Thu 20 Sep 2012
ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB, by Mike Tooney: GEORGETTE HEYER – Footsteps in the Dark.
Posted by Steve under Reviews1 Comment
GEORGETTE HEYER – Footsteps in the Dark. Longman Green, UK, hardcover, 1932. Berkley, US, paperback, 1986. Reprinted several times, especially in the UK.
“…the whole story is told with such good nature and humor that it is hard to take it as anything more than a fine evening’s entertainment – which it is. You’ll enjoy the characters – there are a few mysterious strangers running around, after all – and the Priory makes a wonderful setting – and there’s much more going on there than may meet the eye.”
— Les Blatt, “Classic Mysteries”
http://www.classicmysteries.net/2012/09/footsteps-in-the-dark.html
See also:
“A light-hearted thriller about a group of young people and their aunt who inherit a haunted house and unmask a gang of forgers. The main influence seems to be Allingham’s early thrillers … The elements are conventional … but it’s steadily entertaining.”
— Nick Fuller, GAD Wiki
http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7930599/Footsteps%20in%20the%20Dark
“I had not guessed what was going on until it was all revealed; however I did work out the identity of the monk several chapters before he was unmasked; I also guessed correctly about the occupation of another of the significant characters. Heyer wasn’t as good as Agatha Christie at laying false trails and surprising her readers – her talent was, instead, in making the people three-dimensional. That’s perhaps a disadvantage in crime fiction, since it becomes clear from people’s characters whether they are ‘baddies’ or not!”
— “Sue’s Book Reviews”
http://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2008/02/footsteps-in-dark-by-georgette-heyer.html
“In a nutshell: Fun, wacky, and a wee bit silly, Footsteps in the Dark was a light, charming read.”
— “Bibliolatry”
http://bookworship.blogspot.com/2010/03/classics-circuit-georgette-heyer.html
“Heyer’s novels show some signs of Realist school influence… Her first mystery, Footsteps in the Dark (1932), shows villains engaged in the sort of criminal scheme we associate with Crofts’ The Pit-Prop Syndicate (1922) and The Box Office Murders (1929)… Footsteps in the Dark has a small time, not especially hard-boiled British private detective as well, the type that also shows up regularly Crofts’ novels.”
— Mike Grost, “A Guide to Classic Mystery and Detection”
http://mikegrost.com/ngmarsh.htm#Heyer
September 20th, 2012 at 10:05 pm
I know that Georgette Heyer was much more well-known as a writer of Regency romances, but she was well regarded as a mystery writer too. I wonder why it was that this, her first real mystery novel, took 54 years to be published in the US, and then only in paperback.
I’ve read only one of Heyer’s detective novels myself — not this one — and while I agree with one of the reviewers above that she did not have Agatha Christie’s skill at puzzle-making and -solving, it was still entertaining and very much worth reading. (Sorry, I don’t remember which one it was.)