3 ½ stars. Good regency mystery. Enjoyable collection of characters. A small amount of romance is secondary to the mystery.STORY BRIEF:Gervase (Ger) is the heir. His mother ran off with a lover which caused Ger’s father to hate Ger. The father remarried and had a second son Martin. Ger has been away for a long time. The Earl died. Ger now returns to his inherited entailed estate. Martin inherited everything else. Ger’s cousin Theo is living there and has been an excellent manager of the estates in Ger’s absence. Ger’s friend Lucius (Lucy) visits. Martin’s mother the Dowager also lives there. She is haughty and boring. She asked Drusilla to stay with her to keep her company while Drusilla’s parents were traveling. Drusilla is plain looking, perceptive, very smart, and has a lot of common sense. Ger was in the military and is a highly skilled swordsman. He is handsome, intelligent, calm, quiet, and amazingly courteous to Martin and the Dowager who are rude and dislike him.Ger’s life is in danger. There are several attempts to hurt/kill him. Martin is the obvious suspect because he is very open about his hatred of Ger. His other motive is inheriting the estate.A secondary story involves beautiful Marianne. Almost every man who sees her wants her including Martin, Ger, and Lucy. In order to spend time with her, Ger hosts a party.REVIEWER’S OPINION:As an audiobook, this was a pleasant way to spend time. The best parts were the characters. The author is so good at pulling different types of people (whom I’ve probably known and forgotten about) into the story. Although Martin is kind of a bad guy, toward the end of the book I was enjoying his character – maybe because he was so open and never tried to hide his thoughts or feelings. He couldn’t control his emotions and acted without thinking. He was angry blaming Ger for everything in his life that went wrong. Ger told someone that Martin never sees beyond his nose. Martin probably had some smarts, but they weren’t visible through his immature rants and rages. I was chuckling over Martin. He was fun to read about.The main story is a mystery – who is trying to kill Ger? It was good. I didn’t feel like we are slowly unraveling clues at the author’s whim. It’s not a traditional mystery of someone dead, and the rest of the story is figuring out who did it. This is a series of harmful occurrences that we are living through.There is a bit of romance at the end, but there is no developing romance during the story. It’s more of a respectful friendship. That was ok, but I would have liked more emotional something.The narrator Cornelius Garrett is one of my favorites. He’s good.DATA:Unabridged audiobook length: 10 hours. Narrator: Cornelius Garrett. Swearing language: none. Sexual content: none. Setting: 1816 England. Book Published: 1951. Genre: regency mystery.
My second Heyer book was a bit different because there was a big mystery in it, still it was not one of her true mystery novel. There is romance, mystery and the stillness that is proper manners.First I was not sure about this one, mostly cos I felt Gervase was going after the wrong woman. Well I feared so. Though that fixes itself because he is a very quiet gentleman. A proper and nice man, a bit too nice actually. But then I do think Heyer seemed to like second chances and being all nice and all.Back to the story. Gervase comes home. His younger step-brother resents him because he wants to be lord of the manor and get the pretty girl. Soon strange things start to happen. Who wants to kill Gervase? And that is the question. The way she continued to spin things did have me wondering even if I guessed it (ok I did not settle, I had options).Martin the step-brother was very young and rushed into things. Still I never disliked him. Cousin Theo was all nice and managed things around the place. Miss Morville I liked from the start and hoped Gervase would fall for her. Miss Bolderwood was the beauty everyone fell for but yes just too pretty and nice (not the smartest cookie in the jar). Lucy (not a girl, just a nick-name) was Gervase's friend and fell for the local beauty too. But before you think everyone fell for her, I think I can spoil things and say that Gervase did not. It's not really a spoiler since he kind of realizes it at once. It was a full cast of characters who all brought something to the book.And again, everyone is just so proper and it is fantastic. The style is truly Austen and the language so too. I can't help to giggle when a certain young woman cries that someone tried to make love to her. Oh the phrasing is just wonderful. She meant kiss, nothing more.Still I did feel it was a bit slow at times, but I enjoyed it none the less.Conclusion:Heyer is just fun.
What do You think about The Quiet Gentleman (2006)?
I found this one interesting because Heyer is clearly trying something different; for one she spends the entire first page and more on the Frant family castle and history. I've often wondered if she visited a particular castle in real life and it became the inspiration for the book. Certainly no other home in Heyer's books is examined so meticulously and becomes such an influential setting in the story. I'd love to discover the real Stanyon Castle, but no luck so far. The romance seems to be almost an afterthought - it's really about Gervase and his family history and the mystery of who is trying to have him killed. I found myself liking Gervase more as the book went on; initially he seemed foppish but he does grow on you. Drusilla is rather sweet, and a practical unromantic heroine is not easy to write, so kudos to Heyer for making her someone you care about, if not deeply. I'm not sure Heyer was passionately attached to her either; this seems to be a common problem with a lot of her heroines. The ones she loves you can clearly feel in the writing; Barbara Childe; Serena Carlow; Leonie; Venetia; Phoebe Marlow - all spring delightfully from her pen. Drusilla, Judith, Hero, Deborah, Elinor - not so much.I did enjoy unravelling the mystery and as I am a sucker for old castles and historic homes I enjoyed the background to the mystery and the romance. I'm not sure it's a true Heyer romance, though I appreciate her wish to write something other than man and woman argue and then fall in love.
—Amanda Bartels
I've been putting off reading a Georgette Heyer novel for awhile now because I was worried it would fall short of my expectations. Unfortunately, that worry was met. It was an ok book but was in no means a great read. The plot was ok but I had the "mystery" solved with in the first few chapters. The pace of the book was rather slow for me. The characters and most of their interactions were fairly uninteresting to me, although I did laugh out loud twice. Perhaps I will give her another try in the future but I will have to wait awhile. Too many books on my "too read" list.
—Chelsea
A mystery rather than a romance. In fact, the romance was pretty understated and was only developed at the end, along with the solution. The Earl of St Erth returns from the wars to succeed his father's title and discovers that his family resents him. But who would go as far as to murder him? The story takes a long time to get interesting and the beginning is very slow. I almost gave up after a few chapters, but glad I stuck with it as halfway through the book, it really picks up and suddenly everyone becomes very much more interesting. At first, I thought I disliked many of the characters, but I began to like the Earl when he showed some emotion and was sad at his brother's outburst. I am thoroughly sick of heroes who are always in control of themselves and their emotions, so it was a welcome protrayal. His half-brother, Martin, too is rash and hot-tempered, while his cousin Theo has his own quirks. His friend who soon joins him has his own peculiarities, while the women in the book are well-developed too. I thought Drusilla dull at first, but she gets a little more interesting in the latter half of the book. I just wish that Heyer would not always equate common-sense with quiet and unassuming. You can be gregarious and sensible at the same time! The mystery was easily solved because once you realise the red herring thrown your way, you automatically realise who the culprit is. The delight is in actually reading about the day to day interactions among the characters. The only thing I did not like about the book (other than the slow first half) is the victim blaming of a young girl for being molested. If you will be so pretty, Marianne, and flirt so dreadfully, what can you expect? I would expect to be treated with respect and be flirted back in a decent manner, not being physically manhandled!!!! One more reason why I never really liked Drusilla. Worth a read if you can get past the first half.
—Kavita
