Georgette Heyer

One of the most successful romance novelists of the 20th century, Georgette Heyer's books were famous for her intelligent comedy, the genuine sweetness of her romances and her meticulous research on the Regency period. She also wrote a few detective novels here and there, but these aren't nearly as well-known, which is a shame.

Heyer's heroes and heroines (occasionally dubbed Heyeroes and Heyeroines) tended to come in two types each:

Hero #1: Tall, usually dark, and definitely handsome. Almost always has a past. While highly unlikely to actually mistreat the heroine, they're not above scaring her into submission (however, as they're often dealing with Heroine #1, it's unlikely to work).

Hero #2: This is the consummate gentleman, who invariably comes up with the perfect response to any situation. Their usual role is to provide the heroine with an escape from any difficulties, whereas Hero #1 is frequently the cause of those difficulties.

Heroine #1: A lively young woman. She naturally gets herself into many a social scrape, from which the hero must rescue her, and either bounces back or feels humiliated deep down inside that he saw her in such a state.

Heroine #2: Overlooked and ignored, she may seem quiet. However, once the hero talks to her, or needs help, Heroine #2 comes into her own and reveals Hidden Depths.

Heyer was not above mixing and matching types, as well as subverting the expectations of her readers. In Sylvester, for example, the eponymous hero appears to be a Hero #1, whereas he's actually a Hero #2 (he merely has an unfortunate pair of eyebrows).

Heyer used a lot of tropes in various ways, so listing them by novel seems the best way to go.

Present in Most Heyers
 * Asshole Victim: Always present in her whodunnits.
 * Author Appeal Expect at least one kiss to be described as "crushing".
 * Deadpan Snarker -- Hero #1 almost certainly; frequently Hero #2 as well. Less common but far from unknown among the heroines; it may come up as part of Heroine #2's Hidden Depths.


 * Beware the Nice Ones: The first victim is originally portrayed as a nice old guy... however, it soons turns out he's a Dirty Old Man,
 * Fair Play Whodunnit: Might be intentional... but if not, she was probably having an off day.
 * The Fundamentalist: Constable Glass, Up to Eleven.
 * Reality Ensues: One early chapter includes some of the suspects thinking about how to get some IO Us 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.
 * Why Didn't You Just Say So?: The main conflict in the novel stems from a married couple who'd grown apart, whose rows verge on Melodrama, Lampshaded by everyone present. They later reconcile, spouting dialogue so damn soppy that everyone lampshades that!


 * Arranged Marriage
 * Love At First Sight


 * Happily Married: Arabella's parents.
 * Meet Cute
 * Mouthy Kid
 * Secret Test of Character
 * Snowball Lie


 * First Love
 * Her Codename Was Mary Sue: in-universe example with Glenarvon--Serena considers it So Bad It's Good and is highly entertained by trying to match the characters to the real people they're based on.
 * Love Dodecahedron
 * Runaway Fiance: Subverted: Serena persuades her to go back to Rotherham, who is highly annoyed at Serena ruining his Plan
 * Sickeningly Sweethearts
 * Slap Slap Kiss: Serena and Rotherham.
 * Wrong Guy First


 * Gentleman Adventurer
 * Historical In-Joke

 (detective novel)
 * Asshole Victim
 * Be As Unhelpful As Possible
 * Evil Uncle
 * Kissing Cousins
 * Never One Murder: Subverted.
 * Parental Marriage Veto
 * Sympathetic Murderer
 * Wrong Guy First


 * Aloof Big Brother: Tracy.
 * Annoying Younger Siblings: A grown-up example in Lavinia and Andrew.
 * Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other:
 * Beta Couple: Richard and Lavinia, whose subplot is arguably more entertaining than the main's.
 * Clear My Name
 * Distressed Damsel
 * Dysfunctional Family: both the Carstares and Belmanoirs.
 * Graceful Loser
 * Handsome Devil: Tracy
 * I Have You Now, My Pretty: Tried twice. Failed. Twice.
 * Impoverished Patrician: The Belmanoirs.
 * Poor Communication Kills: Justified; they're idiots.
 * Love Makes You Dumb: and HOW.
 * Love Redeems: Tracy's friends hope for this...but, nope! Guess he'll have to wait for the sequel.
 * Make Up or Break Up: Richard and Lavinia.
 * Mistaken for Cheating
 * Rescue Romance
 * The Dutiful Son
 * Thicker Than Water: What saves the Belmanoirs from being utter bastards.


 * Abduction Is Love: Parodied: Miles kidnaps Abby in the end, but she's just irritated at him for being presumptuous; when he offers to take her back to her family if she says she really doesn't want to marry him, she replies that he can abduct her, but he can't make her tell a lie.
 * Batman Gambit: Miles hiring a prostitute to trick Stacey.
 * Beauty Equals Goodness: Subverted with Stacey Calverleigh.
 * Genre Savvy: Abby refuses to pull a Parental Marriage Veto on Fanny, knowing Fanny will try to elope with Stacey.
 * Humiliation Conga: For Stacey Calverleigh.
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: Abby and Selina.
 * Virginity Makes You Stupid: Fanny.


 * Childhood Friend Romance
 * Distressed Damsel: But not the heroine herself.
 * Just Friends
 * The Ingenue: Cherry, who is even referred to as such at one point.


 * Arranged Marriage: Jenny and Adam.
 * Bittersweet Ending: Unusually, for a Heyer novel.
 * First Love
 * Historical In-Joke: Adam just before Waterloo.
 * It Will Never Catch On: Jenny's father warning Adam that Wellington is bound to lose at Waterloo.
 * My Sister Is Off-Limits: Parodied: Adam pretends to be doubtful about Brough's intentions.
 * Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Adam and Jenny, as despite initial appearances they're both willing to try and make it work - Jenny rather more so, of course - and suit each other well.
 * Suddenly-Suitable Suitor: Adam barely registers Jenny's existence until he finds out he's bankrupt and she has lots of money.


 * Heroic Bastard
 * Historical In-Joke


 * Arranged Marriage: Horatia and Rule.
 * The Baroness
 * Comedic Sociopathy: Viscount Winwood and company.
 * Spirited Young Lady: Horatia is this.
 * Wacky Marriage Proposal


 * Attractive Bent Gender
 * Mistaken for Gay: Implicit; and then at the end several Innocent Bystanders see the hero "ruthlessly" kissing the heroine -- who's still dressed as a boy.
 * Race For Your Love
 * Runaway Fiance
 * Sickeningly Sweethearts: Parodied.
 * Sweet Polly Oliver
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: The heroine is this.


 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: Subverted.
 * Le Beau Geste: Parodied: Camille makes extravagant proclamations of what he would do to save Olivia, but is surprised when practical Freddy suggests . Also played subtly straight with Freddy submitting to a day of sightseeing with Kitty.
 * Converting for Love: It's mentioned in passing that will probably have to become a Catholic to marry.
 * Genius Ditz: Freddy.
 * Hands-On Approach: Freddy and Kitty dancing.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Freddy tries to do this for Kitty, despite.
 * Kick the Dog: Jack Camille and  Freddy.
 * Loving a Shadow: Kitty's realisation that.
 * Masquerade Ball: Kitty has a miserable time at one of these until Freddy rescues her.
 * Operation: Jealousy: Kitty tries one of these on.
 * Poirot Speak: Camille.
 * Reformed Rakes: Subverted:.
 * Runaway Fiance: Sort of: Kitty is running away from the possibility of being forced into an engagement to please her guardian, before coming up with a better plan.
 * Secret Relationship: Freddy and Kitty pretend to have one of these.
 * "Shut Up" Kiss
 * Wrong Guy First


 * Arranged Marriage: Minerva tries to press-gang Kate into one of these.
 * Ax Crazy
 * Beauty Equals Goodness: Subverted.
 * Living Emotional Crutch: Kate for Tarquin.
 * Yandere: Tarquin.
 * Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Kate's relationship with Philip.

 {detective story, duh.) "There are some who may believe that this book is about them. They are, in fact, mistaken."
 * Animal Hoarding: The animals in question are Pekinese dogs. Justified in that the woman who owns them breeds them, but she still treats them like they're her children and gives them weird names like Ulysses.
 * Blackmail Is Such an Ugly Word: The Asshole Victim tried this, simply to become The Chessmaster of the county.
 * Driven to Suicide: The Smug Snake's late brother claimed this is what the Smug Snake had done to him in a letter...
 * This Is a Work of Fiction: As Heyer herself states at the very beginning of the book:


 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: Although Mary mocks Vidal as being no more than bratty and not nearly as bad as he thinks he is.
 * Continuity Nod: Avon deplores Vidal's lack of finesse in methods of daylight abduction.
 * Distressed Damsel: Subverted: Mary shoots Vidal when he comes near her and derides crying and screaming as a useless ploy when in trouble.
 * The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Mary and Sophia.
 * Happily Married: Avon and Léonie from These Old Shades.
 * Innocent Cohabitation: It may not have been intended as such, but Vidal goes to great lengths to make sure everyone knows he and Mary have not had sex.
 * It Seemed Like a Good Idea At The Time: See Twin Switch below.
 * Parent Ex Machina:.
 * Parental Marriage Veto: Mary fully expects one of these from Vidal's parents,.
 * Poirot Speak: Leonie.
 * Rescue Romance: Averted: Vidal is what Mary needs to be rescued from.
 * Troubled but Cute: Vidal.
 * Twin Switch: Sort of: Mary, although not Sophia's twin, swaps places with her in her elopement with Vidal in order to put him off.


 * Becoming the Mask
 * Emergency Impersonation
 * Twin Switch: The entire premise.


 * Comedic Sociopathy: Deborah has Max kidnapped and apologises for her servants going about it so roughly.
 * Slap Slap Kiss
 * The Vamp: Max believes Deborah to be this.


 * Betty and Veronica: Subverted: everyone thinks Gilly is in love with Belinda, but he isn't.
 * Coming of Age Story
 * Momma's Boy
 * Shrinking Violet
 * Too Dumb to Live: Belinda, as lampshaded by many, many characters.
 * Twice Shy


 * Cool Big Sis: Frederica.
 * Love At First Sight: Charis and her suitor.
 * Mouthy Kid: Felix.
 * Promotion to Parent: Frederica.
 * Spirited Young Lady: Frederica is a slightly more responsible version of this.


 * Alpha Bitch: Isabella could be, but most of her unpleasant moments are also her most sympathetic.
 * Beta Couple: George and Isabella, Gil and Ferdy.
 * The Bro Code: 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.
 * Byronic Hero: Invoked and parodied - George would love to be this.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Hero, Ferdy.
 * Coming of Age Story: Sherry, Hero to an extent.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Isabella.
 * Friendless Background: 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.
 * Kick the Dog: Revesby, first when he rejects and second when he arranges.
 * Lovable Coward: Ferdy, who Sherry can't even stay angry when he finds out Ferdy because Ferdy is so shamelessly trying to placate him.
 * Marry for Love: Isabella eventually cracks and admits that this is what she wants.
 * Masquerade Ball: Hero gets into trouble at one of these as a result of Sherry ditching her.
 * Meet Cute: While not a first meeting, Sherry accidentally comes across Hero crying on a wall and proposes marriage.
 * Reformed Rakes: Part of Sherry's Character Development.
 * Relationship Upgrade: Sherry elopes with Hero in the first few chapters.
 * Shrinking Violet: Hero.
 * Tsundere: Isabella.
 * Victorious Childhood Friend: Hero.


 * Beta Couple: Celia and Charlbury, among others.
 * Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends
 * The Chessmaster: Sophy, of course.
 * Licked By the Dog: Everyone thinks Charles is a domestic tyrant, but Sophy knows better...because every animal in the novel loves and trusts him, of course!
 * Locked in A Room: Subverted: Eugenia and Augustus are locked in a wood, but emerge only extremely annoyed.
 * Love At First Sight: Parodied with Celia and Augustus.
 * Only a Flesh Wound: Sophy shoots a friend in the arm with only the noblest of intentions.
 * Pair the Spares
 * Poirot Speak: Sancia.
 * Slap Slap Kiss: Sophy and Charles.
 * Triang Relations: Sophy/Charles/Eugenia, Celia/Augustus/Charlbury.
 * Wrong Guy First: Celia and Augustus.


 * Gentleman Adventurer


 * Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Subverted: Charles has his arm amputated.
 * Broken Bird
 * Historical In-Joke
 * Well, Excuse Me, Princess!


 * Annoying Younger Sibling
 * Runaway Fiance
 * Slap Slap Kiss


 * Attractive Bent Gender
 * The Chessmaster: Lord Barham
 * Cross Dresser
 * Sweet Polly Oliver


 * Author Existence Failure: Heyer died while writing it.
 * Very Loosely Based on a True Story: John of Lancaster.


 * Uncle Pennybags
 * Well, Excuse Me, Princess!


 * Abusive Dad \ Asshole Victim: Penhallow himself.
 * Downer Ending: Unusual for a Heyer novel, but it's a doozy..
 * Some Heyer fans suspect that she was writing this book to make up for all the cheeriness in all of her other novels!
 * Open Mystery: You know full well who killed Penhallow... and you don't blame.
 * Police Are Useless: The policeman in charge of the case actually thinks Penhallow was a pretty generous patriarch, and the rest of the family were just being whiny spongers.
 * The Unfavourite: Technically, every one of Penhallow's children - legitimate or otherwise - qualify, but his youngest son definitely qualifies.


 * Accidental Marriage: In "Hazard", the hero is so drunk when he wins the card game that he and the heroine are halfway to Gretna Green when he wakes up the next morning.
 * Arranged Marriage: The hero of "Hazard" is about to go through with one of these; luckily for him, he has a Runaway Fiance.
 * Lost Him in A Card Game: "Hazard".
 * Platonic Life Partners: Annabella and Tom from "Full Moon", who are very fond of each other and plan to elope only because Annabella is so horrified at the idea of marrying an old man.
 * Repetitive Name: Carlington Carlington in "Hazard".
 * Right in Front of Me: Annabella and Tom complain bitterly to a friendly stranger about the "horrid old friend" of Annabella's father whom she's expected to marry. Neither of them have ever met him, leading to predictable results.


 * Be Careful What You Wish For
 * Redundant Romance Attempt


 * Historical In-Joke
 * The Mole


 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: Judith really does not get on with Worth for about half the book.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Worth, who is busy being an arse to Judith's face while protecting her from fortune-hunters and her brother from murderers behind her back.
 * Meet Cute
 * Reverse Psychology: How Worth gets Judith to take the house he wants in Brighton.
 * Slap Slap Kiss


 * Ambiguously Gay: Francis.
 * Asshole Victim: His death isn't a mystery, but nobody misses Eustace much.
 * Big Friendly Dog: Bouncer, except when he's guarding Elinor. Then he morphs into Angry Guard Dog.
 * Bookcase Passage: Actually in a closet, but close enough.
 * MacGuffin: The missing document.
 * One Dialogue, Two Conversations: A hilarious one between Elinor and Carlyon at the start of the book, non-sexual for once. Carlyon thinks Elinor has answered his advertisement for a woman to marry his cousin, while she thinks he's discussing a governess position.
 * Secret Path: The hidden entrance to Highnoons.
 * Secret Relationship: The cover story for why Eustace suddenly has a wife.


 * Historical In-Joke
 * King Incognito


 * Heroic Bastard
 * Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Averted: the language used is thick with genuine Middle English, so much so that a glossary was included.


 * Historical In-Joke
 * Very Loosely Based on a True Story


 * Annoying Younger Sibling: Hester's brother, despite being older, fulfills this trope; Hildebrand at one point pretends to be this to Amanda and Gareth.
 * Betty and Veronica: Subverted: Amanda may be far more beautiful and exciting than Hester, but Gareth has no romantic interest in her whatsoever.
 * Blatant Lies: Amanda.
 * Celibate Hero: Gareth.
 * Christmas Cake: Hester.
 * The First Cut Is the Deepest: Hester's fears about Gareth.
 * First Girl Wins: Subverted.
 * Friendless Background: Hester, who isn't close to anyone but Gareth, and not that close to Gareth when the book begins.
 * I Don't Want To Ruin Our Friendship: Hester's main anxiety about rejecting Gareth's first proposal.
 * Mistaken for Cheating: Hester's family are shocked that Gareth would bring his supposed mistress to their house.
 * Nobody Thinks It Will Work: Gareth and Hester.
 * Parental Marriage Veto: Amanda's grandfather refuses his consent to her marriage to Neil.
 * Sarcastic Confession: 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.
 * Shrinking Violet: Hester.
 * The Tale: Amanda spins about a dozen of these throughout the novel.
 * True Companions: Gareth, Hester, Amanda and Hildebrand. Neil would probably have been adopted one way or another had the book been longer.


 * Big Secret: Phoebe wrote the society novel of the year, featuring Sylvester as the villain.
 * Break the Haughty: Sylvester, though a mild example.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Sylvester.
 * Evil Uncle: Subverted: Sylvester is perceived to be this by everyone, but he's actually a far better Parental Figure than the boy's mother.
 * Like Brother and Sister: Phoebe and Tom.
 * Mouthy Kid: Edmund.
 * Slap Slap Kiss


 * Arranged Marriage: Tristram and Eustacie.
 * Clear My Name: Ludovic.


 * Altar the Speed: John and Nell are...unexpectedly...married by Sir Peter's bedside because he's decided he wants it done before he dies.
 * Historical In-Joke
 * Stranger in A Familiar Land


 * Aloof Big Brother: Avon.
 * Annoying Younger Sibling: Rupert and Fanny.
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: Léon is in fact Léonie.
 * Expy: Justin, Hugh and the Merrivales are all Expys of the characters from The Black Moth.
 * Happily Married: Fanny and Edward.
 * Morality Pet: Leonie acts as one of these.
 * The Plan: Avon with Leonie.
 * Poirot Speak: Leonie.

 (detective story)
 * Asshole Victim / Complete Monster / Abusive Dad: Sir Arthur Billington-Smith
 * Cultural Stereotypes: Lola de Silva and her agent, a Greedy Jew.
 * I Have No Son: Arthur Billington-Smith tried to do this


 * Kissing Cousins
 * Mysterious Past: Hugo, eventually revealed.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity


 * Annoying Younger Sibling: Aubrey to an extent, although Venetia's older brother is far worse despite never actually appearing
 * Brother-Sister Team: Aubrey and Venetia have elements of this
 * Cool Big Sis: Venetia
 * It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Damerel sends Venetia away due to the irreparable damage that would be done to her reputation if they married
 * Moment Killer: Every time Damerel tries to propose to Venetia, Aubrey pops up
 * Nobody Thinks It Will Work: Everyone, with the exception of Aubrey and Venetia – and including Damerel – thinks Damerel and Venetia will be miserable together
 * Reformed Rakes

 (detective story)
 * Amateur Sleuth: Frank Amberley - the person who solves the mystery - is a barrister, although it's noted in the story that he has some experience rounding up major criminals, having helped the police at least once.
 * Crazy Prepared: When the Big Bad tries to get away via a motorboat, Frank just happens to have a motorboat of his own ready. Justified in that he'd done some research during the previous day, and figured that would happen.
 * Police Are Useless: Averted. the police are just at sea because there are no clues to go on, and Amberley has quite a few of them... not that he tells the police most of them.
 * Slap Slap Kiss: It doesn't help that Frank is something of a Troll throughout the whole book, and not just to the girl.
 * Smug Snake: Frank Amberley is this, making him something of a Designated Hero.
 * Title Drop: In the second chapter, no less!

…Oh, and Happily Ever After usually comes in somewhere...