Customer Reviews

A Blunt Instrument

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Hilariously ridiculously funny. Again, Georgette Heyer's characters and dialogues are highly entertaining and witty. The plot is very well thought out too. I disagree with those who think this book is dull. Dull is never the word for this book.

"A Blunt Instrument" is below the style expected of Ms. Heyer. Too many characters have a reason to kill Ernest Fletcher, a ladies man drawn to the fine line of repulsive, it makes a modern reader wonder why any woman would get within fifty feet of him.
The best lines are among Superintendent Hannasyde and Sargent Hemmingway as they plot the crime and its execution with a Biblical quoting local policeman who discovered the body. Other exchanges between characters seemed contrived and uncomfortable.
A good read, but not one of her best, which includes an interesting romance.
Nash Black, author of "Qualifying Laps" and "Sins of the Fathers."

An old-fashioned murder mystery set in the days when life was simpler. I hardly ever figure out 'whodunit', and thus probably enjoy these types of books more than more discerning readers. But even I figured this one out fairly quickly. Maybe I've finally read enough to see the clues. Still, I recommend this as a lite-snack for the brain.

I was able to guess the murderer from the start and I spent the rest of the book hoping I was wrong. Should I be proud of myself or disappointed because it was too obvious? I still enjoyed the book, but the mystery wasn't really a mystery to me. The characters of Neville Fletcher and Sally Drew were amusing but I actually enjoyed Sergeant Hemingway and his slight bitterness the most. I've read enough of Heyer's detective novels now to where I know there is a romance in each of them so it doesn't surprise me anymore. This one did feel a bit tacked on, but still cute nonetheless.

I found this book refreshing. I have read all of Agatha Christie's 79 mysteries and for the most part have read contemporary mysteries since then. Excepting Sherlock Holmes books and mysteries by Dorothy Sayers, I haven't been able to find mysteries set in historical England. Hooray! I'm so pleased to have stumbled onto the fact that one of my favorite romance writers wrote a few mysteries!

I did not love this book, but I did enjoy it very much. I was able to guess whodunit, which is unusual for me. I don't THINK it was obvious, but it's so difficult to be subjective! I thought the book was very interesting. There are a couple of strange characters, but I think that adds rather than detracts.

-Marlene

In an exhibition of cleverness unparalleled to my knowledge, Heyer reveals the identity of the killer in the title, and if this spoils the surprise for you, then you are as clever as she is, and in the course of 30 years selling books and dealing with an uncountable number of readers I've never met anyone who could say that. (I certainly can not.)The only other mystery writer to approach this feat is Reginald Hill, who tells who the villain is in the first sentence of one of his books.

I felt that this mystery was not as good as the six others I had read by her (Footsteps in the Dark (quite good), Why Shoot a Butler (quite good), The Unfinished Clue (good), Death in the Stocks (good), Behold, Here's Poison (quite good), and They Found Him Dead (quite good)). I thought that many of the characters were not interesting and the plot dragged on too long; on the plus side I enjoyed the interaction between Superintendent Hannasyde with Sergeant Hemingway and the Sergeant's interaction with PC Glass.

I bought this book to replace an older copy I had which had become tattered. That may give you an idea how much I enjoy and admire the works of Georgette Heyer. Despite the title, her mysteries are puzzles rather than violent crime novels. Her dialog and sense of humour make this book, as are her others, enjoyable to read over and over regardless of discovering "who done it".

Blunt Instrument was my first Georgette Heyer mystery. I love mysteries set in historical UK. The characters were quirky and quite strong at times - it was like listening to a person taking too long to tell a joke - where I kept thinking ok, ok I get the point, just get on with the mystery.

The mystery itself was fairly predictable from an analytical standpoint. Ignore the red herrings and look at the evidence.

I was on vacation and bought several of her books while I had the chance. Hopefully the rest are better. Should you read it? Why not? If you like a mystery set in the days of olden UK, then give it a shot.

I love Georgette Heyer. Her Regency romances set the standard that every other author falls short of and her mysteries are absorbing and entertaining. A Blunt Instrument didn't quite measure up to other Heyer mysteries I've read, though. It has a light and frothy feel--as airy as a 1930s drawing-room comedy from MGM at times--and some truly comical moments. But for me, an improbable romance and the strange solution to the mystery detracted from the overall effect. I still enjoyed it--and even mediocre Georgette Heyer is better than most authors ever achieve--but I've read better from her.