Behold, Here's Poison

Behold, Here's Poison is the first mystery by Georgette Heyer that I've read. Now I want to find more. The title puzzled me - it sounds so contrived and archaic - but then I discovered that it's a quote from Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre. (I haven't read it yet, but I will now. Even if the quote that furnished the title for Heyer's book has no discernable relation to the mystery, I'm now curious about this play, one of the few romances by Shakespeare... .)

Mr. Gregory Matthews is discovered dead one morning. His family - two sisters, one sister-in-law, a niece and two nephews - assume he has died of a heart attack. But one of the sisters demands that a postmortem be done. The postmortem reveals death by nicotine poisoning. Scotland Yard comes in, and the family tries to discover the murderer as well.

The story moved so quickly and was so deliberately sophisticated, that I was completely surprised by the ending. For the first half of the book, I couldn't identify even one character as sympathetic or likeable, but Heyer managed to change my outlook as the story continued. And why was Mr. Matthews poisoned? That is explained convincingly, as well.

My only complaint is that it has been difficult for me to find Georgette Heyer's mysteries. I wish someone would re-issue them all.