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Georgette Heyer (1902-1974) was an English bestselling author of detective fiction and romance novels. She was born in Wimbledon, London in 1902. Her father was George Heyer and her mother, Sylvia Watkins. Heyer was the oldest of three children. Her brothers France and George Boris were nine and four years younger than her. Her family lived in Paris, France for a short while and returned to England after the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914.
Order of Inspector Hannasyde Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Death in the Stocks / Merely Murder | 1935 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Behold, Here's Poison | 1936 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | They Found Him Dead | 1937 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | A Blunt Instrument | 1938 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | A Christmas Party / Envious Casca | 1941 | Description / Buy |
Order of Inspector Hemingway Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No Wind of Blame | 1939 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Envious Casca | 1941 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Duplicate Death | 1951 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Detection Unlimited | 1953 | Description / Buy |
Order of Alastair-Audley Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | These Old Shades | 1926 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Devil's Cub | 1932 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Regency Buck | 1935 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | An Infamous Army | 1937 | Description / Buy |
Order of Georgette Heyer Standalone Novels
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Black Moth | 1921 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Powder And Patch | 1923 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | The Transformation of Philip Jettan | 1923 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | The Great Roxhythe | 1923 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Simon the Coldheart | 1925 | Description / Buy | |
| 6 | The Masqueraders | 1928 | Description / Buy | |
| 7 | Helen | 1928 | Description / Buy | |
| 8 | Beauvallet | 1929 | Description / Buy | |
| 9 | Barren Corn | 1930 | Description / Buy | |
| 10 | The Conqueror | 1931 | Description / Buy | |
| 11 | Footsteps in the Dark | 1932 | Description / Buy | |
| 12 | Why Shoot a Butler? | 1933 | Description / Buy | |
| 13 | The Convenient Marriage | 1934 | Description / Buy | |
| 14 | The Unfinished Clue | 1934 | Description / Buy | |
| 15 | The Talisman Ring | 1936 | Description / Buy | |
| 16 | Royal Escape | 1938 | Description / Buy | |
| 17 | The Corinthian | 1940 | Description / Buy | |
| 18 | The Spanish Bride | 1940 | Description / Buy | |
| 19 | Faro's Daughter | 1941 | Description / Buy | |
| 20 | Penhallow | 1942 | Description / Buy | |
| 21 | Friday's Child | 1944 | Description / Buy | |
| 22 | The Reluctant Widow | 1946 | Description / Buy | |
| 23 | The Foundling | 1948 | Description / Buy | |
| 24 | Arabella | 1949 | Description / Buy | |
| 25 | The Grand Sophy | 1950 | Description / Buy | |
| 26 | The Quiet Gentleman | 1951 | Description / Buy | |
| 27 | Cotillion | 1953 | Description / Buy | |
| 28 | The Toll-Gate | 1954 | Description / Buy | |
| 29 | Bath Tangle | 1955 | Description / Buy | |
| 30 | Sprig Muslin | 1956 | Description / Buy | |
| 31 | Sylvester | 1957 | Description / Buy | |
| 32 | April Lady | 1957 | Description / Buy | |
| 33 | Sylvester or The Wicked Uncle | 1957 | Description / Buy | |
| 34 | Venetia | 1958 | Description / Buy | |
| 35 | The Unknown Ajax | 1959 | Description / Buy | |
| 36 | Pistols for Two | 1960 | Description / Buy | |
| 37 | A Civil Contract | 1961 | Description / Buy | |
| 38 | The Nonesuch | 1962 | Description / Buy | |
| 39 | False Colours | 1963 | Description / Buy | |
| 40 | Frederica | 1965 | Description / Buy | |
| 41 | Black Sheep | 1966 | Description / Buy | |
| 42 | Cousin Kate | 1968 | Description / Buy | |
| 43 | Charity Girl | 1970 | Description / Buy | |
| 44 | Instead of the Thorn | 1971 | Description / Buy | |
| 45 | Lady Of Quality | 1972 | Description / Buy | |
| 46 | My Lord John | 1975 | Description / Buy | |
| 47 | Pastel | 1976 | Description / Buy |
Order of Georgette Heyer Short Stories/Novellas
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Proposal to Cicely (Short Story) | 1922 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Linckes' Great Case (Short Story) | 1923 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | The Little Lady (Short Story) | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | The Bulldog and the Beast (Short Story) | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | The Chinese Shawl (Short Story) | 2019 | Description / Buy |
Order of Georgette Heyer Short Story Collections
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Snowdrift and Other Stories | 1960 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Pistols for Two and Other Stories | 1970 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Acting on Impulse – Contemporary Short Stories of Georgette Heyer | 2019 | Description / Buy |
Georgette Heyer Anthologies
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Anthology of Love and Romance | 1994 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | The Modern Library: The 200 Best Novels in English Since 1950 | 1999 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Bodies from the Library | 2019 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Love, Lust and Passion in Regency Times | 2021 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | The Bridgerthonian Novels | 2022 | Description / Buy |
She began her writing career in 1921 when she converted a real story for her younger brother into a book by the title The Black Moth. Later in 1925, she got married to a mining engineer George Ronald Rougier. The couple spent many years living in Macedonia and Tanganyika Territory before returning to England in 1929. These Old Shades a best seller despite the time of its release, in the midst of the General Strike, Heyer thus concluded that publicity does not influence good sales. For the rest of her life, she refused to grant any interviews saying that her private life was only for herself and her family.
The author established the historical romance genre as well as its subgenre Regency romance. Jane Austen inspired her regency’s works. To ensure accuracy in her novels, Georgette Heyer collected reference sources and kept detailed notes on all the aspects of Regency life. Even though some critics considered her books too detailed, others viewed the level of detail to be author’s greatest asset. Her diligent nature was evident in her historical books.
From 1932, the author often wrote one thriller and one romance each year. Her husband would often provide basic plot outlines for her thrillers thus leaving Heyer to create dialogue and character relationship. Even though many critics narrate Heyer’s detective books as unoriginal, many others such as Nancy Wingate highly praised them for their comedy & wit as well as for their crafted plots.
GEORGETTE HEYER AWARDS
Georgette Heyer novels have won and also been nominated for various awards. Here are some notable awards won. The Devil’s Cub won the Romance Readers Anonymous Award for the best all time Regency category. The same title won 2000, 2004 and 2007 All About Romance Reader Award for top 100 romances category.
The Grand Sophy won 2000 and 2004 All About Romance Reader Award for Top 100 romances. These Old Shades and Venetia also won 2000 All About Romance Reader Award for top 100 romance category.
GEORGETTE HEYER BOOKS INTO MOVIES/TV
The Reluctant Widow was made into a film available on the youtube with some Greek subtitles. Even though the movie ends somehow prematurely, it is worth watching.
BEST GEORGETTE HEYER BOOKS
These are two best books by Georgette, The Reluctant Widow (1946) and The Grand Sophy (1950).
The Reluctant Widow: Georgette Heyer is known for her charming and witty Regency romances; however, she is also the author of a couple of mystery novels. In some instances, the mystery would find its way into her well-woven romances sending heroes and heroines in adventures that are chilling.
In this novel, Elinor Rochdale adventure starts when she accidentally mistakes the horse carriage at the carriage stop for the one sent by her potential employer, Mrs. Macclesfield. She realizes that the carriage took her to the estate of Ned Carlyon, whom Elinor mistakes for her employer Mr. Macclessfield. On the other hand, Carlyon thinks that Elinor is the young woman that he hired to marrying his dying dear cousin, Eustace Cheviot so as to avoid inheriting Eustace estate himself. Somehow, Elinor finds herself talked into marrying the dying young man and thus becomes as soon as the ring lands on her finger.
What all started out as a simple arrangement turns out more complicated as uninvited guests, house breakers, missing government papers and a shocking murder all contribute this hilarious tale of foreign espionage, mistaken identity, and unexpected spark of love set during the Napoleonic Wars.
The Grand Sophy: When Sir Horace Stanton-Lacy is ordered to go to South America on Diplomatic Affairs, he sets out with his daughter Sophy. Upon arrival, Sophy is puzzled to see all her cousins are in a sad mood. The tyrannical and heartless Charles is engaged to an exact version of himself; Cecilia is in love with a handsome feather-brained poet. While Hubert has fallen in love with a money lender and it seems that the Grand Sophy has arrived in time to sort them out, but she has not agreed with Charles whose only one thought is to marry her off and free the entire family of her interfering ways.
When Does The Next Georgette Heyer book come out?
Georgette Heyer doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Acting on Impulse – Contemporary Short Stories of Georgette Heyer and was released on August, 16th 2019. It is the newest book in the Georgette Heyer Short Story Collections.