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julesjones ([personal profile] julesjones) wrote2010-10-17 09:27 pm

Book log: Georgette Heyer -- A Blunt Instrument

Book 67

The fourth Superintendent Hannasyde book. Earnest Fletcher is found dead in his study, with a large dent in his head from a blunt instrument. On the surface he's a well-liked and respected man, but it soon becomes apparent that his nephew and heir is not the only one with a possible motive for killing him. Unfortunately for Hannasyde, some of the people with motives are also his best witnesses, and some of them also have good reason to try to protect some of the other people with motives. He has a number of precise statements of the time of various events in the half hour leading up to the murder, most of which are not compatible and some of which are almost certainly true. It's only after a second murder that he begins to suspect the truth...

I actually spotted the murderer straight off, which bothered me not at all, as part of the fun was trying to work out whether I was right. The story itself is great fun, with Heyer's usual collection of sharply drawn characters, and her usual odd couple romance in the background.

LibraryThing entry