{"id":11268,"date":"2018-12-08T10:23:58","date_gmt":"2018-12-08T15:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=11268"},"modified":"2024-01-21T11:09:07","modified_gmt":"2024-01-21T16:09:07","slug":"a-blunt-instrument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11268","title":{"rendered":"A Blunt Instrument"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Blunt Instrument<\/a><\/em> (1938) Georgette Heyer<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The 4th Inspector Hannasyde mystery.<\/p>\n

Ernest Fletcher seems to have been a likable man, so his death–bludgeoned to death in his story–came as a surprise to everyone.<\/p>\n

The obvious suspect is his nephew Neville, his heir who seems to owe money to everyone, and who was heard to have argued with his uncle earlier in the evening, but the report of a man leaving the scene immediately prior to the discovery of the body seems to clear his name.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I told Neville. I thought he might be able to do something.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u2018Neville?\u2019 said Miss Drew, in accents of withering contempt. \u2018You might as well have applied to a village idiot!\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u2018I know, but there wasn\u2019t anyone else. And he is clever, in spite of being so hopeless.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u2018As judged by village standards?\u2019 inquired Neville, mildly interested.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That and the fact that Neville doesn’t seem they type.<\/p>\n

I suppose you wouldn\u2019t just hint to him that he oughtn\u2019t to do it? I feel that what you said would carry more weight than what I say.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u2018What\u2019s he been up to?\u2019 asked Hannasyde. <\/p>\n

\u2018Well, he\u2019s told one of the reporters that he\u2019s employed here as the Boots, and when the man asked him his name he said it was Crippen, only he didn\u2019t want it to be known.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Hannasyde chuckled. \u2018I don\u2019t think I should worry very much about that, Miss Fletcher.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u2018Yes, but he told another of them that he came from Yugoslavia, and was here on very secret business. In fact, he\u2019s in the front garden now, telling three of them a ridiculous story about international intrigue, and my brother at the back of it. And they\u2019re taking it down in their notebooks. Neville\u2019s such a marvellous actor, and of course he speaks Serbian, from having travelled in the Balkans. But I don\u2019t think he ought to deceive those poor men, do you?\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2018It might be better for you, sir, if you told the truth about your doings on the night of the murder without waiting to be questioned,\u2019 suggested the Sergeant, with a touch of severity. <\/p>\n

\u2018Oh no! You\u2019d have thought it very fishy if I\u2019d been as expansive as all that,\u2019 said Neville. <\/p>\n

Upon reflection, the Sergeant privately agreed with him. However, all he said was that Neville would be wise not to try to be too clever with the police.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I quite liked Neville.<\/p>\n

So this is another book where I figured out the murderer pretty quickly. I couldn’t figure out the why, but then who was rather obvious, though again that is perhaps due to being a modern reader. (In the first book, a woman is the murderer, and I suppose it might have been chocking at the time, but not so much to modern eyes.<\/p>\n

So these are interesting books, and I like the settings and time, but the murders felt a little obvious to a modern mystery reader.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Blunt Instrument (1938) Georgette Heyer The 4th Inspector Hannasyde mystery. Ernest Fletcher seems to have been a likable man, so his death–bludgeoned to death in his story–came as a surprise to everyone. The obvious suspect is his nephew Neville, his heir who seems to owe money to everyone, and who was heard to have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[193,30,33,8,42,26],"tags":[151,546],"class_list":["post-11268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-10","category-british","category-historical","category-mystery","category-police","category-romance","tag-georgette-heyer","tag-interwar-period"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2VK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2178,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2178","url_meta":{"origin":11268,"position":0},"title":"Footsteps in the Dark","author":"Michelle","date":"January 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Footsteps in the Dark (1932) Georgette Heyer Peter, Margaret, Cecelia and Charles (Cecelia's husband) have inherited an old house in the country--the Priory. Some claim the house is haunted, and others claim to have seen the figure of a ghost on the grounds. But the four--and their aunt Lilian--refuse to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/footsteps-in-the-dark.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11256,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11256","url_meta":{"origin":11268,"position":1},"title":"Death in the Stocks","author":"Michelle","date":"November 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Death in the Stocks (1935) Georgette Heyer This is, as best I can tell, set around the time it was published, the mid 1930s. What I found fascinating was that I was totally unable to pin down the time. I was pretty sure it was post WWI, but wasn't quite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Death-in-the-Stocks.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1720,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1720","url_meta":{"origin":11268,"position":2},"title":"The Masqueraders","author":"Michelle","date":"May 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Masqueraders (1928) Georgette Heyer A couple weeks ago I decided I wanted something completely different to read. After coming upon a review of The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer, \"I thought this might be a fun read,\" and ordered it. I will admit, the language took some getting used to.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Masqueraders","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/The-Masqueraders.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2885,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2885","url_meta":{"origin":11268,"position":3},"title":"These Old Shades","author":"Michelle","date":"April 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"These Old Shades (1926) Georgette Heyer This was a reread, just because I felt like it.","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/these_old_shades.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11260,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11260","url_meta":{"origin":11268,"position":4},"title":"Behold, Here’s Poison","author":"Michelle","date":"November 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Behold, Here's Poison (1936) Georgette Heyer The second Inspector Hannasyde mystery. Gregory Matthews is found dead in his bed one morning, with a terrible look up on his face. Everyone assumes it's a natural death, except for his sister who insists upon an autopsy. The list of possible culprits is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Behold-Heres-Poison.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11263,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11263","url_meta":{"origin":11268,"position":5},"title":"They Found Him Dead","author":"Michelle","date":"November 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"They Found Him Dead (1937) Georgette Heyer The third Inspector Hannasyde mystery. This one I was pretty sure who the murderer, even if I couldn't figure out why. Or quite how the second murder was managed. Silas Kane is found dead the day after his 60th birthday celebration. He's survived\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/They-Found-Him-Dead.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}