We have a murder mystery story this this episode by one of my favorite authors. Murder mysteries are not one of my favorite genre, but I have read them in the past, and this one was recommended by Wanda, a book review blogger that I follow. So how did I like it?
My reviewer criteria. I like light, entertaining novels. I like smaller scale stories rather than epics. I like character focused novels featuring pleasant characters, with a minimum number of unpleasant ones. I greatly value clever and witty writing. I like first person, or close third person narratives. I dislike a lot of "head jumping" between POVs and flashbacks. I want a story, not a puzzle. While I am not opposed to violence, I dislike gore for the sake of gore. I find long and elaborate fight, action, and battle sequences tedious. Plot holes and things that happen for the convenience of the author annoy me. And I fear I'm a born critic in that I don't mind pointing out what I don't like in a story. However, I lay no claim to be the final arbitrator of style and taste, you need to decide for yourself what you like or dislike in a book.
Your opinions are always welcome. Comment below.
A Christmas Party AKA Envious Casca by Georgette Heyer DNF 38%
Wanda, when she recommended this story to me described it as: "I reread it in December when I can. All the characters are delightfully despicable!" I can assure you that the all but one are indeed despicable. As for delightful, well that's in the mind of the reader. Perhaps I wasn't in the mood for this story, though I think the more likely reason I abandon this book is that I don't find despicable characters delightful, either in books or real life. I simply don't care to spend my time in their company.
I've watched a YouTube video on Heyer's mysteries, suggesting why she is not considered amongst the most famous of the mystery writers of the golden age between the two world wars. The presenter's conclusion was that she was simply too famous in other genre, namely Regency Romances to be considered as a mystery writer. That fame, and that association with other genres simply overshadowed her mystery stories, even though she wrote one a year for years. The other factor might be that her husband contributed at least to the mechanics of the murder, which perhaps diminishing her stature a little in the minds of mystery lovers. For me, having only read one and one/third of them, I've found that they lack the flare, wit and engaging characters of her romances.
But on to the story at hand.
In this story she brings a wealthy family, often at odds with each other, together for Christmas, hosted, very reluctantly, by the estate owner. The invited guests also bring along companions who are even less welcomed by the nominal host. Each of these characters are given multiple times to annoy each other, and, in this case, me, with only one who is not annoying. Then there is a murder, and the police arrive, at which the point I decided I had read enough, and well, I knew who, if not how, the murder was done.
Heyer played by the rules, giving you the clue you needed. The problem was that the key clue, was a toss away line that struck me, at least when I read it, as seemingly unnecessary. And then, when events around the time the murder was being committed were being recounted, and act was described in more detail than strictly warranted, so that it struck me that toss away line was the explanation to solve the mystery. I'm being vague so as not to spoil the mystery. This is not to say that I knew just how murder was done, but it told me who done it. I looked ahead just to make sure I was right, and I was.
Still, if like Wanda, you enjoy a carefully crafted mystery with a host of despicable characters, something on the order of those "Knives Out" movies, you will likely enjoy this Heyer mystery outing. They are solid for what they are, though I haven't read enough of the golden age mystery writers to say how they fare against the Christies, Sayers, et. al.
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