer refused to grant interviews telling a friend: "My private life concerns no one but myself and my family.