Why I love Georgette Heyer

I was first introduced to Georgette Heyer through Frederica, which is a regency novel. Later, when I'd read all she'd written, I realized that I'd actually read some of her mysteries one summer when I was staying with my grandparents in a rented vacation house on Long Island. Duplicate Death and Why Shoot A Butler, among others. I read Ngaio Marsh for the first time that same summer.



With only two exceptions, all of Georgette Heyer's books are delightful. Her mysteries are well-plotted and cozy confections. She is practically unsurpassed for rainy-day-nice-hot-pot-of-tea reading. Seriously, if you are faced with a gloomy weekend, you could not do better than to curl up with one of Heyer's mysteries and a box of mallomars and just dive in.



But today I'm going to talk about Frederica. Frederica is the eldest sister of a family of five. Their father has died and left them without much money. Someone has rented their (mortgage encumbered) estate so the family moves to London for "the Season" to bring Frederica's younger sister (a "diamond of the first water") out. Meanwhile, their distant relation, Lord Alverstoke is bored to tears and looking for a way to annoy his miserly sister who wants him to host a ball for her plain eldest daughter. When he and Frederica meet, he realizes that he now has the perfect plan to infuriate his sister. Soon, the formerly bored Lord Alverstoke finds himself hauling Frederica's family out of scrapes and...

Well, you'd better read the rest yourself.