Book description
Chetton Hall was one of the glories of Jacobean domestic architecture,
and the Spenders had lived in Chetton ever since their founder had
peculated the money to build it while he was the King's Secretary of
Monopolies. Over the years they had accumulated accrustations of
dignity, to say nothing of wealth. Which made it doubly shocking when
the Earldom descended to Percy Spender, who was 'not quite', not to
mention his family, who were not at all. When the family descends on
Chetton for his sixtieth birthday, accompanied by various hangers-on,
their main obsession is to discover his intentions for the future of the
place. Hardly less interested is his man of business, and his
neighbours, who feel sadly the diminished glory of the house. The
Spenders, in fact, have always felt like birds in a guilded cage at
Chetton. Before the celebrations are over, one of the birds is a very
dead duck indeed. The traditional country house party murder is turned
on its head, given a few twists, and ends up much reinvigorated in this
witty and lively whodunit by a writer who, as described in The Times
Literary Supplement, 'can write most under the table with one hand
behind his back.' 'Mr Barnard always maintains an exceptionally high
level, being as much littérateur as mystery story writer; fortunately,
he never lets his literary flair get in the way of his mysteries.' New
York Times Book Review Robert Barnard is a well-established crime
writer. He has won the prestigious Nero Wolfe Award as well as the
Anthony, Agatha and Macavity Awards, has been nominated eight times for
the Edgar Award and was the winner of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger
Award in 2003 for a lifetime of achievement. He has also written crime
novels under the pseudonym of Bernard Bastable. He lives with his wife
in Leeds and has had over 45 titles published in the UK and US.
