Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer

This is an English country mystery, very reminiscent of Agatha Christie. It's about 250 pages long.

General rating: 3.5 out of 4. A very enjoyable book.

1. Is it plausible? Hm... I think pretty much all mysteries are not really plausible, as far as I can't imagine this sort of thing happening in "real life"--especially with just regular joes investigating and solving things. But! Within the fiction genre of "mystery" it was just as plausible as most, more plausible than many.

2. Is it thought provoking? Well, I have to admit that this book actually prompted me to think about keeping confidences. At one point, when our main characters are "in the know" about the police investigation, they are pressed to share their information with good friends. They resist, even though these friends are certainly trustworthy! Their integrity in keeping their word not to "tell" made it possible to solve the case. I wondered, can I be trusted to keep confidences even when I'm "sure" the person I'm tempted to tell is "completely trustworthy"? I don't usually find mysteries particularly thought provoking. But this one did make me think about my own integrity as far as secret-keeping goes.

3.Is it engaging? It was in a gentle way. Really, like Agatha Christie. This wasn't a book I couldn't put down. I certainly looked forward to picking it up again! The mystery was engaging, but the characters were even more so. And I enjoyed the little romance that was thrown in.

4. It is uplifting? Well, sure. It was more uplifting than some mysteries are, simply because of the satisfying relationships between the characters. And the English countryside--images of that are always uplifting, right? It was a fun book. Is that uplifting?

Language: none
Sex: none

My recommendation: Well, I love Georgette Heyer. My favorites are her regency romances, but I have enjoyed the mysteries of hers that I've read as well. I particularly enjoyed the touches of humor in this book, and the repartee between her characters. I do particularly enjoy British characters and this book is, of course, full of them. It was a little bit predictable. It wasn't difficult to identify who would be murdered and, towards the end, it wasn't too hard to guess who the murderer was, either. But I'm the kind of reader to who enjoys the journey just as much (and sometimes more) than the conclusion, so the slight predictability didn't bother me. If you like classic British mystery--Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, P.D. James, Margery Allingham, Dorothy Sayers, etc--you'll likely enjoy Georgette Heyer's mysteries as well.