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A review by veronian
A Blunt Instrument by Georgette Heyer
1.0
If you're familiar with the structure of golden age "cozy" detective novels and Georgette Heyer's romances, the answer to Heyer's mystery "A Blunt Instrument" is clear from the beginning.
The first chapter is a dead giveaway, practically putting us in media res. The murderer stands out from the beginning for not fitting any of the conventions either of golden age mysteries or of a Heyer book. He is out of place and the fairly rote story is bent into place around him. The solution is also really obvious at the beginning with just one lie and heavy emphasis on the missing murder weapon. Neville can't be the murderer - he's protected by Heyer/romance tropes. From the very beginning though, the book never proposes a viable alternative. Leaving us with the out of place guy.
Previous Heyer mysteries tended to have fun characters and dialogue. This was a chore, with irritating characters with transparent motives. It's hard to care about anyone. The mystery itself is also paper thin. There was repetitive reviewing of the murder timeline, over and over again, changing only a few minutes each time.
1/5*
The first chapter is a dead giveaway, practically putting us in media res. The murderer stands out from the beginning for not fitting any of the conventions either of golden age mysteries or of a Heyer book. He is out of place and the fairly rote story is bent into place around him. The solution is also really obvious at the beginning with just one lie and heavy emphasis on the missing murder weapon. Neville can't be the murderer - he's protected by Heyer/romance tropes. From the very beginning though, the book never proposes a viable alternative. Leaving us with the out of place guy.
Previous Heyer mysteries tended to have fun characters and dialogue. This was a chore, with irritating characters with transparent motives. It's hard to care about anyone. The mystery itself is also paper thin. There was repetitive reviewing of the murder timeline, over and over again, changing only a few minutes each time.
1/5*