When You Don't Care Who Gets Murdered...

A Christmas Party, Georgette Heyer
Heyer's Regency romances have been popular since I was a kid, but I never knew she wrote mysteries. A friend told me that she didn't think the mystery stories had the appeal of the Regencies, and if I had to judge all of her mysteries by this one, I'd certainly agree.

Joseph Herriard, a genial former actor, invites family and one close friend to his brother Nathaniel's home Lexham for Christmas (where Joseph and his wife Maud, a colorless former chorus girl, have been living since returning from abroad). There are Joe and Nat's sardonic nephew Stephen, his dippy fiancee Valerie, his niece Paula (excitable actress) and a playwright she drags along in hopes that her Uncle Nat will finance his play, cousin Mathilda Clare, and Nathaniel's business partner Edgar Mottisfont. Joseph seems the only one with Christmas spirit: the rest of the Herriards quarrel with each other incessantly and Nat and his partner are at odds as well, and it's evident Nathaniel hates his nephew's fiancee and the odious playwright, especially after the latter reads his play to the guests before Christmas Eve dinner. Nathaniel goes stamping off to his room to dress for dinner, locking the door behind him—and never comes down again. When a worried Stephen and Joseph break into his room, they find him dead, and bleeding from a wound in his back. The police are called, and, baffled, they finally ask for help from Scotland Yard.

I struggled getting through this book: every single one of the characters, even the officious butler, was so unlikable that it was tempting to wish all of them had been murdered. Even the optimistic Joseph and the pragmatic Mathilda are annoying in their own way. The police characters are dull and colorless until one of the continuing characters in Heyers' mysteries shows up to liven up the proceedings (Inspector Hemingway) and by then you are halfway through the book. They continue to accuse, backbite, and annoy, and then Valerie's even more annoying mother shows up. One can't expect every character in a book to be likeable, but these people are the limit.

The best part of the book is the final two pages, when a character totally does an about-face and leaves you with a dropped jaw.