The Stately Home Murder

by Catherine Aird

Paperback, 1980

Series

Sloan and Crosby (3)

Publication

Bantam Books (1980), 195 p.

Original publication date

1969

Collections

Your library, Own, Read

Tags

2022 Halloween Book Bingo, British Mysteries and Crime Fiction, Classics, Mysteries and Crime Fiction, Women Writers, British History

Genres

Subjects

Detective and mystery stories
Police Great Britain Fiction
Sloan, C.D. (Fictitious character) Fiction

Description

A dead body in a case of armor, a once-wealthy earl with lots to hide, a sprawling estate stacked with witnesses . . . it's another head-scratcher of a case for Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan in this intriguing mystery by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird It is the early 1970s, and times are tough in the upper reaches of British society. To survive the changing times, the Earl of Ornum has done the previously unthinkable and opened his estate to wandering tourists. One day, a hyperactive little boy and his family are roaming Ornum House delightedly. The curious tyke sees a full suit of armor and lifts the visor . . . only to see a face staring out at him. As Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan soon finds, the man in the suit of armor is dead-and there's a slew of suspects waiting to be interviewed. Was it the ditzy duchess? The disappointing nephew? One of the servants? The earl himself? It's up to Sloan and his wisecracking sidekick, Detective Constable Crosby, to find out before the murderer strikes again.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
The beginning of this mystery is classic. A very rambunctious boy who came with his mom on a tour of Ornum House gets split from the group. The group goes down into the armoury, where there is a display of several suits of armor. The boy is there, playing around with the armor, and as he opens the
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 visor on one of them, what's there to meet him but the face of a dead man. So...in comes Inspector Sloan, but solving the crime isn't going to be easy with a list of suspects and motives for the murder.

I'll rate this one as average; it's good, but there really wasn't a whole lot of room for the story to be more developed (imho). Recommended for those who like police procedurals and British mystery in general.
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LibraryThing member readinggeek451
Classic murder mystery, set in a stately home. A public tour finds a body in the armory, and the local police inspector has an interesting time sorting through the suspects, most of them related to the earl.
LibraryThing member thornton37814
On a tour of a stately old home, a young boy's curiosity makes him examine a piece of armor. He gets a surprise when a body stares back at him. The body is that of Mr. Meredith who is in charge of the library and muniments room. Inspector Sloan investigates the death, focusing on the residents of
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 the home. It's a pretty stereotypical British mystery but an enjoyable read.
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LibraryThing member tigerb
Pretty good "cozy" type mystery but so many characters that I got utterly confused. Also, a map of the vast stately home might have been nice -- I was as lost as the policemen.
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
A relatively early Sloan and Crosby story - as usual, the characters that show up only for this story are oddly and vividly drawn. Sloan and Crosby aren't quite as cardboard as they get later, though Happy Harry and the rest of the police are. Good story with some interesting weird angles, but not
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 worth rereading.
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LibraryThing member EricaObey
Saw the answer coming, but laugh-out-loud funny. Can't wait to delve into the rest of the series.
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
The Complete Steel is a cozy British mystery that was published in 1969. The book was originally published under the title, “The Stately Home Murder”. It opens with a young boy finding a dead body stuffed into a suit of armour in a stately home that is open to the public. Inspector Sloan and
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 his assistant, the slightly bumbling Constable Crosby, are called to the scene and are expected to solve the case as quickly and as quietly as possible.

The police find that they have to deal with the resident Earl, his wife and a goodly number of family members as well as a full compliment of retainers. The dead man turns out to have been the librarian and archivist and the best way of finding his killer is to discover why this meek and mild librarian needed to be murdered. Along the way to finding the information that they need, another murder occurs but the police doggedly follow the clues and eventually arrive at the correct answer.

This was a fun read as the author played upon the humor of the situation. There aren’t any great surprises but the clues are laid out and are fairly easy for the reader to follow. The author’s dry wit and tongue-in-cheek delivery keep this old-fashioned mystery light and readable.
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Language

English

Original language

English

ISBN

9780553139501

Library's rating

½

Rating

½ (85 ratings; 3.6)

More

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