"What in hells name do you mean by firing at me you fat-witted, cow-handed ensign bearer?"

I love Georgette Heyer. I love the innocence in this style of writing and this collection is exactly why I throw her name out to the students who sigh and insist they want to read more Bronte and Austen. These works are shorter and are by no means her best work but any fan of her classics will cherish them.

Snowdrift and Other Stories is a reissue of Pistols for Two with the addition of three new stories. The original collection is a delightful selection of Heyer’s stories. I prefer the ones that have mature heroines like Fredericka and Venetia. Two of my favorites are “A Clandestine Affair and “A Husband for Fanny.” The first concerns a thirty-something hero and a thirty-something heroine trying to catch a young eloping couple. It soon is revealed that the pursuers have their own romantic back-story which is coloring their actions. In the second story Fanny’s youngish mother is launching her daughter into society and is dismayed that she is drawn to Fanny’s mature suitor.

The three new stories have the same theme: runaway young people and the adults interacting with them. “The Pursuit”, a very early story, has a governess and mature would-be fiancé trying to catch the eloping couple. It is very similar to the much better “A Clandestine Affair”. “Runaway Match” concerns two very silly best friends who are eloping so the girl can escape from an arranged marriage to a man she has never met. When she sees the very handsome man who enters the inn after them she begins to have second thoughts about rejecting the engagement. “An Incident on Bath Road” finds the hero rescuing a young lad after his carriage breaks down. The boy explains that he is going to Bath to stop the girl he loves from being forced into relationship she does not want. The girl’s family might be trying to stop him. It soon becomes obvious that the lad is not who he seems to be.

Pistols for Two is a five star collection. The three new stories are three stars. So Snowdrift and Other Stories is a good four star review

Snowdrift and Other Stories is the previously published Pistols For Two with three new stories. I enjoyed the three new stories, but generally prefer Georgette Heyer's longer works (novels). The stories were sweet, some were funny, and one was terrifying. Yes, terrifying.

My favorite short stories of the lot are 'The Duel' 'Hazard' and 'Pistols for Two,' which I found hilarious.

Overall, a wonderful collection, and worth reading.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

This is an expanded edition of the collection Pistols for Two, with three additional stories not previously collected. I'd read Pistols for Two some years ago, but this made an enjoyable re-read overall. In general, I agree with the premise that romance isn't a great genre for short stories, since a convincing relationship usually takes more space to convey. Heyer's stories are more satisfactory at this length, because they aren't really romances in the modern use of the term.

Instead, these stories are amusing incidents in the lives of their principals, and to me they feel more like cozy mysteries than anything else. (And of course Heyer wrote mysteries as well as Regencies.) Many of these stories do have a twist of some kind, though usually more of a surprise to the characters in the story than to the reader.

Recommended in itself as a collection of comfort reading. If you already have Pistols for Two, and you're a Heyer completist, pick this up; if not as much of a completist, you do already have the majority of the material.

I really tried with this book as she is a well thought of without it was too date for me.