LONG ACRE

A sequel to the delightful Bedford Row (1977), this deals with a less charming branch of the Lackland dynasty--the American connections, Fenton Lucas and his sister Amy, great-grandkids of the fabled star Lilitb Lucas who caused the family so much trouble in earlier volumes. The stagestruck Yankees arrive penniless in London in 1886 and don't even know they have rich cousins until an accident lands Fenton in Dr. Frederick's hospital and they are taken up. In no time, the Lucases have jobs performing in cousin Oliver's supper club and are on their way to greater things--except that Fenton, a spoiled brat, bollixes up the works by filing suit for the money that Lilith left to yet another branch of the family. All of which is rather sordid and endangers the sprightly romance between his lovely sister Amy and her cousin-by-adoption Felix Laurence--a charming, ill-sorted pair: solid and humorous Felix is determined to persuade his beloved to confine her acting to the stage. (""I have set myself the goal of. . . helping you to recognize your artifices and use them only when it is fight and proper that you should."") Another meat-and-potatoes romance you can sink your teeth into.