Why Shoot a Butler?

Every family has secrets, but the Fountains' are turning deadly

On a dark night, along a lonely country road, barrister Frank Amberley stops to help a young lady in distress and discovers a sports car with a corpse behind the wheel. The girl protests her innocence, and Amberley believes herat least until he gets drawn into the mystery and the clues incriminating Shirley Brown begin to add up

In an English country-house murder mystery with a twist, it's the butler who's the victim, every clue complicates the puzzle, and the bumbling police are well-meaning but completely baffled. Fortunately, in ferreting out a desperate killer, amateur sleuth Amberley is as brilliant as he is arrogant, but this time he's not sure he wants to know the truth

PRAISE FOR WHY SHOOT A BUTLER?

If genteel mysteries are your cup of tea, you have here a steaming teapot just waiting to be poured.

Bestsellers

Georgette Heyer is second to none.

Sunday Times

Heyer is an author to read this means you

New York Herald Tribune

Sharp, clear, and witty

New Yorker

It is a complete mystery why anyone would choose to murder the trusted old butler of Norton Manor. But, barrister turned amateur detective, Frank Amberley, has a couple of suspects in mind, when suddenly there's a second body in this dramatic tale of upstairs, downstairs and family secrets.

Georgette Heyer delivers a classic English country-house murder mystery with a twist, in which it's the butler who's the victim, rather than the murderer.

When local barrister Frank Amberley takes a wrong turn on his way to visit his aunt and uncle and accidentally discovers a murder, he impulsively protects the young woman he meets at the crime scene. In the course of ferreting out the killer, his disdain for the bumbling police adds comic relief, and he displays true brilliance at solving the crime. Heyer's first big success in the mystery category, originally published in 1933 and not available in the US market in at least five years.