Dress Down Sunday: ‘dressed in ostrich feathers…’


LOOKING AT WHAT GOES ON UNDER THE CLOTHES


A Blunt Instrument by Georgette Heyer


published 1938








The Sergeant, meanwhile, was turning over a collection of photographs and snapshots laid on the desk. ‘Looks like you weren’t so far out, Glass,’ he remarked. ‘I have to hand it to the late Ernest. He certainly knew how to pick ’em. Regular harem!’ He picked up a large portrait of a dazzling blonde, dressed, apparently, in an ostrich-feather fan, and regarded it admiringly. ‘That’s Lily Logan, the dancer. What a figure!’

Glass averted his eyes with a shudder. ‘Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion!’
‘That’s what you think,’ said Hemingway, laying Lily Logan down, and looking critically at another smiling beauty. ‘Went the pace a bit, didn’t he? Hullo!’ His eyes had alighted on the portrait of a curly-headed brunette. He picked it up. ‘Seems to me I’ve seen this dame before.’ ‘As his female acquaintance seems to have consisted largely of chorus girls, that’s not surprising,’ said Hannasyde dryly.




commentary: Although better-known for her Regency romances, Georgette Heyer wrote a dozen or so mysteries over the years, and they are much better than you might be expecting. I like them for their humour and great characters, and some of the plotting and cluing is very strong. Heyer was an undoubted and outrageous and unashamed snob, and there are often some cringeworthy moments in the books: you’re not left in doubt as to who is upper class and who is not, who is admirable and who is not.

But – unlike most of her contemporaries – there is never any nonsense about honour and shame and stiff upper lips. I particularly enjoy that many of the posh characters get very busy accusing each other, nobody tries to pass it off on the servants, and anyone who is under suspicion is usually rather pleased about the fact. Men are not desperate to protect their innocent womenfolk. Key participants have been known to build up cases against themselves for the benefit of the rather confused police. It is endlessly entertaining. She knows when one of her characters is good value, and makes sure we get the full benefit.

A Blunt Instrument is often cited as the best of the books: I prefer Envious Casca – but mostly because of the brilliant social comedy and wonderfully vulgar women. This one relies on its very clever solution too much, and there aren't quite enough of Heyer's splendid scenes of young people being lazily rude to each other. But it has its moments – I like this:
A lock of lank dark hair fell over his brow; he wore a pleated shirt, and a deplorable tie, and looked, to PC Glass, like a poet.
There is a young man who has on his dressing-table
bottles of hair oil, shaving lotion, nail varnish, and scent.
Intriguing I thought (it is clear that these are not from female visitors).
At one point the police summarises the state of play as to who was busying about on the night of the murder:
We started off with one man, and we’ve now got one lady, one jealous husband, one outside broker, one dead cabaret-girl, one criminal and one suspicious-looking nephew implicated in it. And we’ve only been at work on it since 9.00 this morning. If it goes on at this rate, we shan’t be able to move for suspects in a couple of days’ time.
Now that is exactly what you want in your proper Golden Age detective story.

The only thing about the plot is that if you do pick up on an early clue or moment, you are left only with the cleverness of the way Heyer tells the tale - and it is admirable - but no more surprises.

The NYPL has an absolutely extraordinary collection of photographs of variety artistes – it was hard for me only to use two of them. The whole set can be found here, and I highly recommend them. These two show Maria Ley, and a dancer in a beaded costume.

There’s a good number of Georgette Heyer’s other books to be found on the blog.




















Comments

  1. I'm glad you enjoyed this, Moira. I thought the mystery part was clever, too. And I did like the sly wit. Interesting, too (I hadn't thought about it) about the characters thinking it's, well, almost enjoyable to be suspected of murder in a strange way. The interplay among them was effective, at least for me. Thanks for the reminder.

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    1. I think sometimes Heyer's murder stories don't get enough attention, Margot - I find them refreshing, because they observe many of the conventions, but manage to be different.

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  2. Ages since I read a crime novel by Georgette Heyer. You are tempting me, Moira . . .

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    1. I know, I know. They are good though, and stand up to a re-read.

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  3. Yes, some of my favourite re-re-reread mysteries are Georgette Heyer's, especially Envious Casca, They Found Him Dead and Duplicate Death (Oh, the vulgar ladies in THAT one!)

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    1. Oh that's the bridge party isn't it? She has a way with vulgar ladies indeed.

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  4. I look forward to more mysteries by Georgette Heyer. I have only read two recently enough to remember them and enjoyed both.

    I looked for some of her Regency romances at the book sale in September and could find none, and also could find no one working the sale who knew who I was talking about. I was appalled. But another year I may have more luck. I have some specific ones I want to look for but am holding back on adding books at the moment so will have to wait.

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    1. I am absolutely astonished by that Tracy! I thought she was very popular in the USA? Better luck next time. Yes, I too am trying to limit the acquisitions at the moment: we'll see how long that lasts...

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    2. I would think so also. I have a friend (a retired Librarian) who absolutely loved Heyer's Regency romances.

      Who knows, if there were any, maybe some booksellers grabbed them in the first night of the sale.

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    3. As I swan around the internet I often find sites devoted to Heyer and the books or the clothes, and when I think about it, they are nearly always American...
      You will find them sooner or later...

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  5. Moira, I did not know Georgette Heyer had written mysteries too, not that I have read her regency novels. As you mention, I have been told by an old friend — a diehard Heyer fan — that her books are, indeed, "humourous" and "entertaining," and well written too.

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    1. That's a very good description Prashant - trust your friend! I think you would like the mystery stories.

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  6. I adore the Heyer mysteries. I spent quite a lot of time tracking down hard copies over a period of years (determined to find them in the wild and not just order them up online).

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    1. They are marvellous, aren't they Bev? I am envious of your collection.

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  7. Moira, I have always loved reading crime mysteries. I'll wait for other posts like this one as I am a big fan of Georgette Heyer.

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  8. The Bible-quoting character pops up at least one other time - I think it's "Venetia" - where the heroine's old nurse informs the rather rakish hero what will be his just desserts in distinctly Old Testament style.

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    1. I think Heyer had a very traditional education! She knows the Bible, Shakespeare, Romantic Poets. Plus of course her dictionary of Historical Slang for the Regency books, and someone or other's big book of etiquette and correct behaviour...

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  9. Probably the most unexpected connection, but if you want an example of the ultimate ostrich feather dress you could do worse than look up the drag queen Plastique Tiara, who just got revealed as a contestant in the latest series of Ru Paul's Drag Race. She turned up for the reveal show in the MOST AMAZING blue dress entirely made of blue feathers, which seems designed solely to be a definition for the title of this blog post.

    See: https://www.reddit.com/r/rupaulsdragrace/comments/ajjg7l/plastique_tiaras_reveal_look/

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    1. That is absolutely extraordinary, and I do recommend that all readers go and take a look! Ostrich feathers to die for.

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  10. I much prefer Envious Casca as well. A bit of experience with the genre meant I solved the case on the first page in this one.

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    1. Casca is untouchable. I read this book a long time ago, and on this re-read I solved it, but cannot be sure that wasn't because of a faint memory (I had felt I didn't remember it at all), so gave it the benefit of the doubt.

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  11. By the way, this post does not appear under Heyer in the lists of posts sorted by author on your blog.

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    1. My replies have been delayed because you usefully reminded me to catch up on my author index. I have never found any easy way to do it, it is just a slog, and then I get behind, and it's more of a slog. But - thanks to your note I AM now caught up! And this has joined the other Heyers….

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