Reading the Detectives discussion
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Envious Casca
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Envious Casca - SPOILER Thread - (June/July 23)
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I am a fan of most Heyer mysteries and this is one of the good ones. I've read it many times and plan to read and respond to folks here in the spoiler thread.I'm especially interested in the opinions of anyone who hasn't read Heyer before.
I find her mysteries generally have less likeable characters than her romances, but the dialog and humor in this one are both fantastic.
looking forward to what everyone has to say!
It is necessary for a lot of the characters in a mystery to be, at least briefly, a potential suspect. This means that even the leading characters must be less amiable than is possible in a romance, unless the lead is the detective, of course. It's long been one of my favourites too.
Rosina wrote: "It is necessary for a lot of the characters in a mystery to be, at least briefly, a potential suspect. This means that even the leading characters must be less amiable than is possible in a romance..."Same here, I often reread at Christmas- I think it’s very honest, I think Uncle Joseph represents the hokey Hallmark Channel Christmas people like to think they remember, but the rest of the annoying characters and conflicts are more realistic! 🤣🤣
Yes, very good point about Uncle Joseph. I think He and his wife are very interesting characters, both of them.
I think that 'Hallmark Channel Christmas' is not something that would strike the original readers of Envious Casca. Nor am I quite sure what it means. Uncle Joseph is the Father Christmas in the department store, when I was a child - not so many years after the first publication of the book. Full of HoHoHo and a rather strange smell ...
Rosina wrote: "I think that 'Hallmark Channel Christmas' is not something that would strike the original readers of Envious Casca. Nor am I quite sure what it means. Uncle Joseph is the Father Christmas in the ..."
Sorry, Rosina - Hallmark Channel is a tv channel over here that churns out a lot of hokey, sentimental Christmas movies! It’s kind of a joke here, as in after a movie bombs at the theater, “look for him next year in a Hallmark Christmas movie”.
I like that, a department store Santa - yes!
It would take a good actor to play a bad actor, wouldn't it? Uncle Joesph is hard to fully appreciate until it's a re-read.
Jackie wrote: "It would take a good actor to play a bad actor, wouldn't it? Uncle Joesph is hard to fully appreciate until it's a re-read."Excellent point, Jackie, I never thought of it that way. I thought Heyer did a good job framing the plot, so it seemed that good old Uncle Joe had been around forever, just a sentimental softie - when he was no such thing! On my rereads, I’ve watched for and been much more aware of the way he plants ideas with his seemingly mild blather…
It sounds like I should give this a second chance. Because I am trouble getting into this one. Although maybe I frequently have this problem with Heyer. Hard to get into but a certain point it becomes better.
Oh, dear, sounds like medicine…;)
Jan C wrote: "It sounds like I should give this a second chance. Because I am trouble getting into this one. Although maybe I frequently have this problem with Heyer. Hard to get into but a certain point it beco..."I don't think I liked it the first time I read it; on re-reads it really improved for me.
You re-read a book you didn't like? Only books I usually re-read are books I enjoyed the first time round.
Jan C wrote: "You re-read a book you didn't like? Only books I usually re-read are books I enjoyed the first time round."Well, it’s a Heyer group, so I reread it first time to give it another go, once I’d read her other GA mysteries, and realized the obnoxious Bright Young Things weren’t supposed to be likable, they were to add to the dark, almost farcical humor!
I’m older and wiser now, if a group I’m in is reading something I don’t like I skip it!
Jan C wrote: "You re-read a book you didn't like? Only books I usually re-read are books I enjoyed the first time round."well, I am now in my 60s and have very different tastes than I did decades ago.
so, yes, I will re-read things I didn't like when I was 25 or 45...
thank goodness, since I didn't like ANY of Heyer's mysteries when I first read them and now I like MOST of them.
the ninth book in the Country House Mysteries series.
It is no ordinary Christmas at Lexham Manor. Six holiday guests find themselves the suspects of a murder enquiry when the old Scrooge Nathaniel Herriard, who owns the substantial estate, is found stabbed in the back. Whilst the delicate matter of inheritance could be the key to this crime, the real conundrum is how any of the suspects could have entered the locked room to commit this foul deed. For Inspector Hemingway of Scotland Yard, 'tis the season to find whodunit.
It's a little odd to be reading a Christmas mysteyr in summer, but never mind!
Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.