( 7 reviews )
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Posted: Mar 5 2009
This surprising book might be the product of England's Darkest Hour (an Americanization of Churchill's "Finest Hour.") Penhallow himself might be Hitler or Mussolini. His numerous offspring could represent Axis or occupied nations. It would be a game to try to piece all these elements together, But, I think it's a mistake to try to analyze the book outside the context of WWII. The Blitz had just ended, though I suppose it was difficult to be certain of that; Heyer and her family had just moved into bombed-out London. England had apparently lost a major war. The times were too serious for Regency frippery and I think Penhallow may have been the result.
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Feb 6 2008
I consider this is one of Georgette Heyer's best but it's not her usual regency romance. It's more of a dark comedy drama -tragedy than mystery. You know who committed the murder however it was not solved by the police and the killer's identity was mistaken by the family(except the killer.) The killer got her punishment everyday for the remaining of her life after the murder so the justice was done in a sense. As usual it's all light hearted wickedly funny with fantastic characters full of irony and witty sparkling dialogs too. Every character are flawed but never dull. It really makes you think. So this is a true serious literature in a sense. I consider this is classic.
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Posted: Jul 23 2007
"Penhallow" is not your standard Heyer mystery with a light romance, though written in 1943, it reads as if it was published today with all the stark emphasis on the macabre of human behavior. Adam Penhallow exercises all his power to draw his sons & their wives, his sister and his wife into his malevolent realm of hatred and malice. It isn't a question of when he will be murdered, but by whom. There is little doubt as to the identity of the killer, but there is no evidence. "A very unsatisfactory case," is the last line when a killer gets away with murder, but the devastating portraits of each person is so riveting you stay to the end. Not a story to be dismissed because it lacks the standard Heyer flair, but one to be relished as she demonstrates a unique talent of grim insight into the human psychic. This myster is one that was ahead of its time. Nash Black, author of "Qualifying Laps" and "Sins of the Fathers."
