Best Georgette Heyer to start with?

[InsaneDame]

Just that really! Haven't read any before and seen her name pop up a few times so fancy trying one. Which is the best to start with?

You can't go wrong with The Grand Sophy, Arabella, Venetia or Frederica.

I am also v fond of The Unknown Ajax, The Talisman Ring, Black Sheep and Cotillion... and A Civil Contract, which is my favourite, but more serious than the others and best left until later.

The very early ones (pre-1930) and the very late ones (from Charity Girl onwards) are less good. I've also always found Friday's Child mildly annoying, but that may just be me.

Lucky you!

Friday's child. I love Hero Wantage. Such a silly lovely book.

I love Cotillion, it's my absolute favourite. What is Friday's Child like? I may have missed that one.

Arabella was my first and since then I have read every single one. I too have a Heyer bookshelf plus duplicates at our holiday home and a couple on kindle

Friday's child is probably best read while young as the hero and heroine are both very young and foolish and the hero, in particular, gets more annoying as the reader gets older.

InsaneDame Damerel is from Venetia and Beaumaris from Arabella. You can't really go wrong with either book!

I think Venetia is awful and Damerel is a useless waster.

I was persuaded to buy it on audiobook but even the dulcet tones of Richard Armitage couldn't convince me.

Beaumaris isn't my type but he's not objectionable.

I also like Captain Jack (the Toll Gate).

Ellicam if you like Friday's child you will love cotillion. More silly boys and young heroines. Very much not serious. But great fun

I'm so jealous OP that you have so many wonderful books ahead of you.

Arabella, grand sophy (I wanted to call DD Amabell for a loooong hormone filled time), frederica all excellent.

Ooh ooh Talisman Ring and Reluctant Widow. Written iirc when she wanted to do more mysteries but needed to pay the rent

All my sons have Heyer names.

Ooo you sound like just the people to ask my Heyer questions to!
She is always recommended to me on amazon etc due to my taste in bodice rippers historical romance! I read the talsiman ring and whilst is was ok it didn't set me alight. Key question is: is there sex in Heyer? Have always considered all that racing to peaks/gasping at reaching new heights of pleasure etc a key element to my reading

Bump I like those types of books too - got any particular recommendations?

No sex in Heyer. Some implied (eg people get pregnant).

Talisman Ring is great but not as a first step. Other books of hers are definitely sexier. Vidal in Devil's Cub is very hands-on

No sex, just the odd passionate kiss. I like the comedy of manners ones the best, like Cotillion, Arabella, Friday's Child, Grand Sophy, Venetia etc.

The pre war ones are in many ways very dated, although still worth the read.

The very latest ones were a bit too serious tbh.

She also wrote some contemporary (to herself) detective fiction. Some quite good, although I remember reading one (Footsteps in the Dark?) which was abysmal!

Have lost count of the number of times I have read The Grand Sophy: it is my ultimate comfort read. But Frederica and Venetia are also up in my top ten, along with The Unknown Ajax. These Old Shades is probably number 2 on my list though.

I am so so jealous op. Just having a binge at the moment but I've read them all so many times I can close my eyes and still be reading. I so wish there was a current equivalent of her but there just isn't. Surely someone amongst these devotees could give it a go?!

MyKingdom I'm really going to relish reading these as so many people seem very passionate about them!

insanedame I loved the inferno club by galeen foley. Its a bit ott the chaps are all part of a secret organisation fighting an evil secret organisation. But its your classic titled chap meets elizabeth bennett girl and lots of excitment ensues sometimes in carriages, always in the drawing room and once memorably on a horse!!
Also love: bastion club stephanie laurens, cynster series stephanie laurens (although this is a bit long and so is a little samey by book 19!)
Eloisa James is great - she did a fairytale series, ugly duchess, beauty and the beast etx which sounds really naff but isn't. My big tip is to read them on kindle or buy/get out the library the UK versions because the american copies always have half naked men in jodphurs on the cover which I find off putting. And make sure you don't think too hard about the historical realism - chamber pots in rooms, when was the last he washed that before she put it in her mouth etc all best forgotten

Thank you everyone for all the recommendations. Reserved some of the books mentioned at the library - can't wait to read them. Will keep you posted!

I like Mary Balough for modern with actual sex. And I have an old jumble sale book that reads pretty much exactly like a Greorgette Heyer novel, only by a different author. I will check what it is when I get home.

Definitely The Reluctant Widow and Grand Sophy.
I have a GH shelf too :) Just one missing in the matching set, its in hard back.. :)
Mary Balogh is good, and Mary Jo Putney is ace too - 'The Rake' is one of my favourite regency books

My first Heyer was The Nonesuch. It's a pretty good entry drug, IMO.

DD3 is called Arabella. DH doesn't yet know she's named after a Heyer character, though I don't think he'd be too bothered since DD1 is named after Rachel Weisz's character in The Mummy.

Handy thread. I've got a few Heyers at home that I've never got round to reading.

My favourite is Frederica. A word of warning, OP. This time last year I hadn't read Georgette Heyer at all. Got started and very quickly read my way through all the ones available on Kindle. I don't like the 1920s style detective stories, but demolish the Georgian ones.