This post features the six books I’ve chosen for my target, Georgette Heyer, in the 6-Shooter Challenge, one of my key reading goals for the year. As a reminder, this challenge tasks participants with “shooting” (reading) six books by the same author to earn a notch on their literary gun.
While Rick at Rick Mill’s Project doesn’t require participants to post reviews, I’ve decided to write my usual reviews for some (or all) of Georgette Heyer’s books—which I’ll also be cross-posting for my other 2025 Reading Challenges.
This post will be updated periodically with the dates I started and finished each book, along with links to my reviews (if I write a separate one). I’ll add details as I complete each book, so stay tuned!
Who is Georgette Heyer?
Georgette Heyer (1902–1974) was a British novelist best known for her Regency romances and classic detective fiction. Often credited with popularizing the modern Regency romance genre, she meticulously researched historical details to create witty, charming, and well-plotted novels set in the early 19th century. While Heyer is widely celebrated for books like Regency Buck and Arabella, she was also a skilled mystery writer, crafting intricate Golden Age detective novels reminiscent of Agatha Christie. Her mysteries often feature aristocratic settings, sharp dialogue, and clever plots.
Why choose Georgette Heyer?
I absolutely love Georgette Heyer’s writing style! I was first introduced to her work in college when I read The Unfinished Clue. I had borrowed it from the library and was instantly hooked. Eager to find more of her books, I scoured the shelves—only to discover that none of her other titles were available. At the time, I had no idea that she was primarily known for her historical romances, since I first encountered her through her detective novels.
I may not look like it, but I have a soft spot for mysteries with a touch of romance. Not the sordid or overly dramatic kind, but those that feel natural and heartwarming. A well-crafted romance makes me feel more connected to the characters, and honestly—who doesn’t love a satisfying ending? Most Golden Age detective novels feature romantic subplots, but not all authors handle them well. Some introduce love interests so abruptly that the romance feels forced, while others barely develop it, making it hard to care about the relationship at all.
This is where Heyer excels. Her background as a romance novelist gives her an edge—her love stories always feel well-paced, engaging, and rewarding. Whether in her mysteries or her historical romances, she knows exactly how to balance intrigue, wit, and character-driven storytelling, leaving me completely satisfied every time.
What books by Georgette Heyer are included in this challenge?
For this challenge, I chose Georgette Heyer’s first 6 books in the Country House Mystery series. There’s a good mix standalone novels and those featuring Superintendent Hannasyde.
- Footsteps In The Dark (Status: Reading In Progress)
Locals claim the Priory is haunted and refuse to put a single toe past the front door. Left empty for years, and even their deceased uncle chose to live in a different house, far away from this particular property. But the ramshackle old house, with its rambling charm is the perfect setting for a much-needed holiday for siblings Peter, Celia and Margaret, who have inherited it from their uncle. It wasn’t the lack of modern conveniences that made a summer spent at the ancient priory mansion such an unsettling experience. It was the supposed ghost… or whatever was groaning in the cellars and roaming the countryside around Framley Village after dark.
But when a murder victim is discovered in the drafty Priory halls, the once unconcerned trio begins to fear that the ghostly rumors are true and they are not alone after all! But traditionally ghosts don’t commit murder. And in this case, the things which go bump in the night are deadly. With a killer on the loose, will they find themselves the next victims or will they uncover the truth in time? Does the key to the crime lie in the realm of the supernatural? Or is the explanation much more down to earth with a more corporeal culprit of flesh and blood?
- Why Shoot a Butler? (Status: Completed, 3-9 March 2025)
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, dead from a gunshot wound. Shirley Brown protests her innocence, and Amberley believes her — at least until he gets drawn into the mystery and the clues incriminating the girl begin to add up… The new heir to Norton Manor discovered the difficulty of keeping decent help when the butler got murdered on his night off. But why would anyone shoot a trusted old family retainer?
The bumbling police are well-meaning but completely baffled. Fortunately, barrister turned amateur sleuth Frank Amberley, is as brilliant as he is arrogant. He has a couple of suspects in mind, the nervy young lady discovered at the scene of the crime and the snooping gentleman in the halls of Greythorne, when suddenly there’s a second body. In this dramatic tale of upstairs, downstairs and family secrets, Amberley, although he wants to discover the desperate killer, this time he’s not sure he wants to know the truth
- The Unfinished Clue
Everyone had a reason to hate the late Sir Arthur Billington-Smith. His arrogance and abrasive manner had alienated his wife, her sister, his house guests, his wayward son, even a desperate friend. Of course, his attentions to one attractive young guest in plain view of her husband simply multiplied the possible suspects in his murder.
- Death in the Stocks (Status: Completed 28 February – 1 March 2025)
Beneath a sky the colour of sapphires and the sinister moonlight, a gentleman in evening dress is discovered slumped in the stocks on the village green – he is dead. Superintendent Hannasyde’s consummate powers of detection and solicitor Giles Carrington’s amateur sleuthing are tested to their limits as they grapple with the Vereker family – a group of outrageously eccentric and corrupt suspects
- Behold, Here’s Poison
When Gregory Matthews, patriarch of the Poplars is found dead one morning, imperious Aunt Harriet blames it on the roast duck he ate for supper. After all, she had warned him about his blood pressure. But a post-mortem determines the cause of death as murder by poison. Suspicion falls immediately amongst his bitter, quarrelsome family. Each has a motive; each, opportunity.
It falls to the quietly resourceful Inspector Hannasyde to sift through all the secrets and lies and discover just who killed Gregory Matthews. He faces the deadliest test of his career when members of the wealthy Matthews clan begin to die, one by one. With motives everywhere, it is no easy case for the inspector to solve in time to spare the next victim. Meet the Matthews — while they last… Gregory, Harriet, Gertrude, Zoe, Guy, Stella and Randall.
- They Found Him Dead
It is the morning after wealthy Silas Kane’s sixtieth birthday party – a celebration that brings to light a number of familial controversies. When Kane is found dead at the foot of a cliff, the assumption is that he simply lost his way in the fog and fell by accident. But the subsequent death of his nephew and heir and threats on the life of the third Kane, the newest heir, raises obvious suspicion, and the redoubtable investigative skills of Superintendent Hannasyde prove critical once again.
