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Fiction. Mystery. Historical Fiction. HTML: A COUNTRY HOUSE MYSTERY PERFECT FOR FANS OF AGATHA CHRISTIE Every family has secrets, but now they are turning deadly... On a dark night, along a lonely country road, barrister Frank Amberley stops to help a young lady in distress and discovers a sports car with a corpse behind the wheel. The girl protests her innocence and Amberley believes her�??at least until he gets drawn into the mystery and the evidence incriminating Shirley Brown begins to add up. Why Shoot a Butler? is an English country-house murder with a twist. In this beloved classic by Georgette Heyer, the butler is the victim, every clue complicates the puzzle, and the bumbling police are well-meaning but completely baffled. Fortunately, amateur sleuth Amberley is as brilliant as he is arrogant as he ferrets out the desperate killer�??even though this time he's not sure he wants to know the truth..… (more)
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Amberley refers to himself as the rudest man in London, and with some cause, and I find him totally wonderful because of it. His banter with the cast of characters, especially the police who take him on as an unofficial detective on the case, is one of the strengths of the book. Honestly, the mystery was a little weak...it must have been because I figured it out and some of the characters are a little undeveloped, but it is still a very enjoyable read. I love a nice mystery, set in the 30's in a country manor house, with servants lurking about, listening behind the doors and chases across the countryside.
If you are up for a clever, witty romp, with even a touch of a romance thrown in you should give Heyer a try.
One aspect of not being a police procedural that leapt out at me during this latest reread is it allowed Heyer to give free rein to her genius for repartee. Amberley is a modern day (well, contemporary to when this was written in 1936) version of so many of her heros in the Regency historical fiction books -- intelligent, high-handed, somewhat short-tempered and sarcastic, yet reliable & kind.
I think that the mystery is good too, but to be honest, it is hard for me to judge at this point. I have read this several times before and remembered the solution so I was able to pick up clues and hints along the way that I am sure I missed the first time or two I read this.
Readers may be as frustrated as the local constabulary are with Amberley's reticence. He doles out information sparingly and is deliberately vague when questioned. He believes that the murder is a part of a larger operation, but he doesn't reveal the nature of the plot to the police or to readers. Some of the characters are suspects while others are potential victims, but only Amberley knows which individuals belong in each category. It's a fun read if you don't mind being strung along by Amberley and you can ignore the technical problems with the plot.
The first clue that this mystery is not set during the Regency period is that motor car on the book cover. Indeed, we are in 1930s England, where a young barrister, Frank Amberley, happens upon a car containing a dead man one evening after getting lost on a country road. There's a young woman standing next to the car, but Amberley's instincts tell him she isn't the culprit. Who was, and why, fills the rest of the book as Amberley conducts a parallel investigation to the official police inquiry.
The central mystery is solid, with lots of red herrings and twists to keep a reader guessing. And of course there's the obligatory romance subplot, though it's all very low-key until the very end. Heyer proves as adept at writing for her own time as she was at channeling 19th century high society, though with much less baffling slang and minute descriptions of clothes and vehicles. I don't know if I'll ever think of Heyer's mysteries on the same level as her romances, but I'm certainly willing to read more of them.
Barrister Frank Amberley is by his own admission one of the rudest men in England. He is irritated by stupidity and finds the
Though Amberley's initial demeanor is one that I would normally scorn in a character, for some reason, I really liked him. He is brash, rude and but also very kind and possessing a delightfully dry sense of humor.
The mystery turned out to be a bit so, so but the trip there was very enjoyable. There were parts of the book where I felt that it dragged but not enough for me to be bored. I also found the romance angle to be a bit far fetched as the two people who end up together had so much adversarial contact and not enough affection to have ended up together. But all in all, I really enjoyed this book and will definitely read more Heyer mysteries.
For the fan of Heyer’s detective stories this, her second murder mystery, shows the author still experimenting with a format that will let her bring the strengths of her Regencys to a different and more modern genre.
Readers may also be turned off, or even depending on their own experiences horrified, by the degree to which the they are presumed to empathize with the idea that aggressive and almost abusive behaviour is experienced (when carried out by the right person) as romantic and attractive.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Heyer’s second excursion into the world of the detective story does not, in the opinion of this reviewer, age as well as the first. The “missing will” and “long lost relatives” plots were even at that time overused in English fiction and Heyer goes to the well of local constabulary incompetence with a frequency that rises to the level of constancy as the book unfolds. The talented amateur benefits from knowledge he never shares with the police and indeed withholds information from the police without which there was no chance for them to solve the case.
The opening scene in which the protagonist “meets cute” with the mystery lady over a dead body is in itself a giveaway to the entire plot. Only the most inexperienced reader will not know by the end of this encounter that they will battle with each other through the rest of the book only to realize close to the end they have been in love the whole time. The fact that they find each other intolerable and cannot have a conversation of more than a few minutes duration without a violent argument breaking out does not bode well for their future happiness together.
Frank Amberley, a rich barrister, stops to help a stranded woman on the side of the road one night, and discovers a dead body in her car. He feigns disinterest in the case, but begins quiet investigations nonetheless, and learns that the dead man is actually a butler for one of his parent's rich neighbors. This is the biggest twist in the story, and Heyer capitalizes on it, as everyone is bewildered about the motives of killing a butler. The cranky old man who owns a sizable fortune? Yes. The butler? Unheard of. Of course, the money does play an important factor in unraveling all the clues, as does the mysterious girl, Shirley Brown, whose sparring with Amberley also provides a little romantic subtext.
Heyer is not know for her mystery novels (I think she only wrote three) and this is not one of her better works. Still, a fun read, and if you enjoy this type of mystery story, worth a check out.
Also, is this the most unlikeable detective hero in fiction?
An enjoyable English mystery from the 30's by an accomplished storyteller. Recommended for readers of Agatha Christie and the other British author of that decade. Also for fans of Georgette Heyer. I really liked spending time with these characters and spotting the clues though I did remember who did it and why.
The male protagonist - clearly the
I was expecting Agatha Christie and got Arthur Conan Doyle - entertaining but not the same quality.
I would rate this book just below Christie. The mystery, writing and story are as well done as any of these authors, but somhow
It turned out to be a light, fun read. Frank Amberley’s
Still, the dialogue is witty, the characters crisp, and the setting the type of idyllic British countryside town I love to visit in books. (I’ve never had the opportunity to visit one in person. Who knows if they even exist, and if so, whether they’d be any fun?)
Definitely worth curling up with for a couple of entertaining hours.
Mr. Amberley is asked by the local police force to lend a hand as he was instrumental in closing a prior
While I didn't think much of Shirley, I found Aunt Marion a hoot and cousin Felicity a joyful little minx. The police sergeant was such a good natured buffoon, you couldn't help like him (and sympathize when he was so often the target of Frank's "attention"). Frank Amberley was laugh out loud funny with his very (did I mention VERY?) dry, sarcastic humor. In addition, he was extremely clever when putting together all the clues.
A criticism would be that there were some clues that the reader wasn't privy to until the big reveal (a la Columbo), but the majority you could get as they emerged or realize after the fact that it had been presented (but missed/overlooked).
Overall, a very enjoyable read that I would recommend.
Rating: 4 Stars
Additionally, Amberley is an ass. Perhaps back in the day he came across witty and insouciant but I just got ass. He felt like a slightly older Bright Young Thing. He didn't try to hide his contempt for the local constabulary (who were all, admittedly, written as idiots) or his perceived superiority over just about everybody.
Amberley is on his way to his uncle's house when he comes across a car pulled over on the side of a dark road, the driver shot dead in his seat and a young woman standing in the road beside him. She won't tell him anything but convinces him to let her go. When he reports the crime he chooses not to tell the police about her presence. The murder victim is revealed to be the butler for the estate next door and the constabulary enlist his help in investigating what they believe to be an unsolvable crime. He proceeds to rub their noses in his superiority, while constantly haranguing the young woman to Reveal All.
The final nail in the coffin was the ending:
I quite liked Footsteps in the Dark as it had at least an air of farce to it, not to mention a "ghost" story, and I loved The Grand Sophy. I knew from previous reviews that Heyer could be hit or miss, so I'm not surprised I hit on a low one. But I won't be trying any more of her mysteries on audio, as it seems every one of them are narrated by the same woman.
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