There are many different types of villains in Georgette Heyer’s historical novels – from the suave and sophisticated to the openly ruthless, vicious, and vengeful, to the more subtle and psychological. Not all of Heyer’s villains are instantly recognisable as evil or manipulative, but instead may present themselves as kind and loving or even as upright and moral. Some villains are violent – even murderous – while others are self-serving and greedy. One or two are ‘puffed up in their own conceit’ as Heyer would say, but without exception (and much to the reader’s satisfaction) all of them receive some sort of comeuppance. Among her most sinister villains are those willing to sacrifice the lives of those they are meant to love to their own selfish ends.
