Helpful Score: 2
Georgette Heyer's genius lies in her ability to recreate a time and place so vividly, you feel like you've been there. She is subtle, treating her reader like an equal who doesn't to be hit on the head with explanations. I haven't read a book by her that I didnt' enjoy.
Helpful Score: 1
I enjoyed this so much. A mystery in Heyer style my first. I loved there were no explicitly graphic murder scenes etc. And you have to pay attention to the very beginning to grasp the end. The aunt and cousin were instrumental to this story in quite a funny way.
Helpful Score: 1
Written in the true classic "golden age" of mysteries.......This was my first exposure to Georgette Heyer and I plan on reading more! ....a gem....
Helpful Score: 1
Georgette Heyer is a master at developing colorful characters that endear themselves to the reader very quickly. "Why Shoot a Butler" is certainly no exception to this. The story is well crafted, the mystery is difficult to unravel, but not impossible (if you pay attention), and she even managed to put a delightful romance in the mix. This a very good read; engaging and thoroughly enjoyable. I highly recommend it to anyone.
Written by one of the best Regency Romance authors, Georgette Heyer also penned many mysteries mostly set in the era between WWI and WWII. For the flavor of that era, the quaint village settings, the quirky characters and the police procedural, these are perfect readings. In this novel the butler didn't do it, or did he and that was why he was killed? Amateur detective and visiting barrister, Mr. Amberley, suspected the mystery involved the brusque young woman he found at the scene of the crime on a lonely, dark, fog shrouded English lane. Plenty of twists and turns and suspects.
A mystery and romance mixed together. Frank Amberly knows a lot more than he tells the police and he doesn't really work with them although they want him to. In fact, he almost works against them. His romantic interest doesn't make things easy for him, either. His cousin shares information that nearly sinks the whole case, but he finally gets the piece of information he needs almost too late to stop the criminal. I particularly like Frank's aunt and her perceptiveness.
I've enjoyed a number of Heyer's other books, but this one might have been a little too pat. And the obvious romance was so obvious, but then that plot line is shared by so many other books.
It was the "half-loaf" which keyed me into knowing the cause of the murders. I mean, after all, this is about the British upper class right? What else could drive them to murder?
Still much of what the protagonist "knew" by hiring several agencies was a little too much.
Note: In this edition, the last 25 pages are from another of her novels, "The Unfinished Clue."
It was the "half-loaf" which keyed me into knowing the cause of the murders. I mean, after all, this is about the British upper class right? What else could drive them to murder?
Still much of what the protagonist "knew" by hiring several agencies was a little too much.
Note: In this edition, the last 25 pages are from another of her novels, "The Unfinished Clue."
I enjoyed both the slyly humorous writing style and the well-constructed puzzle.
Why indeed shoot a butler? You will have to read the book to find out. I am not giving away any secrets. But I love Georgette Heyer and am trying to collect them all! I think I now have fourteen overloaded bookcases of various sizes at home and I have seven more that I use for reference at the office.
