Behold, Here's Poison (Country House Mysteries, 5) Paperback – September 4, 2018

I love both the written version and Hugh Dickson's excellent reading of the book. He helps you understand the various characters, and the emotions behind their words, in his masterful reading.Many people have written accomplished reviews of the book, but my take is a little different. I find the "hero" - Randall Matthews - to be akin to Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. O, Randall is not put upon, or poor -- but both men are snarky and insightful -- painfully knowing in the existential way that makes them heroes with a special moral burden. Randall knows the world is highly immoral and he is trying to manage the murder of his uncle so that no one gets serious hurt. When his efforts fail, you feel his particular kind of sorrow because although the right person pays the price for the murder, the price is ridiculously high, considering the low moral character of the murdered man.Randall deflates pretention beautifully and shows his love for his cousin, who claims to hate him, in the most indirect way possible that the culmination of their relation comes as both a happy surprise and a pleasant inevitability. He's a hero for a dark time in human affairs. The police seem virtually irrelevant as moral arbiters as they try to apply the law to this case.Remember -- with Heyer, the first reading is not enough to "get" all the pleasures in reading her texts. This book continues to delight after 20 readings as well the little jokes and insights begin to add up and make sense.The book is both a frivolous delight and penetratingly meaningful -- which is what Heyer seems to do effortlessly in all her various genres.If you are a fan of Chandler, Poison will resonate and delight you.

Caveat #1 – Beware the copyright date on this book before you embark on the journey. That date is 1936 but this is not an “historical mystery” in any sense of that phrase. This book is not written by a modern author with a plot set in the past; this book is written by an author who was a contemporary with the times of which she writes.Caveat #2 – In 1936, women could own property and had been legally allowed to vote universally in the US for 16 years. However, they were still considered the “property” and “responsibility” of any familial male such as father, husband, brother or even an adult son.Caveat #3 – In 1936, engaging in homosexual behavior was a felony in every state of the United States.Why the caveats? Because Ms Heyer has written a tale about the murder of Gregory Matthews, the wealthy male head of a household whose in-house family consists of 3 unemployed women and one male youth who is stereotyped as gay. And the deceased’s immediate not-in-house family consists of 3 more unemployed women and a young male rake who is independently wealthy (read that as unemployed and living off an inheritance).And every one of them depends on Gregory Matthews for something – money, a roof over their head, and/or social standing.Now, Gregory Matthews was not a nice man. He was mean and demanding. He was imperious and dogmatic. Nor did he have any qualms about stooping to blackmail his own kin if it meant getting his way. Needless to say, poison was not the way I thought he would be dispatched but that is what Ms Heyer decided that her murderer would use. Then again, isn’t poison the supposed weapon of choice for a woman of those times? And there are at least 6 women in his family who hated the very ground upon which he trod.We have the Spinster Sister, the Witchy Married Sister, the Pretty Widow Sister-in-law, the Modern Niece, the Insipid Niece and the Baby-Mama Niece. However, even though they are not females, let’s not forget the Amiable Snake Nephew who inherits the majority of the estate, and the Artist/Interior Decorator Nephew who was scheduled to be shipped off to Brazil to hide his “nature” from London society. Poison might suit their personalities just fine also.To add to the mystery, there are 2 husbandly in-laws, the mistress of one of those husbands, the deceased’s doctor who is affianced to the Modern Niece and a husband-and-wife set of neighbors each with their own motivations for despising the deceased as well.It does not take many pages into this book before you realize that these family members are some of the most obnoxious, manipulative, selfish and narcissistic people that have ever been accumulated as important secondary characters in one novel. The verbiage dripping from their lips is a constant poison in and of itself.Honestly, I cannot remember when, in noveldom, I have ever encountered a cast of characters, which, to a person – other than our detective, his sergeant, his lawyer sidekick, and the two next-door neighbors – are totally lacking in any socially redeeming values. Within two chapters, I knew that, by the time the novel was over and the murderer caught, I would crow with glee knowing that the gene pool could be just a fraction cleaner at that moment.Lest we get too caught up in Heyer’s use of these characters to expound on the social issues of her times, we need to remember that we do have other voices in the tale. Our good guys here are Detective Superintendent Hannasyde of New Scotland Yard and his Detective Sergeant Hemingway. Then there is Giles Carrington, a solicitor whose intimate acquaintance we made in the previous series novel titled “Death in the Stocks.”As the novel progresses, Heyer alternates POV between the family characters and Hannasyde, a device that can be just as difficult to follow in a book written 80 years ago as it is in a book written in this decade. However, within a few chapters, you realize that the device actually makes it a lot easier to sort out both the clues and the village idiots – oh, sorry, I mean the suspects. And the device actually allows the author to significantly deepen the plot.Today, this novel might be classified as a “cozy” mystery simply because there is no descriptive violence and only the hints of a romance. But cozy it is not; the suspects are well fleshed out and tension rides high page after page. And because it is written about the current society of the time by an author contemporary to that society, the background has a very realistic feel to it.Oh, and as a postscript, you find out the nature of the poison early on in the tale. However, you don’t learn how the poison was administered until a few pages from the end. Not long after, the identity of the murderer is revealed and you will probably close the book with a smile if you guessed correctly or a bit of a grimace if you didn’t.Then, somewhere within the next 24 hours, probably sooner than later in that time period, you may well find yourself wide-eyed, body paralyzed in mid-gesture, and groaning out “Noooooo!” as your subconscious tells your conscious mind to look at what you have in your hand. Shame on you, Ms Heyer!

I love to read British mysteries and try to always reserve time to read during breakfast and about an hour or two after. Then I have other things I must get done. 'Behold Here's Poison' Just would not let me get other things done! I'd put it down and soon find it calling to me, causing me to drop whatever work I was doing to discover the next delicious clue, the next character reveal, the next fun bit of dialogue and so on.I admit it, I do enjoy a bit of romance with my mystery and this had just enough--but that hero! Or was he the villain? I loved the dry wit of him, but the arrogance, the snootiness...or was it simply his way of seeing through so much family pretentiousness? Oh, well, the characters were all of such disorder and varying degrees of crazy-yet-sane, that following them around made for a fun read, and also made the progression of the clues all the more interesting. And what unusual poison. And the heroine was likable and strong and, given the time period (1930s), feminine and apt to turn around for help. I like that she didn't do stupidly dangerous things. And I liked the determined policeman, too.This was a most enjoyable read, amusing, baffling and hard to put down. And the route of getting to the solution was the best part, so this is a mystery I will relish reading again one day.

This is a great book for classic mystery lovers. A mystery with a full cast of characters ranging from the normal to the eccentric, a dead man who had plenty of reasons others might want him dead, and enough twists, turns, and red herrings to make Agatha Christie lovers very happy they picked up Georgette Heyer's "Behold, Here's Poison". I loved this book!

Fan absolue de Mme Heyer, je me devais de mettre 5 étoiles à ce livre. Détail amusant cependant, je n'ai pas encore trouvé de victimes très sympathiques dans ses écrits qui laissent au contraire penser que, quelle que soit la personnalité de l'assassin, le monde se porte bien mieux sans sa victime. Tout cela est tellement marqué d'un code moral très élevé que cela rend les personnages alentour particulièrement attachants. Cela dit, et dans ce livre en particulier, il faut bien admettre que la seconde victime aurait gagné à survivre à ce crime. Après tout, elle était juste un peu pingre.

This was an intriguing story. What an elegant world Ms Heyer creates in the midst of murder, mayhem and a most unpleasant family.Her command of the English language and exceptional punctuation makes the reading a delight. Plus reintroducing words to my vocabulary long forgotten.If you enjoy murder in the English cosy genre then invest in this book. The development of Randall’s character over the course of the book was masterly. Read the book for that character arc if for no other reason.

Dies ist der fünfte von Georgette Heyer geschriebene Krimi, der 1935 erschienen ist. Auch er spielt in der "feinen Gesellschaft", sodass das Buch für normale Leute von heute nicht viel anders wirkt als die Regencybücher der gleichen Verfasserin. Hier wie da haben die Helden reichlich Personal, sodass Waschen, Spülen, Putzen und Kochen für die weiblichen Mitglieder der Familien genau so wenig in Frage kommt wie eine Berufsausübung. Der einzige wirkliche Unterschied liegt darin, dass es Telefon und Autos gibt und der Kutscher durch einen Chauffeur ersetzt worden ist. Die meisten Krimis von Georgette Heyer eignen sich daher genau wie ihre Regencykomödien wunderbar zur Entspannung und dazu, Abstand zum Alltag zu schaffen. Ich habe Georgette Heyers Bücher als ganz junge Frau entdeckt, und seither habe ich sie immer wieder gelesen. Auf alle Fälle immer dann, wenn es erforderlich war, Krisen aller Art zu überstehen, aber einfach auch "nur so", weil die Bücher einfach Spaß machen. Obwohl ich die Bücher alle noch recht gut kenne, habe ich gerade große Lust die Krimis wieder zu lesen (auch ohne Krise) und diesmal lese ich sie in der Reihenfolge ihres Erscheinens, was viel Spaß macht.Dieses Buch schließt auch inhaltlich an seinen Vorgänger (Death in the stocks)an. Betroffen von dem Mord ist diesmal zwar eine andere Familie, aber es sind die gleichen Beamten von Scotland Yard beteiligt und die Familie hat auch den gleichen Anwalt.Wie in vielen Krimis der damaligen Zeit wurde auch hier innerhalb der Geschlossenheit des herrschaftlichen Hauses der Hausherr ermordet, sodass der Täter in der Familie gesucht wird. Es folgt eine sehr logische Schilderung der Ermittlungen, Situationen voll von Situationskomik, brilliante Dialoge bis hin zu dem überraschenden, aber völlig logischen Ende. Dabei ist das Buch selbst dann noch spannend zu lesen, wenn man es bereits kennt, also für einen keine Überraschungen mehr enthält.Für Leser, die keine Sex - oder Gewaltszenen möchten, bringt dieses Buch sehr viel Lesefreude.

Georgette Heyer - you can't go wrong with any of her books - Regency or detective - love 'em all

Excellent entertaining mystery. Are the characters mostly rather flat? Yes, but not more so than many of the genre at that time, but with one character complex enough to perplex and a pleasantly engaging minor character in the form of a Detective Sergeant. Are there enough puzzles to keep even the most experienced of armchair sleuths guessing till almost the very end? Certainly.If you enjoy the mystery crime genre popular in the early-mid 20th century but haven't yet discovered Georgette Heyer you have an ideal little wet weekend treat in store reading this or any of her other crime novels. If, like me, you are old enough to have read them long ago, and rather forgotten about them, then you will thoroughly enjoy becoming reacquainted. She's not quite in the same class as more literary writers of the period like Dorothy L Sayers or Michael Innes, nor do her books have the fiendish complexity of someone like Edmund Crispin, or the slightly unsettling atmosphere of Gladys Mitchell, but they are skilfully constructed and highly entertaining.If you have been trying to read some of those awful pastiches aping the style of 'cosy' crime writers that are currently flooding Amazon and been — understandably — disappointed, give up and turn to this lesser-known but still vastly better Golden Age original. She's the real deal!