Murders in an English stately home

James Anderson wrote only three detective novels which feature murders at the stately home of the Earl of Burford and their investigation by Inspector Wilkins and it’s a great sadness to me that there aren’t more of them. These books are witty and clever and extremely entertaining. I’ve read all three over the past few months and then passed them on to my mother in law who has enjoyed them as much as I have done.

The three books in the series are The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy, The Affair of the Mutilated Mink and The Affair of the 39 Cufflinks. Each of the books takes place at a house party at the stately home where the Earl, his wife and their daughter are present. The books seem to be set in the 1930s. Each house party has a number of attendees, all of whom are hiding something or who come with an agenda. After the murder the investigation has to uncover the secrets and then work out how and why the murder took place.

This is all enormously good fun. There’s an implacable butler, an eccentric earl, a burglar alarm which makes the house secure at night and a secret passage to further complicate matters. There are stolen diamond necklaces, impersonations, bright young things, spies and suitors for the daughter of the house. The author uses the standard elements of Golden Age fiction to make fun of the genre in a gentle way and he even includes references to well-known fictional detectives of the time as though they are real.

It is pointless trying to work out whodunit and why because the plots are gloriously convoluted, as are the titles of the novels. There’s a lot of witty banter, some tender moments and foreshadowing of the war to come. You just have to revel in the slightly over the top characters and enjoy yourself.