Murder at Mullings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A 1930s housekeeper stars in "an Agatha Christie–like whodunit with touches of Olde World England and a soupçon of romance" (Booklist).
In its three-hundred-year history, there has never once been a scandal at Mullings, ancestral home of the decent but dull Stodmarsh family. Until, that is, Edward Stodmarsh makes an ill-advised second marriage to the scheming Regina Stapleton, who insists on bringing her family's "ornamental hermit" to live on the estate.
Suddenly everyone wants to visit Mullings to glimpse this mysterious figure. Strange but harmless, thinks Florence Norris, the family's longstanding housekeeper. But events take a sinister turn with the arrival of sudden, violent death—and suddenly the hermit doesn't seem so harmless after all…
"Fans of mannered English mysteries will likely not be disappointed."—Chicago Tribune
"Strong characters…this mix of romance and crime will appeal to a wide range of readers."—Booklist
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This quiet first in a series set in the early decades of the 20th century from British author Cannell (Sea Glass Summer) introduces Florence Norris, who first comes to Mullings, the Stodmarsh family estate, in 1900, at age 14, to work as a kitchen maid. She returns as a widow, after WWI, to work as the housekeeper. The household includes young Ned, whose parents died when he was a baby; Ned's grandparents; an aunt and uncle with anger issues; and Madge Bradley, a poor relation. A bit of a mystery surrounds the death of the fragile Lady Stodmarsh, but nothing happens until years later when Regina Stapleton, the second Lady Stodmarsh as nasty as the first one was loving is stabbed to death. Meanwhile, Florie cuts off a budding romance with pub owner George Bird because she thinks it would be disloyal to the family if she discussed her murder suspicions with him. Alert readers will have a pretty good idea of the killer long before the police appear on the scene.
