Review: THEY FOUND HIM DEAD, Georgette Heyer - audio book

• source: Audible.com, unabridged audiobook
• Narrated by: Ulli Birvé
• Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins 
• first published 1937

Synopsis (Audible.com)

The 60th birthday party of Silas Kane was marred by argument and dissension among his family. And then, the morning after the celebrations, Kane is found dead at the foot of a cliff. The theory that Silas accidentally lost his way in the fog is confirmed when the coroner returns a verdict of death by misadventure.

But then Kane's nephew and heir is murdered and threats are made on the next in line to the fortune, throwing a new and sinister light on Kane's death. All clues point to an elderly lady of eighty as the killer. But as the redoubtable Superintendent Hannasyde delves further into the case he discovers that nothing is quite as it seems

My Take

It takes quite a while for Superintendent Hannasyde to make an appearance, in my estimation about half the novel has passed before he is called in, and then only after the second death.

Meanwhile the reader has explored the Kane family. I may have found this less confusing if I had been reading with my eyes rather than my ears. The author has the tendency to refer to characters sometimes by first name and sometimes by surname. It took me quite a while to work out they were not two different people. I think perhaps which name is used depends on the character's role in the family and applies particularly to Mrs Kane (senior)'s companion.

We accept the interpretation that Silas Kane was murdered while on his evening walk, pushed over a cliff in the fog, readily enough but all theories are confounded when his heir is shot while sitting at his desk in the study. His distraught wife has a lover but as she will not inherit there seems no reason to suspect him or her. Attention focusses on who will now be the heir, and a dodgy investment scheme lurks in the wings.

As I noted in my review of an earlier Heyer detective novel, the language seems a bit dated but the plotting is tight, and the characters, although some are abysmal people, or perhaps because they are, are quite realistic. 

My rating: 3.8

I've also reviewed
3.8, A BLUNT INSTRUMENT 

 

Review: A BLUNT INSTRUMENT, Georgette Heyer

• this edition Kindle (Amazon) published 2010
• originally published in 1938
• #4/4 in the Inspector Hannasyde series
• File Size: 398 KB
• Print Length: 323 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1402218001
• Publisher: Cornerstone Digital; New Ed edition (October 31, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0045JKETO

Synopsis (Amazon)

When Ernest Fletcher is found bludgeoned to death in his study, everyone is shocked and mystified: Ernest was well-liked and respected, so who would have a motive for killing him?

Enter Superintendent Hannasyde who, with consummate skill, begins to uncover the complexities of Fletcher's life. It seems the real Fletcher was far from the gentleman he pretended to be. There is, in fact, no shortage of people who wanted him dead.

Then, a second murder is committed, with striking similarities to the first, giving a grotesque twist to a very unusual case.

My Take

My interest in reading this vintage crime title arose after reading an "In the Spotlight" post by Margot Kinberg. Margot says that A BLUNT INSTRUMENT is a clear example of a Golden Age mystery, with a solid emphasis on mystery and a puzzle, focussing also in the "who" and "why".

Another review that I read said it was a romance clad in a mystery, the romance being what we usually recognise Georgette Heyer for.

I thought it differed in many ways from an Agatha Christie novel - it was very heavy on dialogue, reading almost like a drama script. The characters were rather peculiar and there was quite a lot of humour, particularly in the form of the interaction between Sergeant Hemingway and Constable Glass, who constantly quoted from the Bible. I thought about half way through that there could only be one answer to who the murderer was, and surprisingly was right.

It is not going to send me off looking for another Heyer mystery though.

My rating: 3.8