Death in the Grand Manor by Anne Morice 😱🏡☠️🎬

Happy Furrowed Middlebrow Friday! 🥳🎉

This week, I'm sharing a Dean Street Press Golden Age Crime Fiction instead of a Furrowed Middlebrow novel. This is the first time I'm reading anything by Anne Morice (born Felicity Shaw) and I'm very excited to share my thoughts!

MY FAVORITE QUOTE FROM THE BOOK: 

‘Yes, I do, and for God’s sake don’t get the idea that you’re Miss Marple, and start asking all and sundry what they were doing between four and six o’clock, on Saturday, 3rd August. It could quite conceivably lead to your being whacked on the head yourself.’ - Inspector Robin Price 

RATING: 4🌟 A fantastically fun vintage mystery! 

It’s like hopping into a sports car with your most adventurous girlfriend behind the wheel—then having her put the pedal to the metal before you’ve even had a chance to close the door! (Also picture your hair flying out in all directions and gripping your sunglasses and purse for dear life! lol)

Although this 1970 mystery takes place in a small English village (Roakes Common), it feels anything but "Miss Marple-esque". Tessa Crichton is an energetic, slightly snarky and wonderfully real young lady who is also an actress and takes jobs whenever she can. 

In Death in the Grand Manor, she is staying with her cousin Toby Crichton and his slightly famous actress wife, Matilda Spragge. Toby asks Tessa to come up from London to help with Ellen (Toby & Matilda's clever and resourceful 11-year-old daughter) while his wife is filming and away from home. Between playing detective, "babysitting" and trying to get her acting career on track, Tessa is up to her eyeballs in activities. 

Finding out who killed the hateful Mrs. Cornford (of "The Old Manor") almost becomes a full-time job for Tessa (and those around her). Pretty much everyone in the little village is a suspect. Thank goodness Inspector Robin Price of Scotland Yard shows up to shed some light upon the matter...and to dazzle the female residents with his handsome appearance and debonair manner. 

The ending is surprising, but also extremely satisfying. As soon as I got to the final page, I knew I needed to continue with the series. There's so much energy and clever conversations in every scene. (I was a bit exhausted by the end, to tell the truth!) Whew—so much to take in! 

Even though it wasn't quite a 5-star read, I have a feeling that these Tessa Crichton mysteries might just get better and better. So, I'm going to pace myself until I get to the very last book. 

I cannot wait to read the next one!

Many thanks to my dear friend, Victoria, of Dean Street Press for recommending Anne Morice to me! 🥰❤️  I'm so grateful and happy that DSP has republished her books! 🤩🌟📚

I also ADORE the covers. Sooo awesomely retro! Highly recommended!

PRAISE FOR ANNE MORICE'S WRITING:

“Entrancingly fresh and lively whodunit. . . . Excellent dialogue. . . . Much superior to the average effort to lighten the detective story.” - Maurice Richardson

“Morice is a traditionalist, and she has no surprises [in terms of subject matter] in her latest book. What she does have, as always, is a bright and amusing style . . . [and] a general air of sophisticated writing.”  - Newgate Callendar (aka classical music critic Harold C. Schoenberg)

"This is not a blood-curdling, chilling mystery; it is amusing and light, but Miss Morice writes in a polished and intelligent manner, providing pleasure and entertainment. Anne Morice’s mysteries most frequently take place at country villages and estates, quintessence of modern cozy mystery settings, there is a pleasing tartness to Tessa’s narration and the brittle, epigrammatic dialogue which reminds me of the Golden Age Crime Queens (particularly Ngaio Marsh) and, to part from mystery for a moment, English playwright Noel Coward...Dean Street Press editions and thereby passing time once again in that pleasant fictional English world where death affords us not emotional disturbance and distress but enjoyable and intelligent diversion." - Curtis Evans

‘Entrancingly fresh and lively whodunit . . . Excellent dialogue.’ - Observer 

Wishing you a wonderful rest of the month, book friends! I hope to have a new autumn-inspired blog post early in September! 

Many hugs! 💛🌻🤗🌻💛 

P.S. Here are some pics from a recent trip to Storyland (in northern New Hampshire) with my sister, Kim and my husband, Ian! We had a blast! I can't believe summer is almost over! (Although, to be honest, I'm very happy about it. Summer is my least favorite season 😱)