Case With Three Dead Husbands — Margaret Erskine

There is no better whodunit than the old-fashioned English manor house classic if done as superbly as Margaret Erskine does this one. Rich, eccentric family, feudal castle, wayward daughters of two generations, and finally the matriarch of the clan killed with a sword because she knows of a family skeleton that will affect the family fortune. The word is bastardy. The problem, whose? The author sets the mood well. Her detective is lounging on the beach when the family dog unearths a new pair of shoes in the sand. When the shoes are finally fit to their owner, the crime is solved. So is the mystery. But the reader will hate to leave such interesting people in such bizarre surroundings.