History Creator / GeorgetteHeyer

[[folder:A Blunt Instrument]]
* BewareTheNiceOnes: The first victim is originally portrayed as a nice old guy... however, it soons turns out he's a DirtyOldMan, [[spoiler: which explains why he was killed.]]
* DetectiveMole: [[spoiler:The local police constable who "found" the body, PC Glass, is the murderer, and the titular weapon was his police truncheon]].
* FairPlayWhodunnit: ''Might'' be intentional... but if not, she was probably having an off day.
* TheFundamentalist: Constable Glass.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: One early chapter includes some of the suspects thinking about how to get some [=IOUs=] out of a safe. Failing completely, they immediately {{lampshade}} the situation by pointing out how much easier it would be if they were all characters in a detective novel.
[[/folder]]

* TheUnfavourite: Technically, every one of Penhallow's children - legitimate [[BastardBastard or otherwise]] - qualify, but [[TheWoobie his youngest son]] definitely qualifies.

* AgentPeacock: Worth. He is one of the dandy set, closely befriended with dandy-in-chief Beau Brummel, and Judith is convinced that all dandies are horrid sissies, only to be shocked to find them actually kind of classy, very well dressed and in the case of Worth surprisingly badass. Worth is a skilled boxer, who can knock another man out cold when it becomes necessary.

* ResentfulGuardian: It's a downplayed example since he's only responsible for them for a year or two, but Worth does make it clear he finds being Judith and Peregrine's guardian very annoying at times. Partly because they sometimes behave foolishly and he dislikes his name being connected to thier antics, mostly because [[spoiler:he's in love with Judith but can't propose to her until she comes of age and is no longer his ward.]]

* PoliceAreUseless: The policeman in charge of the case actually thinks Penhallow [[FlatWhat was a pretty generous patriarch]], [[CriticalResearchFailure and the rest of the family were just being whiny spongers]].

* AmbiguousDisorder: Torquil basically has the symptoms Heyer needs him to have for the plot, not ones that actually fit into a comprehensible diagnosis.

[[folder:Venetia]]
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Aubrey to an extent, although Conway is far worse despite never actually appearing.
* BeneathTheMask: Damerel has [[ThenLetMeBeEvil thrown himself into the lifestyle of a rake]] after ruining his own reputation through a youthful mistake, but Venetia gets to see a different side of him.
* BrotherSisterTeam: Aubrey and Venetia have elements of this.
* ByronicHero: Damerel is this.
* CoolBigSis: Venetia.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Damerel.
* DoubleStandard: Played with; Damerel arguably suffered more for running off with a married woman than she did.
* EmoTeen: Oswald, who desperately wishes he was a ByronicHero.
-->"He is brooding over nameless crimes, I daresay, and only think how disheartening to have his dark thoughts mistaken for a fit of the sulks!"
* [[spoiler:FakingTheDead: Venetia's mother ran off with a lover and was divorced by her father; he told the children that she had died suddenly.]]
* ForcefulKiss: Oswald tries this on Venetia.
* TheGhost: Conway is often talked about, and various of his offstage actions are important to the plot, but he never appears.
* HeadTurningBeauty: Venetia, and also [[spoiler: her mother]].
* ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies: [[spoiler:Damerel sends Venetia away due to the irreparable damage that would be done to her reputation if they married.]]
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[spoiler:Damerel pretends that his flirtation with Venetia had only been a pleasant game, and makes her leave, because he thinks she deserves better than him, and because of his reputation (see above).]]
* MomentKiller: Every time Damerel tries to propose to Venetia, Aubrey pops up.
* NobodyThinksItWillWork: Everyone, with the exception of [[ShipperOnDeck Aubrey]] and Venetia –- and including Damerel -– thinks Damerel and Venetia will be miserable together.
* ObnoxiousInLaws: An inversion of sorts, as it is Conway's new mother-in-law who makes things miserable for Venetia when she moves in.
* PairTheSpares: It's hinted that [[spoiler:Edward Yardley and Clara Denny]] will probably marry after being rejected by [[spoiler:Venetia and Conway]], respectively.
* ReformedRakes: Played with more than used straight. Damerel won't seduce Venetia, but it's up to interpretation how much his way of life will change. He ''might'' just be joking about having his wife preside over an orgy...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Unknown Ajax]]

* CrustyCaretaker: Spurstow (a handy way of making people reluctant to visit him).
* TheDandy: Claud.
* GirlfriendInCanada: Upon finding out that Lord Darracott intends for [[ArrangedMarriage him to marry Anthea]], Hugo invents a fiancée back in Yorkshire. (Anthea has already said that she doesn't want to marry him, but she also feels the need to discourage him from proposing by being very cold. He invents "Amelia Micklethorpe" in the hopes she'll lay off if she doesn't think she has to scare him away.)
* IndyPloy: Richmond is shot by Ottershaw's men and leaves a trail of blood leading straight to his home. Hugo just has a few minutes to come up with a brilliant plan before the customs officers barges in and arrests his cousin (and possibly the whole family) for smuggling... and somehow gets the whole family and some servants to put on a show to convince the officers they shot the wrong cousin. It works.
* InspectorJavert: Lieutenant Ottershaw with his near-fanatical pursuit of smugglers.
* KissingCousins: Anthea and Hugo.
* MysteriousPast: Hugo, eventually revealed.
* [[MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours My Valet-Fu is Stronger Than Yours]]: Crimplesham and Polyphant (Vincent and Claud's valets, respectively) spend a great deal of time trying to one-up each other.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Hugo pretends to be much less educated and socially adept than he actually is, half because he thinks it's hilarious how his relatives react, half because his size makes responding to insults tricky (since almost everyone is smaller than him, he'd look like the aggressor no matter what), so it's easier to pretend he doesn't realize he's been insulted.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Aunt Aurelia is the only character to notice that Hugo's OopNorth accent goes away, rather than appears, when he's not paying attention. (He does come by the broad Yorkshire accent honestly, but after his education he has to concentrate to put it on.)
* OopNorth: Hugo milks this for all he's worth, pretending to be a FishOutOfWater in genteel surroundings, and very much enjoys the reactions of his relatives--until Anthea corners him and forces him to admit he was actually educated at Harrow.
* ThePatriarch: Lord Darracott.
* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage
* ScoobyDooHoax: The truth behind the supposedly-haunted Dower House.
* SecretUndergroundPassage
* UnexpectedSuccessor: Hugo becomes the heir after Lord Darracott's eldest son and grandson are [[PlotTriggeringDeath drowned in a boating accident]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:These Old Shades]]
* AloofBigBrother: Avon.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Rupert and Fanny.
* BestServedCold: The enmity between Avon and St. Vire goes back twenty years.
* {{Expy}}: Justin, Hugh, the Marlings, and the Merrivales are all {{Expy}}s of the characters from ''The Black Moth,'' making this book a SpiritualSuccessor.
* FieryRedhead: Léonie.
* HappilyMarried: Fanny and Edward. Also, Anthony and Jennifer.
* HeirClubForMen: [[spoiler:St. Vire exchanged his newborn daughter for the son of a peasant family in order to prevent his brother from inheriting his title.]]
* HeroWorshipper: Leonie worships Avon.
* MagnificentBastard: Avon. The "bastard" part gets {{reformed|Rakes}} at least slightly, but the "magnificent" part is still going strong in the next book, ''Devil's Cub.''
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Léonie is arguably this to Avon.
* MoralityPet: Léonie acts as one of these.
* ThePlan: Avon with Léonie.
* PoirotSpeak: Léonie.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Leonie.
%%* WholesomeCrossdresser
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sylvester]]
* ArrangedMarriage: Played with. Sylvester wants one, but his mother is reluctant to arrange anything for him. When he presses she confesses that she had at one point thought to maybe match him with her deceased friend's daughter. She doesn't actually arrange the thing still, Sylvester merely decides that he will see Phoebe for himself, without knowing that he had, unwittingly, insulted her when he had been introduced to her during the Season. Hilarity ensues.
* AngstySurvivingTwin: Sylvester is one.
* BrainlessBeauty: Both Ianthe and Sir Nugent.
* BreakTheHaughty: Sylvester, though a mild example.
* DarkSecret: Phoebe wrote the society novel of the year, featuring an {{Expy}} of Sylvester as the villain.
* [[DefrostingIceQueen Defrosting Ice King]]: Sylvester.
* EvilEyebrows: The thing that makes Sylvester so easily identifiable as the villain in Phoebe's novel.
* EvilUncle: Subverted: Sylvester is perceived to be this by everyone, but he's actually a far better [[ParentalSubstitute Parental Figure]] than the boy's mother.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Ianthe is convinced that ''The Lost Heir'' was written for the express purpose of warning her about Sylvester.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: Phoebe and Tom.
* MouthyKid: Edmund.
* NotSoGreatEscape: Phoebe's attempt to run away from having to submit to Sylvester's courtship. She is found by him, when she and Tom meet an with an accident on the way and are trapped by the snow at an inn on the way to London.
* TheProudElite: Sylvester, especially at the beginning.
* RomanAClef: Phoebe writes one. See DarkSecret above.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Phoebe, once away from her WickedStepmother.
%%* SlapSlapKiss
%%* SnowedIn
* SpiritedYoungLady: Phoebe.
* TheUnfavourite: Phoebe is this to her stepmother.
* WardrobeWound: Sir Nugent goes into fits when a dog bites the tassels off his boots. Earlier, he is deeply pained at having to cut a button off his coat (thinking it will placate Edmund, who is actually crying for Button, his nurse).
%%* WickedStepmother
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sprig Muslin]]
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Hester's brother, despite being older, fulfils this trope; Hildebrand at one point pretends to be this to Amanda and Gareth.
* BettyAndVeronica: Subverted: Amanda may be far more beautiful and exciting than Hester, but Gareth has no romantic interest in her whatsoever.
* BlatantLies: Amanda.
* CelibateHero: Gareth.
* TheCon: Amanda spins about a dozen of these throughout the novel.
* TheFirstCutIsTheDeepest: Hester's fears about Gareth.
* FirstGirlWins: Subverted.
* FriendlessBackground: Hester, who isn't close to anyone but Gareth, and not that close to Gareth when the book begins.
* IDontWantToRuinOurFriendship: Hester's main anxiety about rejecting Gareth's first proposal.
* MistakenForCheating: Hester's family are shocked that Gareth would bring his supposed mistress to their house.
* NobodyThinksItWillWork: Gareth and Hester.
* ParentalMarriageVeto: Amanda's grandfather refuses his consent to her marriage to Neil.
* SarcasticConfession: Gareth: "Yes, I have kidnapped this young lady and am keeping her with me against her will." Amanda is furious that he would abuse the truth this way, instead of lying fluently like she does.
* ShrinkingViolet: Hester.
* SpiritedYoungLady: Amanda.
* TrueCompanions: Gareth, Hester, Amanda and Hildebrand. Neil would probably have been adopted one way or another had the book been longer.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Reluctant Widow]]
* AccidentalAimingSkills: Nicky, after missing [[spoiler: Louis de Castres]]:
--> I never touched him, but I did shatter his lantern, and that would have been pretty fair shooting, I can tell you, if I had been aiming at it.
* AmbiguouslyGay: Francis.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Nicky Carlyon. Everyone likes him, but he certainly causes a lot of trouble!
* AssholeVictim: Nobody misses Eustace much (although his death isn't a mystery).
* BigFriendlyDog: Bouncer, except when he's guarding Elinor. Then he morphs into AngryGuardDog.
* BookcasePassage: Actually in a closet, but close enough.
* TheDandy: Francis. And how. He could also be seen to be something of an AgentPeacock, as it transpires he is actually a [[spoiler:cold-blooded killer]].
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: How Carlyon deduces that [[spoiler:Francis killed de Castres; he knew details about the murder that were not in any of the newspaper accounts]].
* MacGuffin: The missing document.
* OneDialogueTwoConversations: A hilarious one between Elinor and Carlyon at the start of the book. Carlyon thinks Elinor has [[MailOrderBride answered his advertisement for a woman to marry his cousin]], while she thinks he's discussing a governess position.
* PromotionToParent: The main reason, according to Elinor, for Carlyon's overbearing nature, was that he had to take charge of his younger siblings (and Eustace) from a relatively early age.
* SecretPath: The hidden entrance to Highnoons.
* SecretRelationship: The cover story for why Eustace suddenly has a wife.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Quiet Gentleman]]
* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler: Theodore wants to make it look like this trope, arranging his traps for St Erth to make it look as though Martin was trying to murder his brother. Indeed, Martin's emotions about his brother are complex and he does harbour a lot of resentment against him. He doesn't actually want to murder him, though.]]
%%* HistoricalInJoke
* IAmNotPretty: Drusilla thinks this.
* KarmaHoudini: The attempted murderer's punishment is [[spoiler: to be shipped off to manage the family's rum business in the West Indies, because St. Erth doesn't want to put everyone through the public indignity of a trial. It doesn't even count as ReassignedToAntarctica because Theodore doesn't particularly care about the loss of high society--being solely in charge of a large operation is what he's good at and what he's always wanted, so in a way it's more of a reward than anything else.]]
* LoveDodecahedron: [[spoiler: Drusilla is interested in St Erth, who along with Theodore, Martin and Viscount Ulverston are all interested in Marianne, who in turn is only interested in the Viscount.]]
%%* TheMole
* PolitenessJudo: St Erth is indeed a quiet gentleman. He gets his way simply by being extremely polite while not backing down. Drusilla does the same thing with the Dowager. [[spoiler: Which is why they're a perfect match.]]
* RaisedByGrandparents: St. Erth's grandmother took him in because his father so obviously resented him for looking like his adulterous mother.
* TheUnfavourite: St Erth is this to his stepmother, and was to his father as well. Although he's very even-keeled about it, he openly acknowledges that his father would have left everything to Martin had the estate not been entailed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Powder and Patch]]
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Cleone and Sir Maurice want Philip to learn to [[SharpDressedMan dress well]] and get some social graces. He does, but he is hurt that they forced him into it, so he can't resist acting like an affected fop when he returns.
* DuelToTheDeath: Philip fights three duels over the course of the book, though they are not to the death.
* GayParee: Eighteenth-century version.
* GiftedlyBad: In-universe, Philip's French friends insist he is this as a poet (though the one example of his poetry that we see is [[InformedAttribute not bad at all]]).
* GratuitousFrench: Quite a lot.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeFashionable: Cleone feels this way toward Philip (and Sir Maurice agrees with her).
* MakeoverMontage: Philip gets one (in text).
* PoirotSpeak: From numerous French characters.
* RedundantRomanceAttempt: Played with; Philip pretends to have become a foppish flirt because he wants to see whether Cleone will tell him she liked him better before.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Subverted as here it is the man who is condemned for being provincial and in need of acquiring some town polish. Used to comedic effect, as he cleans up ''very'' nicely, which leads to the BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor.
* TookALevelInBadass: Philip becomes an expert fencer along with his other accomplishments.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Grand Sophy]]
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: [[spoiler:Charles and Sophy at the very end]].
* BetaCouple: Cecilia and Charlbury, among others.
%%* CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds
* TheChessmaster: Sophy, of course.
* GenreSavvy: Sophy's management of the Augustus/Cecilia/Charlbury triangle relies heavily on her knowledge of how Cecilia perceives the tropes involved.
* GreedyJew: Goldhanger, the moneylender.
* LickedByTheDog: Everyone thinks Charles is a domestic tyrant, but Sophy knows better...because every animal in the novel loves and trusts him, of course!
* LockedInARoom: Subverted: Eugenia and Augustus are locked in a wood, but emerge only extremely annoyed.
* LoveAtFirstSight: Parodied with Cecilia and Augustus.
* LoveDodecahedron: The Grand Sophy has a wonderfully convoluted one: [[spoiler: Charles is engaged to Eugenia, but falls in love with Sophy, who is in turn admired by Lord Bromford. She pretends to attach Lord Charlbury to herself, in order to make Cecilia, whom Lord Charlbury loves, jealous and in order to detach her from Augustus. Augustus drops his love of Cecilia in favour of being temporarily infatuated with Sophy. Eugenia falls in love with Lord Bromford, and cuts her engagement to Charles, who then can propose to Sophy.]]
* LoveEpiphany: [[spoiler:Charles seems to have one when he sees Sophy self-sacrificially tending to his very ill little sister.]]
* OnlyAFleshWound: Sophy shoots a friend in the arm with only the noblest of intentions.
%%* PairTheSpares
* PoirotSpeak: Sancia.
* SlapSlapKiss: Sophy and Charles.
* SpiritedYoungLady: Sophy.
* TriangRelations: Sophy/Charles/Eugenia, Augustus/Cecilia/Charlbury, [[spoiler:Sir Horace/Sancia/Vincent Talgarth]].
* WrongGuyFirst: [[spoiler: Cecilia and Augustus.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Friday's Child]]
* AffectionateParody: George is a clear parody of the ByronicHero archetype, and his relationship with Isabella a clear parody of the dramatic SlapSlapKiss romance that is not uncommonly paired with said archetype. Both of those have been lovingly written by Georgette Heyer herself.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Isabella rejects Sherry--a rake with a bad gambling habit--because he's not bad ''enough'' for her tastes. In fact, she's thinking of George, a parody of a brooding ByronicHero with the same bad habits as Sherry but with a quick temper on top, when she does so, and has a rather [[SlapSlapKiss tempestuous]] relationship with him.
* BetaCouple: George and Isabella.
* TheBroCode: Essentially the reason why Sherry throws a fit at the idea of George and Hero having an affair - that, and he's in love with Hero, of course.
* ByronicHero: Invoked and parodied - George would ''love'' to be this, acts like a stereotypical one, and the narrative and his friends both poke fun at him for being so wildly dramatic.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Victorious Hero.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Hero, Ferdy.
* ComingOfAgeStory: Sherry, Hero to an extent.
* DefrostingIceQueen: Isabella.
* DuelToTheDeath: George is constantly spoiling for one. [[spoiler: He gets his wish when Sherry catches him giving Hero a brotherly kiss, but neither of them dies.]]
* FriendlessBackground: Hero seems to have only had two friends in her life prior to marrying Sherry, one of whom was him, the other being Isabella, and neither of them seem to have paid her much attention.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Sherry's mother, affronted when her son orders her to deliver an heirloom emerald necklace to Hero, sarcastically asks if he wants her to give her the pearl set and diamond stud as well. Sherry says that yes, in fact, he would, leaving his stupefied mother with the realization that she played herself.
* TheIngenue: Hero.
* KickTheDog: Revesby, first when he rejects [[spoiler:his discarded mistress and illegitimate infant daughter]] and second when he arranges [[spoiler:for Hero to get into debt]].
* LovableCoward: Ferdy, whom Sherry can't even stay angry with when he finds out Ferdy [[spoiler:hid his wife from him for weeks]] because Ferdy is so shamelessly trying to placate him.
* LovableAlphaBitch: Isabella. While she is rich, haughty, and runs hot-and-cold, most of her unpleasant moments are also her most sympathetic, and she can be a genuinely good friend to Sherry and Hero when not spurred by pique.
* LoveDodecahedron: [[spoiler: Both Sherry and George court Isabella Milborne (along with many other men). Sherry marries Hero, who is in love with him. Hero and George find comfort in each other because they think (wrongly) that their loves are unrequited. This makes Isabella think that George is in love with Hero, and fall into a scrape with Sir Montagu Revesby. Meanwhile, Hero is courted by Mr Tarleton, which makes Sherry fall into another jealous rage.]]
* LoveEpiphany:
** When Hero [[spoiler: runs away, Sherry has this. In fact, the whole thing was staged so he could have this.]]
** [[spoiler:Isabella has her when visiting Severn, the man her mother wants her to marry, realizing that while George might be a poor political match she would go crazy without him.]]
* MarryForLove: Isabella eventually cracks and admits that this is what she wants.
* MasqueradeBall: Hero gets into trouble at one of these as a result of Sherry ditching her.
* MeetCute: While it is not their first-ever meeting, the first time Sherry and Hero meet in the book is when Sherry accidentally comes across Hero crying on a wall and proposes marriage.
* NoSympathy: PlayedForLaughs. This is Sherry's usual reaction to George's passionate dramatics regarding Isabela. Of special note is when George declares he would grind Isabela's rose under his heel if he believed she gave it to him to spite another suitor, and Sherry just tells him not to ruin his new carpet.
* ReformedRakes: Part of Sherry's CharacterDevelopment.
* RelationshipUpgrade: Sherry elopes with Hero in the first few chapters.
* SheCleansUpNicely: Hero, who is often remarked upon as being 'taking', once she comes out in town. This may have more to do with being happily in love with her husband, though.
* ShrinkingViolet: Hero.
* {{Tsundere}}: Isabella.
* TheUnfavourite: Hero is this to her family, which is why she wants to run away with Sherry.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Mr. Tarleton believes that [[spoiler:Hero is a runaway orphan seeking to elope with a rich, loving man to escape the fate of being a governess. He's actually completely right about that, except for the small detail that ''she's already in love and married'', so while he thinks he's going to be the one to sweep her off her feet Cinderella-style, Sherry already has.]] He also comes to the incorrect conclusion that [[spoiler:Sherry is a StalkerWithACrush who Hero wants to be protected from.]]
[[/folder]]