The Unfinished Clue [Paperback]

Georgette Heyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2009

A houseful of people he loathes is not Sir Arthur's worst problem…

It should have been a lovely English country-house weekend. But the unfortunate guest-list is enough to exasperate a saint, and the host, Sir Arthur Billington-Smith, is an abusive wretch hated by everyone from his disinherited son to his wife's stoic would-be lover. When Sir Arthur is found stabbed to death, no one is particularly grieved—and no one has an alibi. The unhappy guests fi nd themselves under the scrutiny of Scotland Yard's cool-headed Inspector Harding, who has solved tough cases before—but this time, the talented young inspector discovers much more than he's bargained for.

PRAISE FOR GEORGETTE HEYER:

"Miss Heyer has the delightful talent of blending humor with mystery."
Boston Evening Transcript

"Heyer is an author to read—this means you!"
New York Herald Tribune

"Miss Heyer's characters and dialogue are an abiding delight to me... I have seldom met people to whom I have taken so violent a fancy from the word 'Go.'"
Dorothy L. Sayers

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Sir Arthur Billington-Smith is not a nice person: he is arrogant, opinionated, and abusive. His verbal abuse makes life a constant misery for his hapless wife, Fay. One truly awful weekend when Fay is trying to host a house party, Arthur's son and heir, Geoffrey, brings home Lola de Silva, a Mexican cabaret dancer who is wonderfully obtuse, vastly colorful, and totally unsuitable as a future Lady Billington-Smith. Arthur is absolutely incensed and takes his rage out on everyone. Therefore, when he is found stabbed to death in his study later in the day, all those in the house become suspects. The characters are all rather one-dimensional: a scheming female foreigner, an idiot son, the married couple from hell, and a strong, silent lover. In spite of this, however, multiple red herrings in the plot are cleverly designed to keep the listener guessing until the last chapter. Narrator Clifford Norgate does a very nice job of vocally "typing" each character, so it is easy to visualize the speakers and keep all the suspects separate. The audiocassette is in a flimsy cardboard box and will require sturdier packaging for library circulation. Recommended for larger public libraries where the works of Heyer are popular. Barbara Rhodes, Northeast Texas Lib. Syst., Garland
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

[I] found the mystery in The Unfinished Clue really well-done, with information given at just the right points to keep me guessing and re-guessing until the finale. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (March 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 140221796X
• ISBN-13: 978-1402217968
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Author of over fifty books, Georgette Heyer is the best-known and best-loved of all historical novelists, making the Regency period her own. Her first novel, "The Black Moth," published in 1921, was written at the age of fifteen to amuse her convalescent brother; her last was My Lord John. Although most famous for her historical novels, she also wrote eleven detective stories. Georgette Heyer died in 1974 at the age of seventy-one.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another fun Heyer mystery, November 29, 2005

By 

Bookivore "The Bookivore" (Oklahoma, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Unfinished Clue (Paperback)

Heyer's mysteries are always more memorable for the characters than for the solution. There are suspects galore who hated the dead guy - or at least found him very annoying - and the various motives are more amusing than the identification of the actual culprit.

From the cover :

Sir Arthur Billington-Smith was nobody's idea of the perfect host. In fact he was absolutely frightful. He bullied his wife, grumped at his guests, refused gleefully to help out an indigent friend, and positively blew his stack when his wayward son took up with a nightclub dancer who was definitely N.Q.O.C. (Not Quite Our Class). Is it any wonder that one fine, bright, English June morning Sir Arthur Billington-Smith quite literally became a bloody bore when he was firmly stabbed in the back with a pretty little Chinese dagger? And is it any wonder that dev'lishly attractive Inspector Harding from London thought everyone was guilty?

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good mystery, fun characters, May 20, 2009

By 

Debbie (Harrison, AR United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Unfinished Clue (Paperback)

This is a mystery novel set in Britain around 1934 (which is when it was written). The mystery was clever, and the world-building and pacing were very good.

The author introduces a lot of the characters quite rapidly at the beginning, but it's clear how everyone is related to each other. The characters were all engaging and entertaining. There is a good-natured humor to the book which shows up in the dialogue and in the quirks of the various characters.

There were plenty of clues to this mystery. It's quite possible to guess the who and the why, and yet at the same time you're not likely to guess correctly. (As in, it's the perfect balance of being guessable without being too easy.)

There were two uses of very mild cuss words. There were no sex scenes. Overall, I'd rate this as good, clean fun.

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14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well then, who DID do it?, May 26, 2001

By 

"sorellaz" (Roermond, Limburg Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unfinished Clue (Hardcover)

General Sir Arthur Billington-Smith was a man whom everybody hated. So when he has a house packed full of ill-assorted visitors, each one of which he is on quarelling terms with, and he is found stabbed in the back, the police have a tough job on hand. Luckily inspector John Harding from Scotland Yard has a good head on his shoulders. A lovely read, in the best Heyer tradition.