How did I not know this??

[litlover12]

In Borders the other day, I came across a shelf of Georgette Heyer's mystery novels in nice bright new covers. I was glancing at them without much interest -- nice bright new covers notwithstanding, I'd only heard of Heyer as a writer of historical romances that didn't sound like my cup of tea -- and then this met my eye:

"Miss Heyer's characters and dialogue are an abiding delight to me... I have seldom met people to whom I have taken so violent a fancy from the word 'Go'." -- Dorothy L. Sayers.

Well, that's it, then. I now have to read every one of them.

Comments

[valancy-s.livejournal.com]

That's so fun! I think of Heyer's books as being a few decades after Sayers' (though she did have a long career), so it never occurred to me that Sayers would have read them.

Reading everything Heyer wrote is probably inadvisable! She recycles a lot of plots and some of her books are phoned in. But some are a lot of fun!

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

I'll probably just stick with the mysteries -- got any recommendations among those? I was thinking of starting with "Behold, Here's Poison."

[valancy-s.livejournal.com]

I've never read any of her mysteries, actually. I got Envious Casca and Penhallow in a bag of free books but I started one and it didn't grab my interest.

You might try one of her romances too - they're more like Jane Austen Lite, nothing like the bodice-rippers that come under the name "historical romance" today. The Grand Sophy and Arabella are my favorites.

[ibmiller.livejournal.com]

You're kidding! Man, now I'll have to check them out. Bother!

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

That's just how I felt! "Oh, great, now I have to add MORE books to the ever expanding must-read list!" :-)

[thepresidentrix.livejournal.com]

That's so funny! I would never have figured on Sayers being a fan of Heyer, maybe because Sayers (imho) has such superior prose and characterization! But I am curious about Heyer's mysteries.