Come along for a jolly holiday at a traditional English country house. You'll love the other guests. Well - somebody should; they mostly hate each other. And when the tensions lead to murder, you'll have the interesting task of figuring out how the victim could have been stabbed to death inside a locked and watched room, when there was no trace of either a murderer or a weapon. It's all part of Georgette Heyer's 1941 mystery, "Envious Casca," which is reviewed today on our Classic Mysteries podcast. You can listen to the full review here.
Georgette Heyer is mostly remembered today for a series of Regency romance novels. But she was also the author of some excellent mysteries. There's general agreement that "Envious Casca," with its English country house setting and impossible crime, is among her best books. For those who may feel that the "traditional" English house party mystery is too prone to using stereotyped characters, I can only say that the reader will encounter quite a few rather shocking surprises along the way, some of which will turn those stereotypes on their heads. "Envious Casca" is a great deal of fun, written with very dry humor, fairly clued. with some memorable characters. Don't let your own stereotypes of "romantic novels" put you off this book - it's a first-rate mystery.
Les, I recently discovered Georgette Heyer's mysteries - never even knew they existed. They were a happy surprise. I read: A BLUNT INSTRUMENT, DUPLICATE DEATH, and DETECTION UNLIMITED at a clip. Loved them. But, for whatever reason I missed ENVIOUS CASCA. Will rectify that asap. (I think her mysteries are being re-issued in nice looking paperbacks. Well, you probably knew that.)
Posted by: Yvette | August 09, 2010 at 02:46 PM
I have DEATH IN THE STOCKS lined up to review later this year. Yes, it's another of the nice-looking paperbacks. ;-)
Posted by: Les Blatt | August 10, 2010 at 11:46 AM
Well I read ENVIOUS CASCA (feeling guilty all the while because I was supposed to be finishing up another novel). Though I suspected who the killer was early on and even realized how the murder was done, I still enjoyed it. I'm going to have to read even more of these Heyer mysteries.
I've never read Nicholas Blake (or knew that he was Daniel Day-Lewis's father) though I'd vaguely heard of him. Thanks for tipping me off about him and his detective Nigel Strangeways. (Didn't Agatha Christie have a villainous character with this name in one of her books? A homicidal tennis pro?)I'm off to hunt down Blake's books. Maybe if I'm lucky my library might have some.
You surely do know a heck of a lot about the 'golden age' of mystery, Les. I thought I was good, but you put me in the shade.
Posted by: Yvette | August 16, 2010 at 04:02 PM
Yvette, there are several out-of-print "treasuries" of Blake books, each containing three or four mysteries. Your library may have some. Rue Morgue Press has an inexpensive edition of "Thou Shell of Death."
I have learned a lot about the Golden Age from two sources, both from the same group. One is an excellent mail list on Yahoo, which you can find at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GAdetection/ . The other is the Golden Age of Detection Wiki, which has extensive reference material on GA authors - http://gadetection.pbworks.com/ . Check them out when you have a chance!
Posted by: Les Blatt | August 16, 2010 at 04:16 PM
Thanks for the info, Les. I'll check out those sites.
Posted by: Yvette | August 16, 2010 at 05:49 PM