I am back from my holidays, and also from doing another project - more soon. Thank you for continuing to look and comment while I was away, and patiently waiting for a new post. Reader comments encouraged me to go with this classic:
No Wind of Blame by Georgette Heyer
published 1939
This book
has many fans, particularly among my readers, mostly because of the truly wonderful character of Vicky Fanshawe, a
girl who is forever putting on an act, and dressing accordingly.
No Wind of Blame has
featured in the comments recently, and there has been a long fascinating discussion
on Vicky’s mother Ermyntrude (and other aspects of the book) – so much so that I
had to reread it.
There was a lot to say, on such varied
aspects, so I’m doing a list:
1) I did
a post on the book a long time ago, 2014, with a rather pleasing picture to
represent Vicky
Books
of 1939: No Wind of Blame by Georgette Heyer
And quite detailed analysis of
the book.
But the surprise is that I
haven’t done many more posts on it, because there are many many outfits
featured.
2) There
is a dower house in it, a matter we have been dealing with
lately. Sociological point of interest: the dower house here is lived in –
rented out – but does not have electricity.
3) The book came up in the comments on this post
How
Old is Old? The Anthony Berkeley Version
Because we were talking about
odd instances of men borrowing money from women, and whether this was seen as
OK. This case is a corker: a disreputable husband is borrowing from his wealthy
wife to pay off a girl whom he has made pregnant.
(There is an excellent moment
when sensible Mary is trying to be discreet about the argument between husband
and wife, and says ‘It’s purely a family matter.’
‘oh I thought you didn’t want
him to know!’ exclaimed Vicky innocently).
There is a long discussion below
the line of the marriages of Ermyntrude, and the attitudes of the local poshos:
highly recommended.
4) This
book would make the most splendid TV drama: it is funny, clever, has sparkling
dialogue and amazing clothes. I will say that the investigation of, and
explanation of, the murder method is extremely dull, but I’m sure a good scriptwriter
could take care of that. And I do know that some of my fellow Golden Age detective
fiction fans might be more interested in broken alibis and strange setups than
(impossible surely!) the outfits worn by Vicky and her mother.
4) This is from my earlier blogpost, explaining what
is so wonderful about Vicky’s character: The scene where she plots (three steps ahead of
everyone else) to stop her mother considering a foreign Prince as her next
husband is an epic masterpiece. As Vicky says, in one of her typically fabulous
turns of phrase, she had to do it because ‘it would be fatal for [Mother] just
to trickle away to some frightful person on the boundary.’
5) And
yes, Ermyntrude the mother wears rather splendid clothes and negligees too. There
is a photography I usually use for such cases – most recently here:
Consider
the Lilies by Elizabeth Cadell
But I
have resisted in this case.
A most
enjoyable book, and I do recommend again the comments on it beneath this
post.
The black dress for the inquest is
Black
dress with intricate sleeve head - NYPL Digital Collections
It's lovely to have you back, Moira! I can't wait to hear about your project. As for this Heyer, I agree the clothes are great. And there are times when her writing style just...works for me. It's so interesting to me how this book fits in so well with some of the topics you''ve been discussing lately.
ReplyDeleteThank you Margot, good to be back. I think I will always read Heyer for the fun, the dialogue and the clothes. A bonus when it fits the blog themes
DeleteI thought that the murder method was questionable. The story goes that Heyer's husband came up with it and even Heyer herself had a hard time getting her head around it. But of course I don't read Heyer's mysteries for the technical details!
ReplyDeleteExactly Marty! That's a very interesting report on the method, because it really was difficult to follow
DeleteI managed to get my head round it, but I don’t believe for a moment that it would work!
DeleteSovay
I think I stopped trying to work it out this time around. And as you, say impossible to imagine anybody planning that, or it working
DeleteI recently read a bio of Heyer, and apparently it was Heyer's practice to have her husban dcome up with the mystery plots, and she'd write the book around them! Not really a collaboration--we all know that Heyer's writing is why we read them.
DeleteAbsolutely - and it's not as though solutions and culprits stick in the mind.
DeleteVicky’s not just taking steps to ensure that Prince Varasashvili doesn’t marry Ermyntrude; she’s also lining up a more suitable candidate (hence the remark about not trickling away to some frightful person …)
ReplyDeleteSovay
'Trickling away to the boundary' is a phrase that has stuck with me since first reading the book, then doing the post, it is brilliant.
DeleteDo you think the potential 3rd husband is a good prospect? It's the one place I'd take issue with, she could do better.
I agree that she could do better in theory; in practice, though, he seems to be the only eligible man in the neighbourhood - and Ermyntrude doesn’t have a good track record when let loose in grand South Coast hotels or on the Riviera, so it’s understandable that Vicky feels the safe pair of hands is the best available option. But I think there’s a distinct risk that he may find all the drama-queenliness a bit much once he’s sharing a house with it, and have to start spending a lot of time outdoors communing with his pigs …
DeleteSovay
I don't think he's fully developed as a character, but we have a lot of form with 1930s characters who farm and who commune with the pigs...
DeleteFor me this is a book where the female characters dominate, with only Wally pre-death and Hemingway, when he finally turns up, giving Ermyntrude, Vicky and even Mary a run for their money. The Prince is fun but is clearly comic relief (it doesn't help that I can't help thinking about Mischa Auer playing a similar role in Hellzapoppin).
DeleteI am of the generation where the name Ernyntrude is associated with the Magic Roundabout.
The prospective third husband is the anti-Varasashvili, which unfortunately makes him a dull dog - I think poor Ermy will be very bored once the honeymoon period is over. There's every sign that he will be jealous as well, so she won't be able to compensate with a little harmless flirtation. In fact the more I think about it, the more I fear than Vicky may have steered her in the wrong direction ...
DeleteSovay
AdrianDominic: good point about the strong females. Another reason why it would make a good TV drama (an idea that has got a lot of traction on social media)
DeleteYes, I was wondering whether or not to mention Magic roundabout - we can never get rid of our childhood conditioning.
Sovay: I think we are right to worry about Ermyntrude! She needs a quite different kind of Heyer male.
A TV version could be interesting. It would be fascinating to see how they could make the murder method both plausible and understandable.
DeleteUnfortunately, most of the interest in her books comes from the suspects rather than the detectives, and there is probably a limit to how often they could cast Lily James. The trouble is that most of these require a series detective, and while Hemingway might work as the main protagonist, it would require some hard work with the Hammasyde books.
I feel that there must be a book somewhere on how husbands of the crime/regency queens coped with not being the main breadwinner. Heyer was famously against publicity, but I get the sense that her husband always tried to earn an independent living and help with the crime stories. That's before we get on to Christie, Allingham and Sayers.
I would like to imagine for Ermyntrude the fate of a third great aunt in a Wooster short story. She was one of those who married into the upper classes. She ends up with her old beau from her days in musical theatre when she and Bertie go to New York to save her son from marrying a stage performer.
Yes, not going to get anywhere with those detectives in my view.
DeleteI'm just looking at Barbara Cartland for a future post: 2 x husbands with the same surname: they were cousins, and she met the preferred second one when he attended her first wedding. It could have been a plot for her.
I really would like a nice future for Ermyntrude, so I'm pleased to her file in with a PGW aunt
Heyer's husband was a successful barrister, after a couple early tries at other occupations, I haven't read too much about them but they seemed to mesh well and take some pride in each other's accomplishments.
DeleteHeyer’s income from writing seems to have supported her husband for quite a few years whilst he got his career as a barrister off the ground - not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that.
DeleteRe: Ermyntrude - a return to the theatrical world does sound promising. I think Vicky needs to arrange a short engagement and big wedding for herself (thus giving Ermyntrude plenty to keep her occupied in the immediate future), then establish herself in London and cultivate the friendship of some nice middle-aged men in astrakhan-collared coats, to whom she can introduce Ermy in due course …
Sovay
Wasn't her husband's last name Rougier? I always thought that Georgette Rougier would have been an even better author name for her.
DeleteI like your alt-hist plot Sovay, perfect for both of them and that is what I will believe.
Astrakhan collars indeed.
Vicky will also need to prevent the prospective third husband from proposing - if he does it now, Ermyntrude will accept him and she’s too kind to jilt him. Perhaps he can be persuaded of the truth of that old trope that no self-respecting man can marry a woman significantly richer than himself?
DeleteSovay
According to that bio (by Jane Aiken Hodge), Heyer wanted to keep her public and private life strictly separated including her names. It is a romantic -sounding name, though!
DeleteToo bad there couldn't be an anthology series, like the old Loretta Young Show, in which Lily James played the heroine in every story! With a different leading man in each story, of course. It could follow the "Marple!" example and make her the detective in place of the one in the book....As for Ermy's third husband, he might be the kind of guy who practically worships his lady while keeping up the he-man "masterful" behavior.
DeleteI like the idea of Lily James playing a different heroine each week...
DeleteThe more I think of the chosen husband, the more it concerns me: I don't think he comes up well, and he is so not right for Ermy!
Must read this! I've immediately ordered it from the London Library (which lists 53 works by Heyer!). Chrissie
ReplyDeleteLook forward to hearing your verdict. She must have written at least 40 of her Regency romances and other historicals...
DeleteI've just been reading about Barbara Cartland for my other project - strange connections there!
Didn't Cartland steal some of Heyer's plots for her own romances? The bio said that Heyer considered legal action but didn't want the publicity, so never went through with it.
DeleteMore coming on this subject soon....
DeleteI'd say Behold, Here's Poison is probably the strongest Heyer whodunit candidate for an adaptation. The positively acidic Randall is made for the screen.
ReplyDeleteYes, good call, and lot of nice detail about the sybaritic lives of the young people IIRC
DeleteWas there a rather parasitic mother in that book , or am I confusing it with something else? I wonder who could do Randall justice on screen, shall we try casting him?!
DeleteI am not sure about the male characters, but I said to someone online, as regards heroines, the answer is always Lily James
DeleteSince we have brought Randall into the conversation, and on the subject of marriages, here is my possibly unpopular opinion. Randall and Stella should not marry. They are first cousins. Stella doesn’t seem in Randall’s class regarding brains. I love Randall dearly and admire his principled attitude to his inheritance, but a husband who spends his days placing bets and snarking at women’s clothes would not be my choice. I think at bottom I just can’t imagine what he sees in her. Okay, have at me!
DeleteNerys
I can certainly see what you mean and that's probably an issue with a lot of the marriages in the Heyer crime stories. Not for her, the Thirkell solution of regularly marrying off pleasant, kind and incredibly boring people to each other. Still, better Randall than the Doctor for Stella.
DeleteLooking at it with a glass-half-full view, she shows just enough spirit to have a chance of humanising him, or at least not being a doormat.
I suppose also that, at the time, Randall would have been a better catch than she could have hoped for otherwise, and it seemed to have been a trope that obviously intellectual women scared men off and that a clever woman was one who could hide the fact that she had more common sense than her husband and knew how to make him listen when it mattered.
It was the least-best romance resolution in Heyer books that I can think of, it's not satisfying in the way some of them are, but I am prepared to think it might work. but Nerys makes very good points
DeleteRandall grew on me, but I found him kind of off-putting at first, especially his behavior with Stella. Very entertaining of course, but I wouldn't have expected him to be a romantic hero. And as Nerys said, Stella didn't seem smart enough to be a good match for him. I wonder what he and Vicky would have made of each other?
DeleteOh my goodness, crossing books! With Lily James playing everyone
DeleteHaving given it a little thought, Vicky would have told him to sling his hook. The bird in the hand was a respectable man, happy to marry her for who she was and whom she could manage. She also would be the one with the money. She could not guarantee that she could manage Randall.
DeleteI always found that tutorials helped me think more deeply about the subject, but this exchange of views has made me realise that Heyer was a subtler writer than I had given her credit for. She actually mixed up the heroines, love interests, murders, decent people, etc better than most of her competitors.
What an interesting take! I do agree that she was subtler than people gave her credit for - and much funnier
DeleteI would very much like to read the scene where Vicky spurns Randall. I agree about Heyer, her people often seem at first to be stock characters but then reveal twists or angles. I must say though that I don’t think you would ever suspect one of her ingenues of murder or of dressing poorly.
DeleteNerys
A great description of her heroines...
DeleteI own tihis one but I don't remember it except for Randall being an interesting character, so I think the Heyer discussion group must not have read it together recently. Chrissie, I went on a tour of the London Library a few years ago and was pleased to see a picture of Heyer on a very prominent wall. She was a member and used it for research, and I was glad the guide knew all about her.
ReplyDeleteWe are jumping around a bit here - Randall is in Behold Here's Poison, not the book above! But I am only sure of that because I have just been looking at them. In another month or so I would not be able to say confidently which of her books Randall was in. But I do enjoy her detective stories hugely, so I can safely recommend both.
DeleteNice touch from the London Library
Marty was musing in the previous post on where Ermyntrude got her name - it could be a stage name if, as seems likely, she was a member of the Edwardian musical comedy chorus as described by PG Wodehouse:
ReplyDelete“The personnel of the ensemble were tall, shapely creatures like hourglasses, who stood gazing dreamily at the audience, supporting themselves on long parasols. Sometimes they would emerge from the coma for an instant to bow slightly to a friend in the front row, but not often.”
I think ‘Ermyntrude’ would fit nicely.
Sovay
It was my thought too that it must have been a stage name, but still an odd one for her to pick--at least to my limited knowledge of chorus girl names! Maybe it had some cultural significance at the time?
DeleteI don't know what's wrong with it Marty? It sounds to me exactly the name a chorus girl might pick for her stage name - quite fancy
DeleteFancy yet dignified - suitable for the statuesque, immobile kind of chorus girl (less so for the Twenties or Thirties version, doing high kicks in a costume like a bathing dress). Having said that, the statuesque Edwardian chorus girl who prompts PGW’s description is known as Toots.
DeleteSovay
I believe that in Las Vegas in the glory years showgirls were tall and stood around in high headdresses and were very much stationary: dancers/chorus were shorter and, well, good at dancing with less elaborate costumes, or at least more suitable for movement
DeleteI think the same was true of Broadway shows such as the Ziegfeld Follies in the Twenties and Thirties - showgirls wore very elaborate and surprisingly revealing costumes, but didn't have to move.
DeleteSovay
... and then there's that famous dictum about the risque Windmill Theatre in London back in the 1940s: they could have nude girls so long as they didn't move? Something like that
DeleteWodehouse, having written for Broadway, is quite good on the differences between the stately and the balls of energy. I have a recollection that the Tiller girls were meant to be about the same height, or at least so close together that only the most observant could spot the small differences when compensated for with heels. They were also meant to be tall.
DeleteAlso, to be fair to Ermyntrude, I suspect her strength lay in conveying a certain joie de vivre rather than being a statue.
From now on whenever an ex-chorus or showgirl appears in a book, I will be imagining what EXACTLY they did on stage - statuesque or hyperactive?
DeleteI've nothing against Ermyntrude's name, I just wondered where she picked it up. It seemed so unusual, as if you'd need a classical education to know of it. But I did come across a tennis star who might have been an inspiration.
DeleteI think we Brits of a certain age are too much affected by Ermyntrude from a children's TV show (The Magic Roundabout) as is pointed out by Adrian Dominic above. Perhaps it sounds more normal to us, Marty!
DeleteI just did a quick check, and the name has a small spike around the 1850s, and then more of a spike at the beginning of the 20th C, just right for a chorus girl choosing a fancy name...
Vicky’s big hat may be acceptable for attending the inquest as a spectator; it wouldn’t do if she were a witness, according to Joan Dawson, the under-housemaid in Heyer’s The Unfinished Clue. “As she folded the sheets and shook up pillows she was silently rehearsing the evidence she would give at the inquest. Miss Joan Dawson, ‘a slim, youthful figure in a brown dress and close-fitting hat’ - her new black crinoline straw hat which Ted liked was nicer, really, but they always wore close-fitting hats - ‘gave her evidence in a low, clear voice …”
ReplyDeleteSovay
I don't know why I haven't done a post on dressing for inquests, or even just the hats. I think there's a Wentworth with a discussion on the size of the hat, and a very odd moment in The Key where the heroine wears to an inquest a white tennis frock, and a garden hat with a black ribbon. Wholly inappropriate.
DeleteAnd in Christie's Death in the Clouds there is the mysterious 'collegian hat' - never got to the bottom of that. 'Lady Horbury wore one of the new collegian hats and fox furs' to the inquest.
What to wear at the inquest is something we all need advice on - Lucy Angkatel in Christie's The Hollow has strong views on the matter IIRC.
DeleteThe Key is set in WW2 with clothes rationing in full swing, which may explain the white tennis dress - perhaps it's the only thing she has that isn't a positive colour, and she can't just go out and buy a new black dress. The garden hat must surely have a wide, shady brim - Joan wouldn't approve!
The collegian hat - styled like a mortarboard? It's not a flattering look on anyone that I've ever seen, but at least it would be suitably off-the-face.
Sovay
I remember Lucy A going on about suitable food after a murder, I'd have to look up what she says about inquests.
DeleteYou are being too kind about the girl in the tennis frock. Someone else is frowned on for wearing bright blue, but the white tennis frock is seen as 'nice and cool'. There isn't the slightest mention of their being a rationing problem. Amid all the weird happenings in Wentworth, this has always stuck in my mind as one of the strangest. Any coroner worth his salt would have thrown her out of the hearing.
After various searches I have decided Christie made up collegian...
I’m willing to give Janice more of a pass on the tennis dress than you are – if white could be worn as actual mourning, as we discovered in the earlier mourning dress posts on this blog, I don’t think it could be regarded as disrespectful at an inquest (unlike bright blue), and a late 1930s tennis dress probably wouldn’t look particularly short in comparison with the average skirt length mid-WW2. The coroner should make her take the hat off though – the jury need a good view of her face as she gives her evidence (which makes me wonder – did female witnesses in criminal trials wear hats in court, and if so, were there any rules or guidelines about style?).
DeleteA point of post-murder clothing etiquette (though not relating to inquest attendance) that comes up in The Unfinished Clue: Camilla Halliday, a weekend guest of the victim, explains when the murder comes to light at lunchtime that she has nothing black with her – it’s a colour she never wears. Later that afternoon “Camilla had solved the problem of dress, apparently to her own satisfaction, by putting on a brown frock instead of the pale blue one she had worn all the morning.” Camilla isn’t the most sympathetic character but I’m with her here – brown seems acceptably subdued. But that “apparently to her own satisfaction” clearly indicates that she’s fallen short, and should presumably have hurried off to the local market town to buy a new black dress that very afternoon …
Sovay
Why is white more respectful than bright blue? I don't see it.
DeleteI love Lola in Unfinished Clue who somehow produces a dead-black trailing gown, and a black edged handkerchief. 'Where she could have found such a thing at a moment’s notice Dinah could not imagine.'
Well, white could be substituted for black by those in deepest mourning - it was unusual but acceptable, as far as I can tell the thinking was that white, like black, doesn’t count as a colour. It was most famously adopted by the old Queen Mother on a state visit to France just after the death of her mother, but also by Mrs Brandon in Angela Thirkell’s The Brandons when her husband dies :” ..the ensuing summer being a particularly hot one gave her an excuse for mourning in white, though she always wore a heavy necklace of old jet to show goodwill.” So if the recently-widowed can wear white as an alternative to black, I think a witness at an inquest should have the same latitude.
DeleteRe: Patricia Wentworth inquests - Gladys, the maid/confidante of the deceased Lois Latter in Latter End, expects to be the star turn at the inquest and has much to say to the kitchenmaid on the subject, but I can’t remember whether this includes planning her outfit.
Sovay
As covered, indeed in my posts on The Brandons and on mourning.
DeleteBut I still, honestly, cannot believe that you are arguing that a white tennis dress is the right choice!
Perhas, like the aunt in The Brandons, someone will ask her if she is expecting a posthumous child. It's one of my favourite moments in the book, with Mrs B misunderstanding and saying her mother and father are still alive.
I think we’ll have to agree to disagree about the suitability or otherwise of the tennis dress. Though of course the question can be brought before a wider public in your upcoming “What to Wear at the Inquest” post!
DeleteSovay
We will! I do keep visualizing a village inquest, everyone in their dark sunday coats and hats, and then Herself waltzing in in a tennis dress. Sharp intake of breath, from everyone, if you ask me.
DeleteI've just started a book that I hope will give good inquest - who cares about the doctor's evidence when we can be judge-y about other people's clothes?
It's unfortunate that Miss Silver wasn't at the inquest - she could have settled the matter, as she's a reliable commenter on other people's clothes. Not everyone was in their Sunday go-to-meetings; Janice arrived with her employer (also a witness), who was wearing old flannel trousers, open-necked shirt and disreputable green jacket.
DeleteI seem to have fallen into binge-reading Georgette Heyer’s crime books – currently Behold, Here’s Poison, in which Mrs Rombold (who could be Ermyntrude Carter’s sister) has just turned up at the inquest in a picture hat trimmed with trails of pink roses. At least she’s not giving evidence. Randall is entertaining but I certainly wouldn’t marry him. I’ve been trying to recall which other Heyer character he reminds me of, and it’s Jack Westruther in Cotillion, of which he is NOT the hero.
Sovay
There are threads of Heyer characters: appearing in Regency and Detecive. Silly chit, sensible older woman who says she has given up on romance, grumpy romantic man, underestimated nice man, ditsy mother. but she played all her cards very well...
Delete