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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
My first Heyer mystery. For a while, I forgot that this was written by Georgette Heyer. Got confused with Agatha Christie. And I kept waiting for Poirot's appearance haha.
Quite entertaining. I love the Vereker's siblings. And of course Giles Carrington. The only sane person in the family. Superintendent Hannasyde was not highlighted enough I think. He was easily surpassed by Giles, who was more eager to solve the case(s). And he did solve it.
And the most important thing is, my guess of the murderer is correct haha!
Quite entertaining. I love the Vereker's siblings. And of course Giles Carrington. The only sane person in the family. Superintendent Hannasyde was not highlighted enough I think. He was easily surpassed by Giles, who was more eager to solve the case(s). And he did solve it.
And the most important thing is, my guess of the murderer is correct haha!
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Another cast of irritating characters! Murgatroyd isn't too bad, though, nor is Giles Carrington or Violet. As for the romance in this one,
Spoiler
Though as with [b:Behold, Here's Poison|311135|Behold, Here's Poison (Inspectors Hannasyde & Hemingway #2)|Georgette Heyer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320460133l/311135._SY75_.jpg|1595079], one of the seemingly more sane characters is surprisingly the killer!Spoiler
honestly I think Giles deserved better than Tony. She really didn't take things seriously enough considering the situation and insisted on making things worse for herself, like Kenneth was also doing.
I remember giving the Heyer mysteries a bit of a go a few years ago and not really being that bowled over, but I really enjoyed this one! Despite figuring out the killer pretty early on and doing a lot of reading to confirm that I was right. But the dialogue is very witty - it's not quite a Bright Young Things novel, but sort of in that vein - and the characters appealing. I've a stack of these that I picked up at library book sales & some digital arcs of the re-issues coming soon and I suspect I'll be delving into them this fall/winter.
I enjoy Georgette Heyer Regency historical romances and I enjoy Japanese "honkaku" or "Fair Play" detective novels, where the reader is given enough clues to figure out the whodunnit and the howdunnit. What I didn't know is that Georgette Heyer also wrote Golden Age detective mysteries (this one was published in 1935), and that these, too, count as honkaku.
Death in the Stocks, in fact, was included in a 2012 collection, Honkaku Mystery Best 10 - according to Wikipedia, anyways. So let's solve some mysteries!!!
Pros: Heyer's fun, oddball characters and dialogue; the clues are simple but clear; the mystery doesn't feel cheap and is extremely solvable.
Cons: Heyer is always a bit of a snob, book goes on a little too long and the characters become somewhat obnoxious and grating; everyone is slightly bonkers; romantic pairings are a bit forced; some of the details of the first murder seem to get short shrift.
An easy 3/5 with Heyer's style but not too much depth.
Death in the Stocks, in fact, was included in a 2012 collection, Honkaku Mystery Best 10 - according to Wikipedia, anyways. So let's solve some mysteries!!!
Pros: Heyer's fun, oddball characters and dialogue; the clues are simple but clear; the mystery doesn't feel cheap and is extremely solvable.
Cons: Heyer is always a bit of a snob, book goes on a little too long and the characters become somewhat obnoxious and grating; everyone is slightly bonkers; romantic pairings are a bit forced; some of the details of the first murder seem to get short shrift.
An easy 3/5 with Heyer's style but not too much depth.
So I guessed correctly who the killer was and oddly enough it was solely based on the fact that I disliked the person's manner so intensely that I couldn't imagine any of the characters, no matter how wacky, to be guilty of the crimes! A kooky, fun and fast read!
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Synopsis: The moonlight shone on the quiet village green and on the man's two motionless feet stuck through a pair of stocks. Wealthy Arnold Vereker had been murdered, and every member of his eccentric family had a motive--money. Was it his half-sister Antonia, whose marriage he had forbidden, or her embezzling lover? Could it have been Arnold's half-brother Kenneth, heir apparent, or perhaps it was the delectable beauty Violet Williams? Or Kenneth and Antonia's faithful servant, Murgatroyd, wishing to see her charges done right by? And then there was Roger, Arnold's "dead" brother, who appeared right after the murder....It must be someone, Inspector Hannasyde kept telling himself in one of his most puzzling cases ever. But it looks like the murderer may have been too clever this time.
Another top-notch vintage mystery from Heyer! This is one of her better offerings...with enough clues and red herrings and suspects to keep the reader guessing right up to the very end. And even Inspector Hannasyde needs a little help before it all comes clear. The witty by-play between the cast of characters is particularly good and the action keeps the story rolling along till the grand finale. This was another reread for my, but it had been long enough since I first read it and the plot is so finely woven and strewn with false clues that I was hard-pressed to decide on the culprit. I did finally light on the correct person...but only a few pages before All Was Revealed. I consider that a job well-done. Four stars out of five.
This review was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Another top-notch vintage mystery from Heyer! This is one of her better offerings...with enough clues and red herrings and suspects to keep the reader guessing right up to the very end. And even Inspector Hannasyde needs a little help before it all comes clear. The witty by-play between the cast of characters is particularly good and the action keeps the story rolling along till the grand finale. This was another reread for my, but it had been long enough since I first read it and the plot is so finely woven and strewn with false clues that I was hard-pressed to decide on the culprit. I did finally light on the correct person...but only a few pages before All Was Revealed. I consider that a job well-done. Four stars out of five.
This review was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Oh, Heyer. Why do you keep insisting on writing mysteries whose solutions are as obvious as possible?
Though Heyer forces in references to the difficulties of the case from all of her detectives and suspects, the actual solution begins to rise to the forefront of the reader’s mind about half way through the book, and every character’s careful avoidance of casting any aspersions on the culprit in order not to bring them to the reader’s attention makes it even more obvious who Heyer’s “surprise” murderer will turn out to be. With no great twists and turns, the villain is irrefutably exposed and, like bad actors in a play, the characters marvel how they never would have suspected and how clever the murderer’s plan was. It is supremely unconvincing, but it is a fun short mystery for all of that. Though this is unfortunately one of the novels whose tropes have been left far behind in the dust by the swiftly evolving mystery genre, I’m sure that at the time the reveal would have been a decent attempt at a twist. The really interesting questions are dealt with in the first half of the book, such as why the murderer put the body into the stocks in the public square of a village. There are some fun things to like about this book, and Heyer enjoyed the brother-sister characters so much that she transplanted them wholesale into the Regency era for Venetia, but otherwise there is nothing particularly remarkable about this mystery.
Though Heyer forces in references to the difficulties of the case from all of her detectives and suspects, the actual solution begins to rise to the forefront of the reader’s mind about half way through the book, and every character’s careful avoidance of casting any aspersions on the culprit in order not to bring them to the reader’s attention makes it even more obvious who Heyer’s “surprise” murderer will turn out to be. With no great twists and turns, the villain is irrefutably exposed and, like bad actors in a play, the characters marvel how they never would have suspected and how clever the murderer’s plan was. It is supremely unconvincing, but it is a fun short mystery for all of that. Though this is unfortunately one of the novels whose tropes have been left far behind in the dust by the swiftly evolving mystery genre, I’m sure that at the time the reveal would have been a decent attempt at a twist. The really interesting questions are dealt with in the first half of the book, such as why the murderer put the body into the stocks in the public square of a village. There are some fun things to like about this book, and Heyer enjoyed the brother-sister characters so much that she transplanted them wholesale into the Regency era for Venetia, but otherwise there is nothing particularly remarkable about this mystery.
3.5 stars, let's say. Breezy mystery that doesn't outstay its welcome.
The characterization is excellent, if somewhat manic in a way that seems common to the period. To Heyer's credit, the characters are all very engaging, despite most not being very likable. Whereas a Sayer novel, for instance, would have one character being flamboyantly callous, there are three or four doing so here. It could be a lot at times, but I did find myself wanting to know what happened next.
More so with the cast than with the murder, however. This novel falls on the vaguer end of the sliding scale of crime novels. There are hardly any clues or even much detail given to the aspects of the crime, so you have virtually nothing to work with if you're trying to solve it yourself as you read along. It's more a game of speculation, played almost wholly on motives, until the end. (That being said, I will just take a moment to preen over guessing the right culprit myself.)
Between the characters' stance on being as flippant as possible and the lack of hard detail, the plot overall left me a little cold. I guess I found it hard to care about a murder when no one else seemed to.
The characterization is excellent, if somewhat manic in a way that seems common to the period. To Heyer's credit, the characters are all very engaging, despite most not being very likable. Whereas a Sayer novel, for instance, would have one character being flamboyantly callous, there are three or four doing so here. It could be a lot at times, but I did find myself wanting to know what happened next.
More so with the cast than with the murder, however. This novel falls on the vaguer end of the sliding scale of crime novels. There are hardly any clues or even much detail given to the aspects of the crime, so you have virtually nothing to work with if you're trying to solve it yourself as you read along. It's more a game of speculation, played almost wholly on motives, until the end. (That being said, I will just take a moment to preen over guessing the right culprit myself.)
Between the characters' stance on being as flippant as possible and the lack of hard detail, the plot overall left me a little cold. I guess I found it hard to care about a murder when no one else seemed to.