Penhallow by Georgette Heyer - SPOILER Thread - (Oct/Nov 23)

[Susan]

Welcome to our October/November 23 buddy read of Penhallow published in 1942 and the tenth book in the Country House Mysteries series.

The death of Adam Penhallow on the eve of his birthday seems, at first, to be by natural causes. He was elderly after all. But Penhallow wasn't well liked. He had ruled over his estate with an iron will and a sharp tongue. He had played one relative off against another. He was so bad tempered and mean that both his servants and his family hated him.

It soon transpires that far from being a peaceful death, Penhallow was, in fact, murdered. Poisoned. With his family gathered to celebrate his birthday, and servants that both feared and despised him, there are more than a dozen prime suspects. But which one of them turned hatred into murder?

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

[Judy]

I found this book very slow to develop, with endless build-up of possible suspects and a lot of repetition. Then the murder happens more than halfway through the novel, and we actually see who does it!

I kept wondering if this would turn out to be a red herring, a murder method that hadn't worked and that someone else had actually killed him.

[Susan]

I actually liked this one. It was dark, there were a LOT of suspects (I felt like doing him in myself, he was virtually asking to get bumped off!), but I thought it was very different to Heyer's usual mysteries and I applauded her for trying something new.

[Judy]

Susan wrote: "I actually liked this one. It was dark, there were a LOT of suspects (I felt like doing him in myself, he was virtually asking to get bumped off!..."

Ha, I do agree - if ever there was an unsympathetic murder victim! I was somewhat bewildered by the construction of this book - the way we have so much careful build-up, with a long list of people who might do it, but then we see the murder take place and know whodunit. Usually in books where this happens, the tension is seeing how the killer is caught - but in this book they get away with it. I've seen it described as a "WHY done it".

One ironic twist - I noticed that right at the end, Clay isn't sure whether he now wants to go into the lawyers' office after all, after all his protestations over how dreadful it would be to work there served as part of the murder motive.

[Judy]

There's an interesting article here about the background to Heyer's writing of the book - it does include some spoilers, so I've put it in the spoiler thread:
https://jenniferkloester.com/penhallo...

[Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂]

Judy wrote: "There's an interesting article here about the background to Heyer's writing of the book - it does include some spoilers, so I've put it in the spoiler thread:
https://jenniferkloester.com/penhallow..."

That link is fascinating - in a horrible way. (view spoiler)[ Arsenic treatment! Poor GH! (hide spoiler)]

[Jackie]

thank you for the link, Judy!

[Susan]

I also read in some reviews that the book was 'so bad,' as it was a contract breaking book, but I never felt that, so I was pleased to read the article. Thanks, Judy, as it explained a lot and I am definitely one of the readers who did enjoy this and found it a good - if different - example of her usual mysteries.