Meet the Matthews... before the next one dies It's no ordinary morning at the Poplars—the master is found dead in his bed, and it seems his high blood pressure was not the cause. When an autopsy reveals a sinister poison in his body, it's up to the quietly resourceful Inspector Hannasyde to catch the murderer in time to spare the next victim. But every single member of the quarrelsome Matthews family has a motive and none, of course, has an alibi. "The ingredients are so well and carefully mixed, the writing is so bright, and the solution so unexpected that the book achieves success and remains one no reader can fail to enjoy."—Manchester Guardian "A marvelous mélange of malice, murder, mystery, and mirth. Priceless!"—Saturday Review

A Moonlit Night, a Sleeping Village, and an Unaccountable Murder... In the dead of the night, a man in an evening dress is found murdered, locked in the stocks on the village green. Unfortunately for Superintendent Hannasyde, the deceased is Andrew Vereker, a man hated by nearly everyone, especially his odd and unhelpful family members. The Verekers are as eccentric as they are corrupt, and it will take all Hannasyde's skill at detection to determine who's telling the truth, and who is pointing him in the wrong direction. The question is: who in this family is clever enough to get away with murder? "Death in the Stocks is rare and refreshing."—The Times "Miss Heyer's characters act and speak with an ease and conviction that is refreshing as it is rare in the ordinary mystery novel."—Times Literary Supplement

The groundbreaking biography of one of the world's best-loved and bestselling authors Who was the real Georgette Heyer? Georgette Heyer famously said, "I am to be found in my work." Who was this amazing writer who was so secretive about her personal life that she never gave an interview? Where did she get her ideas? Were there real-life models for her ultra-manly heroes, independent-minded heroines, irascible guardians, and clever villains? What motivated her to build a Regency worldso intricately researched that readers want to escape there again and again? Heyer's Regency romances, historical novels, and mysteries have surprised and delighted millions of readers for decades, while the woman behind the storieshas stayed hidden...Until now! With unprecedented, exclusive access to Heyer's notebooks, papers, and early letters, Jennifer Kloester uncovers both the complex life of a private woman anda masterful writer's craft that will forever resonate in literature and beyond. "A wonderful entertaining biography—a readable and lively account of this beloved writer."—Eloisa James, #1 New York Times bestselling author "Required reading for all lovers of Regency novels."—Mary Jo Putney, New York Times bestselling author of No Longer a Gentleman "A superb portrayal of one of my all-time favorite writers."—Anne Gracie, award-winning author of Bride By Mistake "An engaging, intriguing, absorbing, read!"—Stephanie Laurens, #1 New York Times bestselling author Praise for Georgette Heyer's Regency World: "Meticulously researched yet splendidly entertaining ... a must-have."—Publishers Weekly Starred Review "Detailed, informative, impressively researched. A Heyer lover writing for Heyer fans."—Times Literary Supplement "Kloester's lively book will delight died-in-the-wool Regency readers." —Booklist

Many early modern plays use poison, most famously Hamlet, where the murder of Old Hamlet showcases the range of issues poison mobilises. Its orchard setting is one of a number of sinister uses of plants which comment on both the loss of horticultural knowledge resulting from the Dissolution of the Monasteries and also the many new arrivals in English gardens through travel, trade, and attempts at colonisation. The fact that Old Hamlet was asleep reflects unease about soporifics troubling the distinction between sleep and death; pouring poison into the ear smuggles in the contemporary fear of informers; and it is difficult to prove. This book explores poisoning in early modern plays, the legal and epistemological issues it raises, and the cultural work it performs, which includes questions related to race, religion, nationality, gender, and humans’ relationship to the environment.

Through analyzing dress in detective fiction, Fear and Clothing reveals a cultural history of identity affected by the social upheaval caused by war. In-depth analysis of interwar publications by a comprehensive range of writers reveals readers' anxieties and fears about class, gender and race and how these changed over the period. Although read and written by both men and women, detective fiction was deemed at the time to be a masculine and high-status entertainment. However the literature demonstrates an admiration and acceptance of the woman's identity, performed during the Great War and continuing throughout the interwar period, as girl pal and female gentleman. In chapters that explore age, character, class, masculinity, performative womanhood and race, Jane Custance Baker exposes how dress was a status marker to both male and female readers, made anxious by social change brought about by war. Dress in detective fiction reveals a set of signs to be read, digested, and possibly employed to model the individual reader's personal dress choices. Fear and Clothing sheds new light on dress of the period, the social and cultural environment as depicted in the popular fiction genre in the early 20th century, and is of interest to researchers and scholars within dress history, literary and historical studies, as well as anyone who enjoys the history of detective fiction.