Helpful Score: 3
Hilarious spoof of British country home murder - complete with butler and maid (maybe) and wealthy guests. The absent homeowner is in for a surprise.
Well-written and excellent caricatures of all.
Well-written and excellent caricatures of all.
Excellent book, I recommend it. Kept me going from start to finish, great characters and plot!
Love the setting, the characters and the author!
A very fun read - murder and romance at an English country manor.
a standalone; not part of barnaby series
Simon Hannaford and his sister Laurie agree to manor sit for rich Aunt Maude at Madingley Grange. Simon hatches a money-making scheme by staging a weekend of staged recreational murder and mayhem. They hire a bogus boozing butler and a cross-dressing maid, and assemble a motley group of well-heeled eccentrics. But the innocent game goes awry when a singularly obnoxious guest is assassinated for real. Did the butler do it? Are the family jewels in jeopardy? And most important, will the hapless victim have the good sense to remain dead? This is a delightful new twist to the classic English country manor mystery--proving that sometimes murder is a laughing matter. It is an outrageous tale of unsavory servants, pushy parvenus and the bloodiest of bores.
Funny, English, an absorbing & quick reading mystery.
Simon and Laurie house-sit for their aunt. Actually it's a country estate ... and since Simon needs money he hatches the plan of hosting a murder-game weekend. They have to hire a butler and maid, who have their own agenda. Their guests are also quite ... uhm ... individual. Of course things do not go the way as planned, and a real murder happens, or not?
Nice characters, it's an easy read, but does get a bit boring sometimes, due to some slapstick moments. It does have a surprise ending, though.
Nice characters, it's an easy read, but does get a bit boring sometimes, due to some slapstick moments. It does have a surprise ending, though.
