Penhallow

By: Georgette Heyer

Narrated by: Ulli Birvé

Hated for his cruel and vicious nature, ruling his family with an iron hand from his sickbed, tyrannical patriarch Adam Penhallow is found murdered the day before his birthday. His entire family had assembled for his birthday celebration, and every one of them had the ways and means to commit the crime. As accusations and suspicion turn in one direction and then another, the claws and backstabbing come out, and no one is exempt from the coming implosion.

©1942 Georgette Rougier (P)2015 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Critic reviews

"Georgette Heyer is second to none in her ability to make detective stories entertaining." ( The Sunday Times)

"Sharp, clear and witty." ( The New Yorker)

"Rarely have we seen humour and mystery so perfectly blended." ( The New York Times)

For the Gosford Park fans…

I’m a huge fan of Heyer’s regency era works so this was a bit different for me. But once again her masterful characterization and vivid descriptions managed to bring this 1920s era novel to life. If you’re a fan of Gosford Park you’ll love Penhallow.

Very Dark

This is a stepfamily with a cast of characters so unpleasant that no matter the ending it would disappoint. This is not to say that Heyer's writing falls short. I was compelled to keep listening even though Heyer reveals the murderer early on. I was waiting for a redeeming twist. The twist is there, but it redeems no one. This is nothing like the light hearted, tongue in cheek Heyer novels of her earlier years. Still, I think I'm glad I listened.

Where's the rest?

Good story ; narrator great,as usual.But I didn't expect it to end as it did...

A story of unintended consequences.

This may not be one of my favorites of Heyer's mysteries, but, I thought it was well worth listening to for character studies. True, these people were victims of their class system and snobbery, a father who would probably be on the short list for sociopathic behavior (not the murdering kind,) a misplaced sense of entitlement by members of the family and finally a realistic approach to the concept that not all things end well in the world of actual human behavior. Perhaps the greatest drawback to this book is that it lacked Ms. Heyer's usual sense of humor in dealing with the absurd society of the time.

Extremely well written, but, not for those who want blue birds and butterflies at the end.

What an ending!

I didn't think a story has ever left me with such a sense of discomfort as this one. I was not expecting an ending like this. Wow!
How ironic, indeed...

More tragedy than mystery

Georgette Heyer has a way of captivating me and this story was no different but I can’t really say that I liked it.

Hashing out and rehashing arguments and establishing Adam Penhallow as one of the least redeemable characters in all of fiction took up the majority of this book. I hated the man so much, I wished I could jump into the story and get rid of him myself. Witnessing him rail against every single member of his family over and over again became exhausting.

There really wasn’t any mystery to figure out because we actually see the deed being committed. There is some suspense and a great deal of tension leading up to that but, after the murder happens, the story becomes tragedy. There are no satisfactory conclusions and it ends rather abruptly after delivering an ironic twist. None of the characters are particularly likable but it’s difficult to sit with so much raw emotion and bitterness throughout the book and then not really know what’s going to happen to most of them.

If these reviews don’t turn you off, give it a shot. It’s not a bad book but it is frustrating and very dark.

Penhallow

Given that Georgette Heyer has been my favorite author for more than 50 years, I decided to re-read (listen,in this case) to my least favorite mystery, Penhallow. Regrettably, my opinion did not change. Although I found it capably read and well written as all of Me. Heyer's works are, I found it more a dreary and depressing drama rather than a mystery. Lacking Ms. Heyer's signature wit and humour, the story was not leavened by a romance of any note. Not only does the story roll on without her usual Scotland Yard detectives and their lively dialogues, the reader already knows both the murderer and the reason for the crime, and simply follows the story to its tragic end. All said, not really a mystery and not at all to my taste.

Not my fav

My least favorite from a favorite author. Characters are really diverse in a family that is highly dysfunctional. The patriarch is an ogre, but is so familiar to every family member. When he dies the family turns from scrabbling to suspecting each other. Georgette Heyer does a great job of building layers to a climax with an unexpected end.

Not typical of Georgette Heyer

If you love Georgette Heyer for her cheerfully witty repartee and nice cosy plots, don't expect either of those here. If you like edgy, psychological melodrama and don't mind outmoded social conventions and politically incorrect attitudes, you may find this an interesting take on how just about every variety of the emotionally scarred, pushed to the limit, might have reacted "back in the day". Most of the conflict has to do with what is and isn't acceptable behavior for members of various social classes. (Keep in mind that this was written in the early 1940s: we might hope that no one is outraged today when the son of a wealthy family wants to marry one of the maids, but does anyone honestly believe that we have come that far?) "What evil lurks in the hearts of men?" The immortal question of the roughly contemporaneous radio drama "The Shadow" expresses the theme, though we would add, "and from whence cometh that evil?"

Penhallow is not so much a mystery as a novel about a dysfunctional family on a rapid slide into disaster. The nasty tone is set by the opening words: "Jimmy the Bastard", repeated throughout as though it was his given name. The puzzle for the reader to solve is which of the many thoroughly detestable suspects we would most like to see hang for the inevitable murder (which doesn't take place until two-thirds of the way in), and who we would most enjoy seeing get away with it.

Penhallow is the tyrannical patriarch of a huge brood of vipers. If any character ever needed killing, this is he. Almost every other character has good reason to do him in, but while any one of them might well be capable of murder, no one seems quite ready to step in to do the deed. Much of the book consists of unpleasant exchanges between ever-revolving combinations from among Penhallow, his numerous offspring and in-laws, servants, and wife number two. Some of the nastiness is rather delicious, but enough is enough and too much quickly becomes tedious. It would have been better if Heyer had dropped a few of the siblings and brought the delightful sister Charmaine home earlier.

I have long been a great fan of Georgette Heyer, ever since my 8th grade English teacher recommended The Grand Sophy. The historical romances are a pleasant tidbit for my dedicated Jane Austen tastes, but what my cosy side truly adores is her mysteries. When Audible began adding them, I jumped on the chance to re-visit Inspectors Hannasyde and Hemmingway, and resolved to listen my way through the entire Heyer list. For fans of the English country house genre, the mysteries hold up well as a rule, but this a major departure from Heyer's other work. I am ambivalent about my ratings: the writing is good, if long-winded; some of the characters are nicely developed, while others are a bit thin. I can't say I really enjoyed the first half or more and I was leaning towards one or two stars -- everyone is just so completely unpleasant! Once I got to the murder, I was glad to have stuck with it. The ending is, well, avoiding spoilers, let's just say the ending is ..... different. The narration is very good -- except for a few sections of exposition that lapse into a soft, sleepy lull that doesn't fit in with the rest of the book.

I doubt if I'll ever listen to this again. I didn't hate it, but I was glad when it was over. Whew!

Disappointed

Not the usual GH novel, as many have said. It was hard for me to get past the slow delivery generously peppered with with quite funny mispronunciations, and in the end it got the better of me. I gave up.