Death in the Stocks by Georgette Heyer

All of a sudden, my library added all twelve of Georgette Heyer's mysteries to its ebook collection. I started my own collection of the paperback editions with their delightful covers a few years ago and currently have six. I have read several of them and was happy to be able to download one I didn't have - Death in the Stocks. 

This is the first in a series of mysteries, set in the 1930s, starring Superintendent Hannasyde from New Scotland Yard. He has his work cut out for him. The suspects don't appear to want to help prove their innocence, but rather add to the confusion by coming up with their own motives and guilty parties or fudging on their own alibis. 

After the dead body of Arnold Vereker is found imprisoned in the stocks on Ashleigh Green with a knife in his back, suspects abound. There is Kenneth who stands to inherit his half-brother's fortune. Kenneth's fiancée, Violet, is a bit of a gold-digger so she certainly had motive. Or perhaps the murderer is Kenneth's sister Antonia who was in the village the night of the murder and had a bone to pick with Arnold. Another suspect is Antonia's fiancé Rudolph Mesurier who was chief accountant for the dead man's firm and was caught 'borrowing' funds. 

But then again, one can't discount Arnold's brother Roger who was presumed dead but shows up just in time to collect his inheritance thereby shoving aside Kenneth who was first in line for the loot. 

After a second murder (I love a second murder - it sweetens the pot!), the truth comes out and the case ends up being solved by Giles Carrington, solicitor for the dead man. Giles is in love with Antonia so he has a vested interest in keeping her out of jail and helping to find the real murderer.

One really can't go wrong with Georgette Heyer mysteries. The stories are deftly plotted, the characters are amusing, and the conversations sparkle. Plus, the book covers are gorgeous.

Perfect bedtime reading.

A Blunt Instrument by Georgette Heyer

I awoke this morning to the sound of rain on the roof. It seemed the perfect morning to snuggle in and finish reading Georgette Heyer's A Blunt Instrument (1938) featuring the intrepid Scotland Yard Superintendent Hannasyde and his sidekick Sergeant Hemingway. 

When wealthy Ernest Fletcher is found dead at his desk in the library of his home Greystones by the bobby on the beat, the Bible-quoting PC Glass, there are plenty of suspects but no murder weapon to be found. 

Was it his nephew and heir, Neville Fletcher, he with the devil-may-care attitude and in debt up to his worn-out hat? Or maybe it was Helen North, a neighbor who had a mild flirtation going with the deceased in an effort to recover her gambling IOUs? Perhaps it was her husband, Mr. North, who in a fit of jealousy, bashed poor Ernie over the head. One might also suspect Helen North's sister, Sally Drew, the plain-speaking, monocle-wearing crime novelist. Then again, who were those two mysterious visitors that came and went through the side gate to the house and were spotted by PC Glass?

Of course it is all a delightful puzzle in the hands of Ms. Heyer. She has much fun with the timing of the murder and at one point Superintendent Hannasyde doesn't see how the murder could even have taken place considering the time of the sighting of suspects, the chiming of the hall clock, and the time of Fletcher's death. But, of course, dead bodies never lie. Or do they?

I have quite a collection of Ms. Heyer's mysteries, she wrote nine of them, and am always happy to be in her world of manners and witty dialogue. It doesn't really matter to me whodunnit. With her, the joy is in the journey to the dénouement!

First Lines

"Elmer Gantry was drunk. He was eloquently drunk, lovingly and pugnaciously drunk."

Sinclair Lewis: Elmer Gantry (1926)

Picture: AP

There is a fun photo feast in the online edition of the UK newspaper The Telegraph. Here, according to culture editor Martin Chilton, are thirty of the great opening lines in literature. Some familiar, some not. The best part is seeing the wonderful photos of the authors paired with the covers of their books.

Of course there are Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice) and Charles Dickens (A Tale of Two Cities), but also Jean Rhys (The Wide Sargasso Sea) and Ken Kesey (One Few Over the Cuckoo's Nest).  I was especially taken with the above black and white photograph of Sinclair Lewis sitting at his typewriter dressed in a suit and tie. I guess the photo was not taken on Casual Friday.

Therefore, not to be outdone by The Telegraph, here is a sampling of first lines from books on my own shelves:

"Those privileged to be present at a family festival of the Forsytes have seen that charming and instructive sight -- an upper middle-class family in full plumage."
    ----The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy

"I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of Ngong Hills."
    ----Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen

"When I was very young and the urge to be someplace else was on me, I was assured by mature people that maturity would cure this itch."
    ----Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck

"On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays it was Court Hand and Summulae Logicales, while the rest of the week it was the Organon, Repetition and Astrology."
    ----The Once and Future King by T.H. White

"Had one been a Prime Minister there would be every reason for talking of one's first tooth and devoting a chapter or two to its effect upon the history of our times."
    ----Twenty-five by Beverley Nichols

"There were several promising-looking letters in the pile laid on Mrs. James Kane's virgin breakfast-plate on Monday morning, but having sorted all the envelopes with the air of one expectant of discovering treasure-trove, she extracted two addressed to her in hands indicative of either illiteracy or of extreme youth."
    ----Duplicate Death by Georgette Heyer

What first lines are lurking on your shelves?

Cloudy with rain - finally

Cloudy with rain. I am tired of the sun and heat. A perfect day to loll on the chaise lounge and read and pretend it is cool outside. (It isn't.)

I am truly enjoying Jonathan Yardley's book Second Reading. One minute I am visiting suburbia in the short stories of John Cheever, The Housebreaker of Shady Hill,  and a few pages later I am thrown into the world of baseball with Jim Brosnan's The Long Season.

What I really appreciate is that Mr. Yardley still owns the books he is rereading. Some are first editions bought at time of publication; others are well-worn finds he bought at used bookstores. Many he admits to rereading many times.

He also gives a brief bio of each author. Nothing ponderous; usually just a paragraph. Enough to place the author and the book in their time period. Much appreciated.

I am also finishing up another witty mystery by Georgette Heyer - The Unfinished Clue (1934) with Inspector Harding of Scotland Yard.

The gruff and bullying Sir Arthur is stabbed in the neck with a letter opener at the end of a weekend house party (that the British do so well). No one seems to miss him but a murderer must be found. Plenty of suspects; a terrific character, Lola, a dancer from Mexico, the fiancee of the dead man's son; and a perfectly named butler, Finch.

As always, Ms. Heyer perfectly captures the tone of the upper class manor and manners. Delicious.

Georgette Heyer - Mystery Writer

Until I read a piece by Michael Dirda praising Georgette Heyer for her wit and charm in his book Classics for Pleasure, I would have snobbily refused to read her thinking she just wrote Edwardian romance novels. Oh, how wrong I was.

I discovered one of the twelve mysteries she wrote when I was browsing the few books left on the shelves when one of the three Borders stores in my city was closing. I was smitten not only by the cover but by the characters and the plotting. When the two other Borders stores closed a few months later, I went and scooped up another four of her mysteries.

Now, the remaining seven are in my cart at Amazon. At $12 a piece, that is a chunk of change, but I must have them. I love everything about these books - inside and out. The size is perfect. The covers are gorgeous. I obsess.  They are available for my Nook, but I don't want the ebooks. I simply must have all of her mysteries on my shelves. And I am afraid that if I don't go ahead and order the remaining seven, the publisher will come out with a new edition that won't match the ones I have.

Oh, the trials and tribulations of a book lover.