The Pigeon Pie Mystery (Wheeler Publishing Large Print Hardcover)

by Julia Stuart

 When Indian Princess Alexandrina—nickname “Mink”—is left penniless by the sudden death of her father, Queen Victoria grants her a grace-and-favor home in Hampton Court Palace. Though it’s rumored to be haunted, Mink and her lady’s maid, Pooki, have no choice but to take the Queen up on her offer and join the palace’s eccentric collection of guests. But when a reviled General-Major dies after eating a pie Pooki made, it makes her the number one suspect in a murder investigation.
 
Not about to let her faithful servant hang, Mink begins an investigation of her own. . . only to discover that Hampton Court isn't such a safe place to live after all. 
 

• ISBN10: 0307947696
• ISBN13: 9780307947697
• Publish Date: 7 May 2013 (first published 7 August 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Imprint: Anchor
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780307947697

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

I bought this book purely on a whim while on holiday, based on the cover and the title, while trapped in a small used book store.  I say 'trapped' because a terrific thunderstorm was raging outside, keeping me and the owner in the shop until well after her normal closing hours.  Had I not needed to linger until the threat of leaving this earth as a human lightning rod had passed, I'd have probably not bought this book (I'd passed it over on my initial perusals).    Points to the thunderstorm; this was a charmingly eccentric Victorian age mystery with an Indian princess MC, who is forced to accept a Grace and Favour abode in Hampton Court Palace, after her deposed-Maharaja father passes away in less than illustrious circumstances.  Soon after settling in, her lady's maid falls under suspicion of murder, after another Grace and Favor resident drops dead after eating her pigeon pie.   What follows is a colourful, wryly humorous, if a little over-long, mystery.  The characters are all odd, eccentric and chock full of secrets; some of them rather shocking.  There's a lot of situational humor, and levity based on misunderstandings.  Not a single character is dull, but the story never quite goes over the top.  My only complaint is that, even though I enjoyed the whole story, it was longer than it needed to be.  The fluff was clever and interesting, but it was still fluff.  The ending though, was clever as hell and delightfully unexpected.