A Blunt Instrument

When wealthy Englishman Ernest Fletcher is found in his study with his head bashed in, his relatives and neighbors are shocked. Ernest was well-liked and seemingly had no enemies, so why would anyone want to kill him? But as Superintendent Hannasyde and Sergeant Hemingway investigate the case, they soon uncover several motives. First there's Neville Fletcher, the dead man's nephew and heir to his fairly large fortune. Then there is Helen North, who has a secret involving Ernest that she doesn't want anybody -- especially her husband -- to know about. Or the culprit could be Abraham Budd, a businessman who was complicit in some of Ernest's shady financial dealings. But as the police collect motives and unearth secrets, they become more show more and more puzzled by the conflciting testimony about what actually happened on the night of the murder. And when a second victim appears, Hannasyde and Hemingway know they will have to act fast to catch a partiuclarly elusive killer.

In general I prefer Heyer's romances to her mysteries, but I really enjoyed this book! There are some wonderful characters in this one: the vague, mischievous Neville, who is much sharper than he appears; the blunt, monocle-wearing Sally Drew, who writes detective novels; Constable Glass, the Bible-quoting policeman; and the impatient, down-to-earth Sergeant Hemingway. The dialogue is witty and sparkling, as usual, and I loved the romance(s) that emerged throughout the course of the book. The mystery itself is also a bit more substantial than in some of Heyer's other books, and I was surprised by the Christie-esque twist that revealed the murderer's identity. Overall, if you're interested in trying Heyer's mysteries, I think this is a really good place to start! (Hannasyde and Hemingway are recurring characters in her mysteries, but the books absolutely do not have to be read in order.) I'm reading these mysteries in chronological order, so I'll be interested to see whether they get even better as they go on! show less

During the last third of the book I had a sudden conviction of who was the murderer, and I was right.I feel rather chuffed about that, pleased with myself over it.

And I will spend the next few days thinking, writing and speaking in early 20th Century English. Some authors do that to one.

Ernest Fletcher (and yes, the Murder She Wrote theme music was a regular feature of my reading of this) is found bludgeoned to death. Most of the people around him describe him as well-liked but this is on the surface only. When he's found dead and there doesn't appear to be a very long window of opportunity Superintendent Hannasyde has to investigate, helped and hindered by his bible thumping Constable Glass and the indolent nephew of the deceased show more Neville. As the layers begin to be scraped off the stories a lot of suspects begin to mount up and things get more and more complicated. Then a second body turns up...

I enjoyed it, inter-war fiction is some of my favourite reads and this was a good example, yes the characters behave in strange-to-a-modern-reader manners but I just let the story flow and enjoy. While I did work out the murderer it was still interesting to see what would happen with the main characters. I found it enjoyable, there was some reflection of the horrors of World War I lurking in the story which I found interesting as well, though not as much as in Dorothy Sayers. show less

I may have read too much Agatha Christie as I discovered the identity of the murderer very early on in the book, but it did take until the end to discover the why. Strangely for a murder mystery this didn't matter because there are some absolutely hilarious encounters in this book, particularly in the scenes involving Constable Glass and Neville Fletcher, which makes this a quick fun read.

Here's the thing about most Golden Age mysteries: the puzzle is all. No matter how witty or clever or brilliant the writing is, it's almost never about the characters themselves, but about the murder mystery puzzle. Which is, of course, why I read mysteries; I love the puzzle and I love trying to solve it. But unfortunately, if the reader does solve the murder/puzzle, there's not a lot of characterisation to fall back on; solve the puzzle and the remaining story can be tedious.

I solved this one on page 88-89. I don't think I did anything particularly clever, just that a certain passage hit me a certain way and it all became clear to me. The only thing I ended up getting wrong was the relation of the murderer to one of the characters show more and then only because I imagined the murderer to be the wrong age.

I didn't dnf, or skip to the end to see if I was correct solely because, when Heyer is 'on' with her writing she is on, and this is one of her better writing efforts, even if the plotting went astray (and I've found out her mysteries were all plotted by her husband). The story behind the mystery plot is a farce and Heyer thoroughly caricatures everyone except Hannasyde. The dialog was electric and even though I was thoroughly impatient with Neville at the start, I thought him wildly entertaining by the end. I wanted to keep reading just to see what he'd say and do next.

So, 2 stars for the plotting because... page 89. There was never any doubt on my part that I was wrong. But an extra star because the characters are Heyer at her wittiest and most hilarious. show less

historical-fiction, cosy-mystery, sly-humor, snarky, law-enforcement, verbal-humor, situational-humor, British-detective

Didn't know that she wrote early twentieth century police mysteries, and while the mystery was fairly good, the characters are so over the top, and the humor so delightful that I giggled and snuffled and guffawed through the whole book!
I love a period mystery, and this one is great fun!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from SOURCEBOOKS Landmark via NetGalley!

The beginning of the book and the title rather give away whodunnit, but the whole point of a Heyer novel is simply to be frothy confection of banter and characters who run the gamut from "fairly implausible" to "highly improbable." In other words, excellent to read when you're jet-lagged and awake at 4a.m.

One of the better plot twists in the recent Heyer mysteries I've read, even though a good number of the characters were still fairly insufferable. Held my attention well, though.