Miss Elizabeth Mapp, magnificent grande dame and heiress, is always on the
lookout lest her neighbors fall outside the bounds of perfect, exemplary manners. But her
tightly controlled world is soon beset on all sides by interlopers, first in the disturbingly
masculine form of two very different retired army officersboth of whom are anything but
retiring in their conflicting aims upon her heart. Second, there appears the elegant, insidiously
evil shape of a ravishing Contessa possessed of dazzling charm and diabolical designs. Can
Mapp, super-strategist of the drawing room and experienced provocateur of amorous intrigue,
overcome all obstacles and be united with the object of her matrimonial desires? Whom could
she possibly choose: the solid, traditional Major Flint or the mysteriously attractive Captain
Puffin? And when will that reckless shopper Daisy Plaistow ever learn to exercise caution
and restraint?

Without this reissue, I might have gone to my grave without ever knowing about Lucia or
Miss Mapp. It is not a risk anyone should take lightly."
Auberon Waugh, The New York Times

Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940), born in Berkshire, England, wrote fiction, reminiscences, and biographies. He is best remembered for his arch, satirical novels and his urbane autobiographical studies of Edwardian and Georgian society. Benson was educated at Cambridge. After graduation he worked in Athens for the British School of Archaeology and later in Egypt for the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. In 1893 he published Dodo, a novel that attracted wide attention. It was followed by other successful novels—such as Mrs. Ames (1912), Queen Lucia (1920), Miss map (1922), and Lucia in London (1927). He also published books on a wide range of subjects, including biographies of Queen Victoria, William Gladstone, and William II of Germany. Benson's reminiscences include As We Were (1930), As We Are (1932), and Final Edition (1940).

Nadia May has been nominated as an AudioFile Golden Voice five years running and is a winner of thirteen AudioFile Earphones Awards. She is the co-founder of TheatreFirst, a theater company in the San Francisco Bay Area where she currently lives.