Genteel Your Cup of Tea?

Is genteel your cup of tea? Then you'd probably enjoy novels by Georgette Heyer. Heyer wrote over fifty novels, including Regency romances, mysteries and historical fiction. She was known as the Queen of Regency romance, and was legendary for her research, historical accuracy and her extraordinary plots and characterizations. She also had a wry and well-developed sense of humor. Her books are being reissued.

Spending so much time at M. D. Anderson, we are getting a lot of reading done. The Talisman Ring was the first Heyer that I read. "When spirited Eustacie stumbles into a band of smugglers, she is delighted to be having an adventure at last. Their leader, young heir Ludovic Lavenham, is in hiding falsely accused of murder. Pursued by the law, Eustacie and Ludovic find refuge at an unassuming country inn. And the delightfully sensible couple who try to keep them out of trouble -- the resourceful Miss Sarah Thane and the clear-thinking Sir Tristram Shield, gamely endeavor to prevent Ludovic's arrest and Eustacie's ruin as the four conspire to recover the missing talisman ring that will clear Ludovic's name."

Totally entertaining in a very *old-fashioned* way -- "a story in the manner of Jane Austen, of domestic comedy and love affairs."

Why Shoot a Butler is one of Heyer's detective novels. Her barrister husband, Ronald Rougier, provided many of the plots for her detective novels, which are classic English country-house mysteries reminiscent of Agatha Christie. "On a dark night, along a lonely country road, barrister Frank Amberley stops to help a young lady in distress and discovers a sports car with a corpse behind the wheel. The girl protests her innocence, and Amberley believes her - at least until he gets drawn into the mystery and the clues incriminating Shirley Brown begin to add up."

"In an English country-house murder mystery with a twist, it's the butler who's the victim, every clue complicates the puzzle, and the bumbling police are well-meaning but completely baffled. Fortunately in ferreting out a desperate killer, amateur sleuth Amberley is as brilliant as he is arrogant, but this time he's not sure he wants to know the truth."

I read 108 pages of Why Shoot a Butler and wondered why I was continuing to read. And then, suddenly, on page 109 -- the book took off and was a race to the end. I guess it just took 108 pages to get all the characters and background in place!

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I have a couple of Blog Shout Outs for you. First, visit with Calamity Kim. She is celebrating the Twelve Days of Christmas with a crafty pattern a day. Fun! I also found, thanks to Calamity Kim, Freebies for Crafters -- a blog full of free craft patterns and blog links. That should keep you crafters busy for awhile!

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A big THANK YOU to all of you who are sending good thoughts, prayers, vibes, juju et al, to Mr. Dragon. We spend every day at M. D. Anderson, some days much longer than others, and I'm happy to report that he is handling his chemo and radiation very well. Thank you for your emails, telephone calls. Know we appreciate all of you. I don't have much computer time (or crafty time) right now, but try to at least check in with all of you and read what you are up to. I may not comment, but I've been by to visit. Keep blogging. I love visiting! It is fun therapy for me!