Well, it’s time once again (well past time, actually – this should have been an October pick…) to highlight a highly recommended Cozy mystery book. This entry will be on the first in Verity Bright‘s Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Series, A Very English Murder… a name that I am honestly very surprised hasn’t been used before!
Set in England in the 1920s, Lady Eleanor Swift is returning to Henley Hall, the home of her now-deceased uncle, which she hasn’t visited for almost two decades. Something of an adventurer, Eleanor has spent most of her life travelling, indulging her love of stories of adventure and exploration from her youth, but has recently decided she needed a rest – though she’s not quite certain that the traditional background of Henley Hall is the right place for said rest, she’s going to give it a chance.
Unfortunately, as it so often is in Cozies, the chance for a new start to life intersects with a murder, as on her very first day in the Hall, she witnesses someone shot on a neighboring piece of land. When she goes to investigate, she finds no body, but a very obvious patch of blood, indicating the shooting was likely fatal – but when she returns the following day with the local police sergeant and constable, neither body nor blood is still visible. Naturally enough, she decides to take it upon herself to investigate.
Despite being written extremely recently (2020 was the original publishing date) this is what I would call a very traditional Cozy Mystery. Indeed, so many of the themes are from the oldest, most conservative days of Cozies that I would go so far as to say that Christie, Sayers, and the like are very clear inspirations – it is set in the 1920s (which was the original ‘contemporary’ period for some of the earliest Cozies, but now a ‘historical’ choice to harken back to that era), is set in a traditional English manor house, and stars a member of the English aristocracy. Indeed, aside from the sleuth’s gender, it feels very inspired by Lord Peter Whimsy and similar ‘very English’, very early Cozy sleuths.
I also definitely appreciate that the murder occurs very early in the novel. While I do appreciate the layers of theming and atmosphere that go into many modern Cozies, I especially enjoy when this can be added on top of the mystery – sometimes in modern Cozies, the crime itself feels like an afterthought, but that certainly isn’t the case here. (Admittedly this does make my job a bit harder in writing these, since I don’t like to talk about much of the plot AFTER the mystery for ‘spoilers’ reasons, but it’s still worth it to get to the mystery in my opinion!)
If you’re looking for a modern series with a very traditional vibe, then I can strongly recommend A Very English Murder.
As always, if you want to read more of these brief discussions of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page.
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