Snowdrift - Georgette Heyer

I've read this collection of short stories many times before, both in its original form of Pistols For Two and this expanded version, including some rediscovered short stories that were released in 2016 with a Christmas theme. The lovely Georgette Heyer readalong I'm in online chose to read the Pistols for Two collection a story a week with a couple of breaks as a sort of Christmas treat and I'm finally getting round to writing about it.

It turns out that a story a week with a group that know each other and Heyer's ouvre well is an absolute delight. I think it probably surprised most of us how well these fairly slight stories stood up to close reading. They show Heyer trying things out, which will become whole books further down the line, recycling bits of plot, dabbling in different genres, and overall showing what a very good writer she could be.

It might help that we were all familiar with her books, you could argue that for fans there's a sort of shorthand that means we understand much of what's intended from indicators that new readers might not pick up on. Look out for grey eyes - often an indicator that you've met a romantic lead... 

Another advantage to choosing a short story collection was that different people could lead the discussion each week which really took the pressure off one person at a busy time of year - we normally do 3 chapters a week and discuss for an hour, even spread out it's a lot of work, after sharing Pistols For Two, our next book is going to have multiple hosts too. 

It was also a chance to read 'To Have The Honour' which Sophie Irwin has re-worked into Henrietta, to be published later this year. I have mixed feelings about this. Irwin's own Regency romances are fine, but not for me, and I would have liked to see a more offbeat, adventurous choice to bring her to a new audience. I (we, in fact) also all thought this was an odd choice of story to use as a base. 

To Have The Honour is already complete in and of itself, it doesn't leave any loose ends, and it doesn't need building on. If you wanted that you could go and read A Civil Contract which clearly shares the same roots but does something much more interesting with its characters. There are other, better candidates to build on, stories that leave plenty of room for speculation and cry out for backstory.

I haven't decided if I'll read Henrietta or not yet. My current feeling is that, however good it is, it'll annoy me because whatever Irwin does with it, it's not going to match my personal expectations for that story. Great cover art though.