Customer Reviews

Envious Casca

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

 

 

I had always thought of Georgette Heyer as an author of romances, a genre which doesn't particularly appeal to me, but I wasn't aware until recently of her excellent mysteries. "Envious Casca" is considered one of her best. A disastrous house party gathers at an English country mansion to celebrate Christmas. There's a tyrannical head-of-family, his over-optimistic, ex-actor brother, some other bad-tempered relatives, a gold-digging fiancee, an aspiring playwright, a possibly shady business partner, a suspicious butler - all stereotypical characters, in fact, who are - as you might expect - at each other's throat. But beware. The stereotypes are made to be shattered and to deceive the reader, and Ms. Heyer neatly skewers the stereotypes. The murder, when it happens, is a classic locked room crime that simply could not have happened. Ms. Heyer provides legitimate (if well-hidden) clues while giving us an ingenious and exciting mystery, written with a great deal of with and humor. It's a delightful book.

This is one of Miss Heyer's funniest, wittiest and downright clever mysteries. Yet it also is one of those endings that when all is revealed and the culprit unmasked we are so frustrated with ourselves because, "Of Course!!! I should have guessed!"

A murder has occurred at a Christmas party in an old English manor house. Most of the people at the party seemed to have a reason to kill the victim, and how the murder was committed baffles everyone (except the murderer of course).

This book is the first book that I've read by Georgette Heyer. It's a solid whodunit, leaving clues along the way, allowing the reader to try to guess the culprit, and revealing the murderer at the end. I was a little disappointed because I managed to put all the clues together very early in the book; I wanted more suspense. Even so, the ending was very satisfying.

The reason I give this book only three stars, instead of four or five, is that I just really didn't like any of the characters. They were all so quarrelsome and disagreeable. Of course having a cast of quarrelsome and disagreeable characters makes it easier to plot a murder, but as a reader, I really didn't care about any of the people in the book. The entire book is sneer and sarcastic remark and violent outburst followed by more of the same. A bit tiresome, in my opinion. This is one of those books where you finish it for the sake of the mystery, not for the sake of the characters. But as I said, a solid whodunit.

Boring and easily solved in the first chapter. I am not one who typically solves murder mysteries, but this one was obvious almost from the first page. Not her sparkling style at all and I had to make myself read it through. No characters with whom you could sympathize, not much of anything to grab on to. I'm reading NO WIND OF BLAME which is much more like the Georgette Heyer I've come to love as a Regency era writer. If you like her Regency romances, consider these with a touch of mystery: THE QUIET GENTLEMAN, THE RELUCTANT WIDOW, THE TALISMAN RING. I wouldn't bother with ENVIOUS CASCA to be honest when there are so many other books more worth your time.

This was a relatively easy read, if a bit naive. Don't expect a big reveal nor any particularly clever plot twists. Whodunit and why was pretty obvious early in the book. This is a fun read if you like period studies, but don't expect Ms. Heyer's usual clever repertoire and snappy dialogue.

I enjoyed the plot because the murder takes place behind a locked door on the second floor and it keeps one guessing as to how it was committed. I didn't like any of the characters because I found them all in their own way to be annoying.

The characters in this novel are so animated and interesting. Although the first few chapters were slow and hard to get into, the rest of the novel was a fun and exciting read. This novel would be great as a stage play. If you enjoy a fun period peace, mystery. This is a great read.

I agree with the reviews that said that it was easy to figure out who did it and why. Inspector Hemingway revealed who did it long before the book was over. The mystery in this one was HOW. And that I never would have been able to guess. It was quite brilliant.

Her characters were perfectly disagreeable and snarky, but with cause, so I enjoyed it. I've been reading her mystery novels in chronological order and this was one of my favorites so far.

Having recently enjoyed 28 of Georgette Heyer's historical novels (some Regency, some other periods), I purchased three of her mysteries so I could continue reading Heyer. While the publisher likes to compare these to Christie or Sayers, they are very far from that mark. She does not succeed in developing interesting and/or sympathetic characters in any of the three books I read. These include Blunt Instrument and No Wind of Blame in addition to Envious Casca. If you enjoy the wonderful dialogue and humor of the historical novels I recommend that you do not try out the mysteries as they are very disappointing and do not stand the test of time. Envious Casca is very boring and does not surprise. No Wind of Blame has slightly livelier characters, and Blunt Instrument is only just somewhat amusing. I cannot recommend her mysteries unless you are determined to read all of her works.

I love Georgette Heyer and her mysteries are usually my favorite
but I have to say I had a hard time getting through this one!
Not up to her usual standards.