Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Pistols for Two
    Unavailable
    Pistols for Two
    Unavailable
    Pistols for Two
    Ebook278 pages4 hours

    Pistols for Two

    By Georgette Heyer

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    "Sparkling ... The stories run the gamut from cloak-and-dagger to whimsical-comedy."
    -Best Sellers

    "A delightful assortment."
    -Library Journal

    Intrigue, elegance, and glittering romance...

    In eleven charming short stories, the Queen of Regency romance presents an exquisite romp through affairs of honor and affairs of the heart. Featuring rakes and rascals, orphans and heirs, beauties and their beaus, the legendary Georgette Heyer's signature wit and inimitable style bring the Regency world dazzlingly alive.

    WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:

    "These stories have the real feel-good factorlike curling up with a mug of hot chocolate or a glass of wine on a cold winter's day. Bliss!"

    "Such fun...Each story works brilliantly on its own."

    "A wonderful book to dip into or read right through."

    GEORGETTE HEYER wrote over fifty novels, including Regency romances, mysteries, and historical fiction. She was known as the Queen of Regency romance, and was legendary for her research, historical accuracy, and her extraordinary plots and characterizations.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSourcebooks
    Release dateFeb 1, 2012
    ISBN9781402257001
    Unavailable
    Pistols for Two
    Author

    Georgette Heyer

    Georgette Heyer (1902-1974) was an English writer of historical romance and detective fiction. Born in London, Heyer was raised as the eldest of three children by a distinguished British Army officer and a mother who excelled as a cellist and pianist at the Royal College of Music. Encouraged to read from a young age, she began writing stories at 17 to entertain her brother Boris, who suffered from hemophilia. Impressed by her natural talent, Heyer’s father sought publication for her work, eventually helping her to release The Black Moth (1921), a detective novel. Heyer then began publishing her stories in various magazines, establishing herself as a promising young voice in English literature. Following her father’s death, Heyer became responsible for the care of her brothers and shortly thereafter married mining engineer George Ronald Rougier. In 1926, Heyer publisher her second novel, These Old Shades, a work of historical romance. Over the next several decades, she published consistently and frequently, excelling with romance and detective stories and establishing herself as a bestselling author.

    Read more from Georgette Heyer

    Related to Pistols for Two

    Related ebooks

    Historical Romance For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Bargain

      Dec 10, 2022

      “Which one of you owns G2V3889?” Cygnus glided through a luminescent star field suspended in the center of an otherwise dark, oblong studio, then turned in a slow circle to survey the twenty Agents surrounding him. “Come on, speak up.” Vega shuddered

      16 min read

    • Article

      Tea Events Calendar

      Aug 1, 2023

      U.S. National Teapot Show 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Cedar Creek Gallery Creedmoor, North Carolina Teapot collectors will not want to miss the triennial exhibition of remarkable wares at the U.S. National Teapot Show. The event has occurred since 1989 a

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Witches Of Literature

      May 30, 2023

      Tor Books T. KINGFISHER challenges the idea of the “wicked witch” through the gravewitch in her subversive fairy tale Nettle & Bone. The nameless dust-wife—part witch, part gravedigger—is all too willing to help the novel’s heroine on her quest to ki

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Clues To ROMANCE

      May 4, 2021

      The Clues To ROMANCE
      6 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Feb 1, 2024

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Aug 16, 2023

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Aug 16, 2023

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Jul 16, 2020

      Book Club
      4 min read

    • Article

      Why We Love Period Dramas

      May 6, 2021

      Why We Love Period Dramas
      2 min read

    • Article

      Killer Jokes

      Feb 23, 2023

      Killer Jokes
      3 min read

    • Article

      Killer Jokes

      Feb 23, 2023

      Killer Jokes
      3 min read

    • Article

      For December, Forget Wrapping Presents And Treat Yourself To These 3 Romances

      Dec 12, 2017

      Escape from the holiday whirl with three tasty romances, featuring a duke with an epic library, a young girl finding herself in the big city and a proper lady finding love where she least expects it.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Past IMPERFECT

      Oct 2, 2023

      Past IMPERFECT
      10 min read

    • Article

      Sign Of The Times

      Jul 2, 2021

      Sign Of The Times
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Artist WHO PaiNTED OVER

      Feb 27, 2024

      Born out of wedlock to a Jewish language tutor in Vienna, she has just met her father for the first time. A successful Jewish businessman who managed to flee the Romanian pogroms, Herman Klempfner anglicized his name to H.K. Kempton and now runs a co

      16 min read

    • Article

      Christmas Books Guide

      Nov 30, 2022

      This is Fiona McIntosh’s first novel set entirely in Australia. Her heroine, Fleur, is just eight when she is already helping her adoptive undertaker parents prepare bodies. Mother Mae knows their only daughter is capable of running the Port Adelaide

      10 min read

    • Article

      Slanted & enchanted

      May 30, 2021

      MIRRORLAND, by Carole Johnstone (HarperCollins, $32.99), is the imaginary place identical twins Cat and El have created in the basement of the strange house near Edinburgh they share with their neurotic mother and frightening grandfather. They have m

      3 min read

    • Article

      On The Bookshelf

      Jul 30, 2021

      Doubleday Price £20 Pages 352 ISBN 9870857525796 The author is an historian and farmer with an eye for vivid detail who creates evocative images as he shares his knowledge and love of the countryside. His family has worked the land for centuries and

      4 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 29, 2024

      Books
      6 min read

    • Article

      Stranger Than Fiction

      Apr 12, 2024

      Stranger Than Fiction
      5 min read

    • Article

      MYSTERY & SUSPENSE

      Feb 17, 2023

      By JOANNA NADIN Mantle It’s 1988 and 17-year-old Jason wants more from life than small-town poverty in Cornwall and an abusive drunk for a father. When a group of posh 20-somethings come to stay for a beach holiday, he gets a glimpse of his dream li

      3 min read

    • Article

      This Family Saga Finds Grace And Beauty In Ordinary Lives, Fully Lived

      Jun 10, 2021

      Simon Van Booy's new novel Night Came With Many Stars follows several generations of a Kentucky family, their crossroads and choices, their curses and hard memories, their luck and their chances.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Quiet Family Circle

      Mar 1, 2020

      “And the King was so delighted that the beggar had DF’d the wicked bootleggers’ QTH that he let him marry his only, beloved daughter, who was not only the most beautiful girl in the world, but who also had 294 countries confirmed. And, for a wedding

      11 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Pistols for Two

    3.5/5

    177 ratings14 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Georgette Heyer's only collection of short stories, Pistols for Two offers eleven charming tales, each a little bon-bon that both satisfies and tantalizes. Compact and self-contained, each of these stories will involve and entertain the reader, before bringing matters to a satisfactory conclusion. The delights contains herein include:Pistols for Two, in which lifelong friends Tom and Jack find themselves confronting one another across a dueling field, fighting for the right to court a woman whom neither of them really loves. Heyer's delicate but pointed sense of humor is in full force here...A Clandestine Affair, in which Lord Iver and Miss Elinor Tresilian, two bitterly estranged lovers, find themselves reconciled while trying to prevent the elopement of their respective wards. This was a very satisfying tale of love lost and found... Bath Miss, in which Sir Charles Wainfleet finds himself in charge of the mischievous Miss Massingham, when he agrees to do a favor for his mother's friend. The chance meeting with Wainfleet's fiancée may have felt somewhat improbable, but the heroine of the piece was delightful!Pink Domino, in which Mr Wrexham of Lyonshall finds the woman of his dreams at a masquerade ball, while trying to protect his younger sister from a fortune-hunter. I was surprised that Heyer used the "love at first sight" trope, as she usually avoids it, but its inclusion here did not seem inappropriate.A Husband For Fanny, in which the widowed Mrs Wingham mistakes the intentions of the Marquis of Harleston, and almost loses her only chance at love. One of Heyer's rare romances involving an "older" woman...To Have The Honor, in which Lord Allerton comes home from war to discover that his estates are badly mortgaged, and that he is expected to marry his wealthy cousin. A tale of two young people who love one another, but won't tell each other...Night At The Inn, in which two young people find themselves staying at the same sinister inn one foggy night. Far more gruesome than the other stories in the collection, this was more of a mystery-thriller than a romance...The Duel, in which the impetuous Miss Dorothea Saltford finds her way to the home of Lord Rothersfield late one night, in order to beg him to spare her brother's life in an upcoming duel. Sheer improbable fun!Hazard, in which Miss Helen Morland is won in a game of cards by the Marquis of Carlington. I have never been fond of this plot device, and this was the sole story in the collection that I didn't love...Snow Drift, in which Miss Sophy Trent enlists the aid of that bored man of fashion, Sir Julian Arden, in reaching Bath in time to "win" a fortune. Another road-trip adventure par excellence!And finally, Full Moon, in which Lord Stavely unexpectedly finds himself assuring Miss Annabella Abingdon that she does not have to elope with her best friend in order to escape him...
    • 5/5
      For me, some of these short stories are among Heyer's best work. I am especially fond of "The Duel" in which a very young naïve lady sets out to ask the most dangerous duelist in London to spare her foolish brother in a duel --and succeeds.
    • 3/5
      This series of short stories was well-written but felt like teasers, a précis of forthcoming novels. I like longer stories and want to immerse myself for a longer space in time.
    • 3/5
      I never knew Georgette Heyer wrote short stories on top of the prodigious number of full length novels she wrote over her career, until after I bought this book at a used book shop. 11 short stories, all entertaining, but average, with Gretna Green and comedic misunderstandings playing heavily through most of them. Short stories are not Heyer's strength, if this collection is anything to go by, as most of them have romances in them that skip right over the wooing part and go from introductions to betrothals. Still, they're light and entertaining, with Heyer's trademark cheekiness.
    • 4/5
      Fun - a set of short stories which are...pretty much Heyer novels condensed. At least one actually turned into a novel - I remember the miser, though I don't remember which book it was (and the circumstances certainly changed, in the novel). I think I enjoyed them even more than her novels - no long scenes of banter, but also no extended misunderstandings. Much the same characters - the sardonic hero, the sensible heroine, the naive heroine, the sensible hero driven out of his sensible ways...at least one "adorable brat", though she was more sheltered and therefore silly rather than the intentionally obnoxious ones Heyer seems to like. Two extracts from other books, both of which I've read - Venetia and Sylvester. Oddly enough, although I loved Venetia, the extract didn't make me want to reread - but I do want to reread Sylvester. Fun, worth reading, possibly worth rereading.
    • 3/5
      This collection features eleven short stories of light fiction set during England's regency period. The main themes are unwanted marriages, planned elopements to Gretna Green, and cross purposes. 'Night at the Inn' is quite different to the other stories, featuring two men and a lady - strangers to each other - staying at a dingy inn, run by a seemingly friendly couple. It is the darkest tale of the batch and had Ms Heyer decided to develop this into a novel it would probably be of the crime genre - even horror, depending how she dealt with it. It certainly has potential to be expanded. The other ten stories are humorous with good dialogue interaction between the characters. Although I didn't find any of the tales gripping, I did find them entertaining. Worth reading if you like this type of genre.
    • 4/5
      Some typically delightful set-piece short stories from Heyer.  
    • 3/5
      Heyer's right; her short stories are not as good as her novels. In short stories she can really only fit in the romance. You don't get her fab cast of characters, the plot twists and turns, the heaping of crazy situations that the characters get themselves caught up in.
    • 4/5
      Short stories, which I always expect to like more than I do. I think that in general short story collections tend to not hold to a second reading for me. [Sept. 2010]
    • 3/5
      Entertaining little stories, maybe a useful 'sampler' of Heyer. I prefer a solid novel and she never disappoints there. I thought a couple of these stories were a little underdone.
    • 5/5
      Note: I wrote this review for Austenprose, where it was published 25 February 2012.Pistols for Two is a collection of Heyer’s short stories first published in 1960. Throughout her writing career, Heyer published her novels in serial form in various periodicals, and published short stories in them as well. This is the only collection published as a book; otherwise her short stories exist only in old copies of the various magazines. In researching her biography of Heyer, Jennifer Kloester tracked down bibliographic information on as many stories as she could find, and lists them in an appendix, but she states that there are probably more still undiscovered. This corrects a general and long-held impression that Heyer only wrote a few short stories, and that nearly all of them were included in Pistols for Two. But Heyer did choose the stories in this collection herself. These stories are delightful microcosms of Heyer’s work. They all feature the deft characterizations that Heyer always provides: she excels in summarizing a character in a few brief sentences. What is lacking of course is the layering that provides depth in a full-length novel. They also necessarily feature a very compressed timeline of action, often covering only a few scenes and a few hours, and since they are mostly love stories, several of them feature love at first sight. In short, their only real defects are the limitations of the short story form itself. For this reason, I strongly recommend the reader to resist the urge to gobble them up all at once: space them out instead, with something else in between to leaven them. One particularly delightful aspect of these stories for the Heyer aficianado is the recognition that comes here and there. Heyer uses some names that appear in her novels, but, more importantly, there are identifiable germs of ideas, characters, and relationships that are developed later more fully in the novels. For example, in “A Clandestine Affair,” Lord Iver is clearly a prototype of Ivo Rotherham, and if Serena’s prototype does not appear, the broken engagement does. More than one damsel is clearly related to Amanda, Eustacie, and Leonie; and more than one gentleman resembles Sir Waldo Hawkridge, the Duke of Avon, the Marquis of Alverstoke, or even the Earl of Worth. “Pistols for Two” includes a set of young gentlemen who must surely be the original sketches for the young set in The Nonesuch making cakes of themselves over Tiffany Wield. Discovering these embryonic (or sometimes, perhaps, revisited) characters and situations almost feels as if Heyer is sharing a special treat with her readers.In “A Husband for Fanny,” however, Heyer visits a theme which I can’t remember in any of her novels, and wish she had. (Details omitted to avoid spoilers.) And in another story, there is a macabre twist that is all the more surprising for being surely unique in Heyer’s ouevre. So in addition to the familiar characters and situations, there are a few stories that show Heyer exploring ideas that she never developed into novels and thus stand alone in her work.Please avoid spoilers in your comments as these stories are new to many people, since the collection has been somewhat hard to find until being republished this month by Sourcebooks. This concludes my last review of the Georgette Heyer re-issues by Sourcebooks for Austenprose. I hope that promoting these books has brought many readers to Heyer for the first time. She continues to provide me with joy, and I remain grateful for her life and her work. I’m also grateful to Laurel Ann for providing me with this opportunity to share Georgette Heyer with you.
    • 4/5
      Borders the book store is closing and this book was on sale at a 70% discount. I’d pay full price for it. Heyer is quite rightly said to be the queen of regency romance; other imitate, only Heyer succeeds. These short stories have all the regency romance staples, run-away heiresses, mistaken identity, arranged marriages. All wrapped up in a way that leaves you wishing for more. As Margaret Drabble says on the cover of this book, “ I owe [Heyer] many happy hours” and this will add many more. A fantastic book.
    • 4/5
      Pure fluff but enjoyable fluff. This is a book of short stories sent in Regency times and because of the shortness of each story, it's impossible to get into depth - plot or characters. But, I pretty much love anything that Ms. Heyer wrote.
    • 3/5
      This is a book of eleven short stories--almost written as skeletons of potential books. A few are quite good, but by their brevity, none are very satisfying to read.