annieb123
Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.
Murder at Everham Hall is the first book in a new historical cozy series by Benedict Brown. Released 3rd Nov 2023, it's 273 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free.
This is such a quirky fun cozy read. The characters are very well rendered, with witty repartee and the author does a good job of the closed suspect pool country house mystery format. Odd duck writer Marius is having a spectacularly bad week. On top of writer's block, he's stuck at a posh country house with the woman (out of his league) whom he left behind during the first war. When the host of the party is murdered, it seems like everyone has a motive to have wanted him out of the way permanently.
Really humorous, well written, eminently readable. Pure golden age classic fun. Fans of Sayers, Allingham, and the others will likely find much to enjoy here.
The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 7 hours 43 minutes and is capably narrated by George Blagden. He has a classically trained, nuanced tenor voice and manages the varied accents without a stumble. His reading is pleasant to listen to an neutral enough not to be annoying or intrusive. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.
There's a sequel due out in Feb 2024 from the same publisher.
Four stars. Well written and eminently entertaining. Highly recommended for fans of classic golden age British cozy crime with a definite slug of P.G. Wodehouse at his irreverent best in the mix.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.