Death in the Stocks by Georgette Heyer(Sourcebooks Landmark, ISBN 978-1-4022-1797-5)
If you would like to finish out your year with a funny, entertaining, cozy mystery, then once again I have a very nice Georgette Heyer book to offer for your consideration.
In the very early hours of the morning, the body of a dead man, dressed in evening clothes, is found on the village green, his feet in the stocks. The murdered man turns out to be the wealthy weekend visitor Andrew Vereker, and once police start to investigate the crime they soon determine that there are many people who, for various reasons, are not unhappy to find that Vereker has been sent on to his just rewards. Relatives, soon to be in-laws, business associates...all whom it seems greatly disliked the dead man and none of whom have an alibi. The very clever Superintendent Hannasyde is called in to solve the crime and he certainly has his work cut out for him with this cast of characters. Lucky for us, there is a lot of very funny and entertaining goings on for us to enjoy as that is accomplished.
Once again, as with the previous two Heyer mysteries that I have reviewed, I can totally recommend Death In The Stocks to fans of the genre, especially if you are a fan of these sort of English country house mysteries. I am not totally convinced if the culture she describes in her books ever really existed, and surely it does not now, some 60 or more years later, but it certainly is very entertaining. Heyer is the queen of witty, funny dialogue and the queen still reigns here. Great characters and great dialogue is what she excels at. If you have read and enjoyed the mysteries of Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayer and are not familiar with the perhaps lesser known Heyer, you need to check her out and Death In the Stocks is a great place to start.
I also must mention once again...because I love to repeat myself when I say something true...that I just love the look and feel and quality of these editions reissued by Sourcebooks. They are some of the nicest, high quality paperbacks that I have ever read.
If you are looking for a nice cozy to cozy up to on a cold winter night, perhaps with a cuppa tea and a slice of fruitcake (see my post from Saturday) run out and grab yourself a Heyer!
My thanks to Danielle at Sourcebooks for this copy to review.
This was a good one! I enjoyed it a lot too. Like you, I love the feel of the book and the quality of the paper. It's a joy to read.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it! Did you get They Found Him Dead? I haven't started it yet but it's calling to me.
Heyer is one of those authors that I really need to discover. I've yet to read a one.
ReplyDeleteI've never read any of Heyer's work but I'm really beginning to think I need to.
ReplyDeleteI bet I would really like this- it sounds like fun :)
ReplyDeleteI love Georgette Heyer, and while I own this book, don't think I have read it. I ended 2009 with a great Heyer mystery, too- Envious Casca. Though I didn't LOVE it, I found certain scenes laugh-out-loud funny, which is key.
ReplyDeleteAArti, I don't think that, whatever else, you can dislike a book that makes you laughs out loud.
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