Customer Reviews

Envious Casca

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

 

 

To my way of thinking this is Georgette Heyers best mystery. I am not usually a mystery reader but I like her gothic romances and I thought I would try this one. She has such a good sense of humor and this book did not disappoint me. I have since read all of her mysterys that I could find. In this one Heyer takes one crabby bachelor uncle, one sweetness and light uncle, an actress niece and her long-haired playwrite, a sarcastic nephew and his blond bimbo fiance, one friend of the family, one business partner, and mixes them with a Christmas party. Out comes an impossible murder. I never figured out "who done it" until the very end. Heyers Inspector Hemingway is a great character and I would know him in a minute if I met him. Georgette Heyer at her best, it's well worth the reading if you can find it.

This was a really good book. The mystery had me stumped for a long time, but made perfect sense at the end. I hate it when the secret killer's movements and motive are just tacked on at the end as a twist. The characters were funny and Detective Hemingway was in his prime. Also, I read the book at Christmas and it takes place at a Christmas party gone bad, which made my own family problems seem much funnier.

Lexham Manor appears to be the scene of a typical family Christmas party. A good host, however, would not have gathered such an ill-assorted collection of participants. Nathaniel Herriard is the curmudgeonly owner. His endlessly affable brother Joseph is a former actor; Joseph's wife Maud cares only for cards and reading biographies. There's a malicious nephew and his vacuous fiancée, a melodramatic niece and her gauche boyfriend who is an aspiring playwright. Add to the cast a disagreeable business partner, a distant cousin who is a "good sort", and a haughty butler. Murder the wealthy owner in a locked room. The problem then becomes, not only figuring out how the murder was committed, but sorting out the suspects who nearly all have some reason for murdering someone whom anyone would want to murder. The endless sniping was darkly amusing and the revelation surprising but eminently suitable.

Plot Summary:
A Christmas house party is arranged at a wealthy old bachelor's house against his wishes. Present are his brother and sister-in-law, his nephew and niece, a playwright, a ditzy beauty, a kind Plain Jane and a business partner. These personalities collide, however, and the house party is more explosive than congenial. Then the host is found dead in a locked room, and suddenly, everyone is a suspect. Inspector Hemingway must sort through the lies and the politics to determine who killed the wealthy host. And what does The Life of the Empress Catherine have to do with everything?

My Thoughts:
For some reason, the characters that populate Heyer's contemporary mysteries are not nearly as easy to empathize with as those in her historical novels. The mysteries are usually populated with rude and unkind people, most of whom dislike each other and the person who was killed. I don't know why this is the case, and I'll spare you all my psychological theories :-) However, even with generally unlikable characters, Georgette Heyer can write a very good story.

This one is no exception. Even though most of the characters were unlikable, their conversations were hilarious. There were so many snide remarks, so many one-off insults, and so many ridiculously funny situations (particularly the scene in which the playwright shares his play) that it was impossible not to giggle. And the mystery, too, really caught my interest. Though I had an idea of who committed the crime early on in the novel (which is saying a lot, as I never know those things), it was very interesting to see how it happened. While I don't like Inspector Hemingway nearly as much as I like Inspector Hannasyde, this was a great English country home mystery.

What could be more conducive to a memorial holiday than snow and an ancient country house with eight indoor servants? Murder perhaps? Each guest is anxious to spend time alone with their host, but Nathanial Herriard quarrels with each one. When he is found stabbed in the back, in his own locked bedroom, the carefully planned party takes on a sinister aspect as each character realizes there is a killer in their presence.
Each member of the party has something to hide and something to gain by the old man's death, yet Inspector Hemingway is stymied as to how the murder was committed.
An excellent "whodunit" for all Heyer fans with very clever staging.
Nash Black, author of "Qualifying Laps" and "Sins of the Fathers."

This was a cassette audiobook. It's not available on Audible. The narrator is Clifford Norgate who does a nice late 30's early 40's voice-- the book was originally published in 1941 but don't expect any references to World War II. There is a passing comment about the Sino-Japanese War. Otherwise it is simply a country house murder involving a party gathered to celebrate Christmas--

Of course Heyer, as usual in her mysteries, brings together a group of people so intertwined financially and emotionally that it is not the least surprising that someone is murdered. And just when it seems you have hold of fact there is another twist.

Norgate does a good job of differentiating voices although his voice for the "deep voiced" actress, Paula is a tat too deep, in my opinion.

Worth a listen if you like Golden Age Country House Mysteries or Georgette Heyer's contemporary novels.

The book arrived a little late, but was in good condition, and since it was the holidays, not the fault of the company. Very nice people to work with.

I ordered this book in October, with a 3 week delivery, and have still not received it. Now I have been asked, by Amazon, to review it. I hope it's a really good book.