Murder by Death

Another oldie from the personal library shelves.  I love this one.  It's almost purely a satire of the English aristocracy and gentry, with a couple of mysteries and a romance thrown in too.

If you've never read Dorothy Cannell, she is a cozy mystery author, primarily known for her Ellie Haskel series.  She's an excellent writer and crafts a great mystery.  God Save the Queen! is one of her stand-alone books.  From the summary:

At gloomy Gossinger Hall, where the chill of centuries calls for three sweaters, Sir Henry Gossinger has just dropped a bombshell. He has announced to his unwitting relatives that he has written a new will...bequeathing everything to his devoted butler, Hutchins. Not since roguish Sir Rowland Gossinger was accused of stealing the queen's silver tea strainer, has such a scandal threatened the family honor. But worse is yet to come.

For Hutchins is missing, and is soon found head down in the principle fixture of the twelfth-century privy. He may have been the victim of foul play. And what could Hutchins have meant by his dying words, "God save the Queen"?

Our MC, Flora is Hutchins' grand-daughter, raised by him from the age of 3 at Gossinger Hall.  Upon his death Lady Gossinger offers Flora her family's old flat above an abandoned shop on Wishbone street in London, free for one year.  Sir Henry's nephew follows Flora to London to try to tell her his suspicions concerning her grandfather's death, but things keep getting in the way.

The romance is a sweet one.  Maybe just this side of being too sweet; I think the humour helps though.  The murder mystery, as well as the mystery surrounding the silver tea strainer, take a backseat during the middle part of the book, as Flora moves to London and settles in, but the last third of the book is focussed on the resolution of both mysteries, with a rather hilarious denouement at the end.

This is Jeeves kind of funny and the book always promises me a good time when I pick it up.  If you like this sort of thing in your book and you see this one somewhere, grab it and give it a go.