The Case of Georgette Heyer
Dear listeners,
I know exactly when I started work on today's new episode of Shedunnit. It was 22nd January 2025 when I cracked open Georgette Heyer's first work of crime fiction, Footsteps in the Dark. (I do love to document what I read and when.) Since then, I have read her eleven other crime novels, two biographies and dipped into several other works of non-fiction about her. All with the aim of answering this deceptively simple question: why isn't Georgette Heyer better known as a golden age detective novelist?
The facts are all there. Heyer published Footsteps in 1932, right in the middle of the interwar period we call the "golden age". She followed it with almost a crime novel a year until 1942, and then published her final two in the early 1950s. She created a pair of recurring Scotland Yard detectives who are in the majority of her books and various one-off inspectors for the rest. She wrote mysteries set in country houses, suburban villas and London flats. Her sleuths tackle poisonings, shootings and bludgeonings. She experimented variously with locked room murders, impossible crimes, and howdunnits. And yet the name "Georgette Heyer" very rarely appears in the same sentence as "detective novelist". I had to know why.
I enlisted the help of Heyer biographer and expert Jennifer Kloester in this quest and learned a lot about the conditions of Heyer's career, why she came to write crime fiction at all, and the frankly astonishing popularity of her historical fiction. By the time of her death in 1974, Jen says, she was selling a million books a year in paperback alone. And she has never been out of print since. I hope you will enjoy listening to the fruits of my almost-a-year spent immersed in Heyer's crime novels, and perhaps – if you haven't already — pick up one for yourself.
And now, I thought I would give you a whistle-stop tour of Georgette Heyer's detective novels.
Footsteps in the Dark
Her first, from 1932. More of a thriller/adventure story than a pure detective novel — a bit like The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie. It follows the hijinks that occur when a brother and sister inherit a country house built on the foundations of an ancient abbey, and soon discover that it harbours a mysterious and violent past. Is the house merely haunted, or is a murderer at work?
Why Shoot a Butler?
Frank Amberley, a barrister, acts as the amateur sleuth in this mystery about the murder of a country house butler. Said butler is discovered shot in a car parked in a remote lane with a young woman standing over him holding a loaded pistol, although none of the shots have been fired. Did she do it? This book from 1933 riffs delightfully on the "butler did it" cliché and even includes a masked ball that echoes similar scenes in Heyer's Regency fiction.
The Unfinished Clue
It feels like Heyer really hit her stride with this 1934 whodunnit. A very unlikeable middle aged man named General Sir Arthur Billington-Smith, who reins supreme in his country household, is found stabbed to death one night in his study. On the table is an incomplete note that reads "there.." — the unfinished clue of the title. An Inspector Harding from Scotland Yard is drafted into find the killer from the dead man's friends and family.
Death in the Stocks
Another superb setup for her 1935 effort: a corpse clad in evening dress is found locked in the stocks on a village green. Superintendent Hanasyde of Scotland Yard — who would become one of Heyer's two recurring detectives — is called in to investigate. He spends much of the book sparring amusingly with the dead man's half-siblings, Kenneth and Antonia Vereker, who resolutely refuse to cooperate with the police like a good murder mystery subject should. This book also introduces solicitor Giles Carrington, who then recurs in the next novel.
Behold, Here's Poison
The Shedunnit Book Club read this 1936 book back in April 2022, which was my first encounter with Heyer's detective fiction. It's a rather clever poisoning mystery set in a leafy north-west suburb of London (I suspect a thinly disguised Hampstead). Once again, Hanasyde and his sidekick Sergeant Hemingway are on the case, assisted by Giles Carrington. By this point, Heyer had settled into a rhythm of writing about dysfunctional families rocked by murders, often with an inheritance angle, and this one is no different. I especially like the character of Randall Matthews, who is a 1930s version of the louche Regency rake with a heart of gold.
They Found Him Dead
In this 1937 novel, Heyer takes her family inheritance mystery setting to the extreme, with multiple deaths among people with the same surname. There's also an imperious matriarch with a rather good companion-secretary, and a cinema-obsessed boy who is desperate to Hanasyde and Sergeant Hemingway. This boy, Timothy Harte, then makes a comeback as an adult in 1951's Duplicate Death. Those who collect stereotypical portrayals of early 20C rich Americans will enjoy this one, because this book contains a great example of the "Cucumber King of California" character type. (Award yourself ten points if you know what that is is a reference to.)
A Blunt Instrument
1938 saw another case for Hanasyde and Hemingway, this time set in a suburban villa. The book opens at the moment when the body of Ernest Fletcher is discovered — a well liked and respected householder. There seems to be a total lack of suspects. The levity and originality in this book is mostly provided by Constable Glass, the first officer on the scene, who is a fundamentalist Christian and loves to speak to his superior officers via only scriptural quotations. Hemingway, in particular, finds that this really gets on his nerves.
No Wind of Blame
This 1939 book was Heyer's first and only real attempt at a true "impossible crime". A man is shot while crossing a bridge in full view of witnesses. Nobody can find the gun or the shooter, nor is it possible that, given the angle, the culprit got away unobserved. How was it done? As Jen explains in our episode, Georgette's husband Ronald devised the setup of this one and she had to get him to explain it again before she could write the ending. Personally, my favourite bit of this book is Ermyntrude Carter, a former chorus girl who has made good via a sequence of successful marriages.
Envious Casca
You will also find this book republished under the title A Christmas Party. Perhaps because of its seasonal setting, this book gets a lot of marketing (particularly during the holiday season) but to my mind it's one of her weakest novels. An unpleasant family gathers for Christmas, everyone is horrible, and the character who has money to will as he sees fit is murdered. I find much of Georgette's wit lacking from this book, and as such it's not such an enjoyable read. It came out in 1941, after a year with no crime novel in 1940 (she had previously done one a year since 1932). Maybe she had lost the knack a little?
Penhallow
This 1942 book is completely unlike all of her other crime fiction and only just squeaks onto the list on the grounds that there is a murder in it. It's also Heyer's only experiment in writing a howdunnit, rather than a whodunnit. I think the closest comparison is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, or maybe Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. The plot revolves around the Penhallow family and their Gothic Cornwall manor house. The gruesome patriarch wants all of his adult children living under his thumb so that he can terrorise and control them as he does his meek second wife. It comes as no surprise when one of them snaps, but who and how is rather a revelation. Penhallow is a book that Heyer expected to be a " tour de force" and a huge bestseller, and was then slightly disappointed in the reception. It's her most "Marmite" book — I think you will either love it or hate it. (I loved it). It reminds me of Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey.
Duplicate Death
Heyer made a return to writing crime fiction with this book in 1951, most likely because she needed money for her ever-more complicated tax affairs (she shared this problem with Agatha Christie). The murder takes place during a duplicate bridge party at the house of a London social climber. Hemingway, now a Chief Inspector, helms the case. I like the central London setting and the use Heyer makes of the card game, but otherwise it's a fairly unremarkable mystery.
Detection Unlimited
Her final whodunnit, from 1953. It's a village mystery, with Hemingway summoned from London to take charge after an unpopular solicitor is shot in his garden. This is definitely a case of too many suspects, too many weapons — ten people locally have excellent motives for the murder, and there are dozens of guns that fit the ballistics profile. A few things I liked in this book: the mention of a new "River Board" and "riparian rights" (I did once write a book about the Thames, after all), the character who breeds Pekinese dogs and gives them all names beginning with U, and the descriptions of a country village going through post WW2 transition (à la A Murder is Announced).
I'm delighted to be able to say the Shedunnit Pledge Drive goal is met for 2025! In less than half the time, too. Many thanks to all who have joined. The pledge drive perks, including the option to gift a membership to a friend for free (essentially a 2 for 1 deal), will remain available until 9th December should you still wish to join and enjoy them.
I hope you are now Heyer-curious — I certainly still am, despite having read at least a book a month of hers this year. I'm now considering starting a project around her historical fiction...
Until next time,
Caroline
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