The name of English author Anne Morice is virtually unknown today. She wrote more than two dozen light, cleverly plotted and downright funny mysteries, beginning in 1970 with Death in the Grand Manor, most of which featured an engaging young heroine, an actress names Tessa Crichton. That date puts Morice outside the Golden Age, but the wit and humor in her books, I think, put her quite firmly in what is frequently called the Silver Age of Detective Fiction. Now, the English publisher Dean Street Press, is bringing back some of Morice's books. In April, they will begin re-publishing her first ten novels, and the publisher has sent me some of these books for this review, including Death in the Grand Manor. That book is the subject of this week's review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you are welcome to listen to that audio review by clicking here.
Most of Ann Morice’s mysteries feature Tessa Crichton, a young actress, as their central character, principal detective and narrator. In Death in the Grand Manor, she is staying at the home where her playwright cousin Toby Crichton, his (mostly) estranged wife, Matilda Spragge and his eleven-year-old daughter, Ellen, all live in a couple of the houses along Roakes Common. There is distinctly a problem in that small enclave. The rather awful couple who live in the local country manor, Douglas and Bronwen Cornford, along with their highly disagreeable children, have managed to alienate just about everyone in town. They are prime suspects, for example, in the death of Ellen’s dog. Both of the Cornfords apparently have hair-trigger tempers and a loathing for the rest of their neighbors that seems both outlandish and dangerous, although quite clearly reciprocated by those neighbors. Oh, and complicating things somewhat for Tessa is the presence of a young man living nearby named Robin Price whom Tessa meets in one of the local pubs – a presence that she finds strongly attractive even after learning that he is a police officer.
If this is all beginning to sound like a very good recipe for murder…why yes, yes it is. As we will see in Death in the Grand Manor, by Anne Morice. This new edition of Morice's books features an introduction and afterword by mystery historian Curtis Evans with more information about her life and her work.
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