It was growing late, and though one might stand on the brink of a deep chasm of disaster, one was still obliged to dress for dinner.

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.