This book is solidly in the tradition of Agatha Christie (and I almost never voice that observation – maybe once prior) and it’s done so well that my saying so is definitely a compliment.  Benedict Brown has penned a  gently humorous and well written murder mystery of the “who-done-it” variety.  It’s  in the  sense of the classic Golden Age of mystery which managed to survive even if Edmund Wilson advised avoiding it

*******
Murder at Everham Hall 
by Benedict Brown. 11/2023
Read  by: George Blagden, 7 hrs and 43 mins
Rating: A- / who-done-it  
A Marius Quin Mystery, Book 1

The literary folks were heavily critical of mysteries of any kind, for their lack of style and intellectual substance. This reputation held until the 1980s in the ivory towers of the lit departments where the aging professors had been trained by predecessors like Harold Bloom or, further back, Cleanth Brooks. And mysteries were becoming more popular but rarely published except in cheap paperbacks with enticing covers – (remember Perry Mason?)

That is until maybe Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose became popular in the US in the 1990s. Then other books turned up with “in the tradition of Umberto Eco,” or “For readers who enjoyed The Name of the Rose and Hollywood turned it into a movie – horrors!  LOL!   (I loved the book and now there the books have their own genre called “literary mysteries,” or something like that.) 

It was Raymond Chandler, among a few others, who first brought the realism of the “hard-boiled” detective (very US)  to the fore to compete with Agatha Christie’s fairy-tale parlor games (very UK).  Then along came Elmore Leonard  followed by the likes of James Lee Burke (literary), Michael Connelly (non-lit), Tana French and Robert Galbraith. And now, since ??? we have the “continued” and “spin-off” tales of Poe, Holmes, Christie and Chandler – even David Parker   Now we had Private Eyes, Police Detectives and Amateur Sleuths to follow because the likes of John Updike’s slow-moving volumes were no longer ringing the register.  – See this page for more info – This subject could be a college course and subsequent PhD topics to follow (I love it.)
https://www.novelsuspects.com/articles/a-brief-history-of-detective-fiction/

So – an overview of the story from Benedict Brown: (This is NOT a literary mystery – it’s a genre (formula) mystery of the 21xt century.) – The formula was written up in the early years of the 20th century. Another reason they sold well is that they were very cheap because paper and the printing press had made reading a skill practiced by the average adult with a working 6th grade education. 

Back to Murder at Everham Hall:
Marius Quinn, the 1st person protagonist, is the author of a recent mystery novel which proved to be very successful, has been unexpectedly invited to a Christmas party. This is December, 1927 in London. Marius should be on top of the world. but instead he’s out of money and way behind in producing another manuscript for his publisher. 

But he runs into his ex-girlfriend, Bella (Isabella) whom he hasn’t seen since he went to war in 1914 or so, and she invites him to a holiday party which will be held at the Sinclair estate, a bit out of town.  He gets there early and finds that Bella has a new boyfriend, Gilbert, so the atmosphere is already somewhat tense. Then Cecil Sinclair, the movie star host who has some addiction issues keels over in the middle of the evening just as the traditional fireworks start. Cecil’s limp body is taken upstairs to a bed while Marius and Belle wait for the police. Cecil now has 3 bullets in his head,

Upstairs, there are a couple more explosions from outside and now Cocil is dead. The police are called at some point here,  but too bad, so sad,  a heavy snowstorm has blanketed the area and the estate is somewhat remote so it’s definitely snowed in.  Ross, Cecil’s father, declares Quinn the investigator until the police arrive,  (Quinn wrote a successful mystery novel, didn’t he? – lol!)  

I generally have to keep lists of characters when reading mystery novels, so here’s mine for Murder at Evesham Hall. I generally like to keep a list of characters when reading mystery novels – here’s this one:

Cecil Sinclair – the victim – son of Ross
Ross Sinclair- father of the victim – a rich widower with a new young girlfriend, Poppy Cecil did NOT want Poppy for a stepmother. 
Poppy – Cecil’s girlfriend ofcouple weeks but her act is the grief-stricken paramour
Carl Wilson – declines the opportunity to be a detective
Edith Wilson – Carl’s prim wife, 
Antoine and Elma Cavendish 
Bella – Quinn’s ex-girlfriend who invited him
Quinn – the 1st person narrator and acting detective.

One word - the game ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings.