Book #31: They Found Him Dead
They Found Him Dead by Georgette Heyer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I am a big fan of Georgette Heyer's Regency romance novels, and I think they come close to the exalted level of Jane Austen books. I was told that her mysteries came close to Agatha Christie levels of brilliance. While it was a good read overall, I didn't enjoy it as much as I usually do a Christie novel. It definitely didn't have the same spirit and confidence of her Regency novels.
A blurb on the cover of the book proclaims that Heyer writes vibrant characters and witty dialogue, and I'd agree, with some reservations. I personally had some difficulty differentiating the characters at first, and also couldn't quite picture them in my mind until near the end of the book. Some of the characters could best be described as "stock", especially the investigative detective, Hannaysde. There is also a young boy, Timothy, who plays my least favorite kind of character, the youngster who is a fan of American mob films and eternally speaks in horrific mobster slang.
Also, I found the denouement and reveal of the culprit to be quite sudden and anti-climactic. Whereas Christie would have her cast of characters deliberately gathered to review the entire case, Heyer seems to name the guilty party only as a matter of afterthought.
The story itself is very typical of a Golden Age mystery. The setting is a large house out in the countryside, and the main cast is a sprawling, dysfunctional family. The plot kicks off with the birthday party of the current paterfamilias, who is found the next day, dead, at the bottom of a cliff. An inquest concludes in accidental death, but members of the family are not so sure. They are vindicated in this belief when the next heir is cold-bloodedly murdered.
I did think the crime itself was quite clever, and the reasoning behind the crime fit very well. Heyer certainly has a wonderful imagination, and her writing is clear and has a unique voice. However, in future, I may stick to her more historical novels.
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*****
Yesterday I had the enormous "privilege" of interviewing students for the Admissions office. In the morning, all applicants take a written test. In the afternoon, we interview the students who are from out of town, and thus must interview on the same day. The following week, we interview the in-town students who passed the written test.
Because of this, the students we get from out of town usually have much worse English than those from Shenzhen. They are also usually less impressive in general quality. Here are some things I learned from interviewing these students.
1. America was formed in the 19th (or was it the 20th) century.
2. There are 51 states in the US, if not more.
3. The lesson to be taken away from Hamlet is that in the end, he was brave, and took revenge on those who killed his father.
4. Gone with the Wind took place somewhere in America, and the Civil War was in the beginning of the 19th century.
5. No news of world-wide consequence happened this month.
Such fun!
What I call "dancing"