I read They Found Him Dead by Georgette Heyer for the 1937 Club hosted by Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings. And isn't this a lovely image for the club?
They Found Him Dead begins with a large gathering of family and friends at the home of Silas Kane and his mother, Emily Kane. The occasion is Silas Kane's 60th birthday celebration. With most of the main cast introduced at the beginning, it is difficult to figure out the relationships. But that is part of the fun. And there are some very interesting characters in this family.
The next day the body of one of the family members is discovered at the bottom of a cliff and the death appears to be accidental. But when there is a second death in the family, Scotland Yard is called in. Inspector Hannasyde and Sergeant Hemingway arrive and start gathering facts and evidence. Young Timothy Harte, 15 years old, is staying at the Kane's country house while his parents are traveling; he is fascinated by the investigation and offers plenty of tips to the policemen.
My favorite character, possibly because we get much of the story from her point of view, is Patricia Allison, companion and secretary to Emily Kane. She is intelligent and down-to-earth. She has caught the eye of Jim Kane, who is Timothy Harte's half-brother. Most (if not all) of Heyer's mysteries involve a romance, but I liked this potential romance because there isn't a lot of angst involved. The focus of the novel is not on the romance but on the mystery.
Another wonderful character is Lady Norma Harte, Timothy and Jim's mother, who is traveling in Africa as the book starts but returns in time to be considered a suspect. She is a strong female character, not afraid to speak her mind.
I haven't even mentioned the Mansell's, a family who have been close friends of the Kane's for years. Joseph and his son Paul are partners in the firm of Kane and Mansell. The Mansell's seem to be pushing the Kanes to support a scheme in Australia that Silas Kane is not in favor of. There are many more characters I haven't described and you can see how confusing the many characters could be. In this case it was not a problem at all for me and the book was a lot of fun to read.
There are eight mysteries by Heyer featuring Hannasyde and / or Hemingway. In later mysteries, Hemingway has worked his way up to Inspector.
I loved this interchange between the policemen from Scotland Yard:
“You're more prejudiced against Paul Mansell than I've ever known you to be against anyone," said Hannasyde.
"Not prejudiced,"said the Sergeant firmly. "I never let myself get prejudiced. All I say is, that he's a nasty, slimy, double-faced tick who'd murder his own grandmother if he saw a bit of money to be got out of it.”
The only small complaint I have is that I did not like the ending. It made sense, and the groundwork had been laid, but it just wasn't satisfying. But overall, a good read, and I am eager to read more of Heyer's mysteries.
The two mystery novels by Heyer that I have read in the last few years are Envious Casca (1941), set at Christmas, and Death in the Stocks (1935). I enjoyed both of them.
16 comments:
Footsteps in the Dark is the only Heyer mystery I've read. It's a few years ago now but I remember it as very enjoyable so I popped to Amazon and grabbed this one as it sounds excellent. I'm not doing the 1937 challenge for obvious reasons but am enjoying people's reviews.
I've always liked Heyer's mysteries better than her Regency romances. There are also some mysteries with sleuths who aren't policemen. No real female sleuths, though, and I think Heyer could have written good ones.
Some of Heyer's work really is engaging, Tracy, and I'm glad you enjoyed this one. In my opinion, she did characters fairly well, and I like the way she could weave a little wit into the stories, too.
Nice review. It made me want to read it but I doubt my library will have it. Will look.
Cath, there were a lot of good books available for 1937 but I only had a few on my shelves that I had not already read. They Found Him Dead was a good choice for me. The only other book by Heyer that I have on my shelves right now is Behold, Here's Poison, and I hope to read that soon.
Marty, at this point I agree with you. I have only read two of Heyer's romances, and both were good, but I like more focus on the mystery and less on a romance. And I wonder why she never had a female sleuth. She is good with characters.
Margot, when I read some of the mysteries by Heyer when I was younger, I thought they were so-so, and I have been surprised to like these I am reading now. I guess my tastes have changed.
Thanks, Patti. I do hope you find a copy, it surprises me which books and authors are available at libraries.
There were so many good choices for this year’s Club! I have read Georgette Heyer before, but only once. I can’t say she’s my favorite, but I haven’t given her a fair shot. There were several Agatha Christie options, too, but I think I’m settling in for Ali and Nino by Said. I’m a sucker for love stories.
I don't think I've ever read this one! So glad you reviewed it.
Belleza, so good to hear from you. I was so surprised that 1937 was such a good year for books. I read Georgette Heyer's mysteries when I was very young and now I am reading them again when I am much older. I like them better now. But I have only read two of her historical romances, and don't like those quite as well. However, I was very lucky at one book sale to find a goodly number of her romances in nice editions and I plan to read more of them.
Constance, I have only one more of Heyer's mysteries on my shelves. I had others in paperbacks with small print and I need to find better copies to read. I don't know that everyone will like this one as well as I did, but it was the perfect choice for me right now.
I've read all of her murder mysteries and really enjoyed the snappy dialogue and quite a bit of comedy. One or two reminded me of the cartoon Scooby doo!
Katrina, I like the comedy in the books also and the stories I have read have good pacing. That is an interesting comparison to Scooby Doo, I am mostly familiar with the comic books although I must have seen some of the animated series years ago also.
I read this a while back and very much enjoyed it. I think she is very funny, I love the way she shows her characters.
I said in my blogpost that Heyer was very much a rather right-wing snob with clear ideas of the way the world should be run - but in her books she shows a refreshing view of, for example, the servants in her books. She always surprises me - she is a breath of fresh air compared with some of her contemporaries. Envious Casca is my favourite of her books -that would be in my top 10 detectives stories.
Envious Casca is a wonderful mystery, Moira, and it was probably your post that influenced me to read it. They Found Him Dead was very good too, encouraging me to read more of her mysteries soon.
Post a Comment