Georgette Heyer - give me your top five

I've just re-read Bath Tangle in honour of this thread. Not the best, but fun enough.

This is a great thread. I’ve just finished a re-read of Sylvester and think I’ll move onto Cotillion. Couldn’t resist another encounter with Freddie’s father regarding him with fascinated awe

Regency Buck is one of my least favourite. Worth was too Alpha for my taste when I read it.

Of the detective novels, I think Duplicate Death is my favourite. Beulah is very like Harriet, but Timothy is nothing like Lord Peter.

Regency Buck is the one with the boxing match.

‘Behold, Here’s Poison’ I think it is.

I've no idea which of the crime ones they're in but I remember the words 'Darling serpent Randall'.

These Old shades, Devil's Cub, The Spanish Bride, The one with Judith and Worth - starts with the boxing match, An Infamous Army.

Envious Casca
Behold Here’s Poison
No Wind of Blame
Detection Unlimited
Duplicate Death

My favourite hero is Giles in The Foundling, even though it’s nowhere near my favourite book overall. Then Freddie Standen (of course).

Bujold dedicates A Civil Campaign to Jane, Charlotte, Georgette and Dorothy, and although I can see the influence of them all, I always think of it as Heyer in Space because it is the most perfect Georgettian comedy of manners.

I hadn’t thought of the end of Shards of Honour being Venetia, @CordeliaNaismithVorkosiganbut you are absolutely correct. I must read them both again to be sure…

BTW the Open Library at the Internet Archive has a copy of Instead of the Thorn to read online, as well as the biography mentioned upthread. You can sign up for free but they always appreciate donations.

Sadly there was a big court case involving the Archive recently which has forced it to withdraw access to many books. due to copyright issues. They still have some amazing stuff though, including a scan of the little book about neck cloth styles often referred to in the Heyer books....so you can learn how to achieve these wonderful creations!

Also, for Bujold fans, they have scans of all the Vorkosigan novels. LMB always released her ebooks for free as I recall. (I do have some signed hardbacks, though, sad old fan that I am!)

Edited as wrong book mentioned. I believed they had Helen but can't see it.

This thread inspired me to read them again and I started with These Old Shades (finished) and Devil's Cub (currently), same as @throwaway25. As I was reading, I also thought that no actors could possibly get these characters right. If they ever were adapted, I'd avoid the adaptations like the plague, to preserve the originals in my head. The stories are full of melodrama and farce which normally wouldn't appeal to me at all but you just have to enter into the spirit of things.

I had forgotten exactly how the Duke of Avon gets his revenge on M. Saint-Vires. 😮And him calling Leonie 'infant' throughout! She even signs using that name when she writes a letter to Justin before running away!

Oh wow @JoanOgdenand @TeaAndStrumpets, I feel mildly envious. I think I should start making a determined push to hunt down and read all of GH’s works other than the historical ones. Some of them must be hiding in secondhand bookshops and libraries.
Also, @throwaway25 thank you so much for starting this thread. There have been GH threads on mumsnet in the past but none as enjoyable as this one with so many fans giving their views of their favourite books.

Yep, the scene in the summer house...fabulous stuff!

Yes me too. Interesting book.

I adore the Vorkosigan books. The end of Shards of Honour owes a lot to the end of Venetia, which is on my shortlist of favourite Heyers.

I’ve tried some of the mysteries but never got very far.

I was listening to Charity Girl this week - I’d forgotten that Simon Carrington called Hetta ‘sound as a trout’!

How sound are trouts?

Penhallow and why shoot a butler are awful. But some of the others, though very dated and classist are fun as period pieces.

It's totally normal in Golden Age detective fiction for the victim to be someone no one gives a toss about... but I agree that it results in very superficial and artificial novels.

I've read all the GH detective novels at some point but found them very forgettable, apart from Penhallow which is nasty and weirdly homophobic.

I found the couple of mysteries I read a bit odd as none of the characters actually gave a toss about people being murdered beyond the puzzle to solve or the inconvenience.

Why Shoot A Butler and Penhallow are the titles I remember having read.

Heyer herself is very laid back about murder. In The Toll Booth it’s treated as a handy outcome for all concerned. Then there’s The Reluctant Widow with a bit of fairly casual murder on the heath.

I have actually read Instead of the Thorn! I found a copy at an aged relatives house. Odd book, but well written (of course) and actually very memorable.

I loved all the mysteries. I especially loved the one with Nigel as the hero/potential suspect and the heroine who I think wrote mysteries herself.

Oh dear @pikkumyy77 Envious Casca was the mystery I didn’t get one with so haven’t tried any of the others. Still, if I ever get tired of re-reading the historical novels, I may give them another go.

Heyer’s biographer, Jennifer Kloester, has a lot of information on her website about the woman herself and pretty much all her writings. The biography itself is pretty good too as she had access to a lot of her letters etc. There are blog posts on the books mentioned in this thread plus some of those she later suppressed such as this one which sounds very different from anything else she wrote: https://jenniferkloester.com/instead-of-the-thorn/

back in the 70s when my mum was an avid Heyer reader (she keeps saying "I'm sure i had X and Y and Z but i can't find them". Actually, mum, so sorry, i have them.) Family Circle magazine had a rag doll pattern. She made me one, and she made one for my brother. Mine was called Venetia and had 3 beautiful gowns, one for day, one for visiting and a ballgown (to wear to the Duchess of Richmond's ball in Brussels...). She also had undergarments. Actually i still have her and the one surviving dress. My brother had Captain Brady with a beautifully sewn uniform, all frogging and braid (my father was in the Household Cavalry).

I also loved These Old Shades as a child, but on rereading it was grossed out not only by the grooming element but also by the total snobbishness and obsession with Leonie's blue blood. Fortunately GH, and wider society, moved on in subsequent years.