Review: Behold, Here's Poison by Georgette Heyer

Georgette Heyer is best know for her romances set in the regency period. She also wrote 12 mystery novels which are in the style of the English country house mystery. These books are witty and well plotted.

In Behold, Here's Poison, Gregory Matthews, wealthy head of the Matthews family, dies from a dose of poison. He leaves behind a group of relatives who do not seem to be grieving because of his death. His sister, Miss Matthews, continues in her very economical running of the house. His sister, Mrs. Lupton continues to lord it over the rest of the family. His sister-in-law, Mrs. Matthews, continues to do very little. His niece Stella still plans to marry Dr. Fielding; Gregory Matthews was much opposed to this alliance. His nephew, Guy, is much relieved because Gregory was planning to send him to work in the family business in Brazil, and Guy did not want to go. And then there is Randall Matthews who is cynical, insulting, but well dressed, and despised by the rest of the family. Randall stands to inherit most of Gregory's money, but Randall could not have done the murder.

Into this family setting come Superintendent Hannasyde and Sargent Hemmingway. They find the family to be very unhelpful, and rather unwilling to find the murderer. The nature of the poison and the method of administering it also present difficult problems. In the end, the case is cleared up in some unexpected ways.

If you enjoy country house mysteries, this book is your cup of tea. The book was originally published in 1936. It is still available at Amazon.