cover image Murder at Wittenham Park: A Mystery

Murder at Wittenham Park: A Mystery

R. W. Heber. Thomas Dunne Books, $22.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-312-16938-1

What's an impoverished English lord to do when he has an estate to maintain and no income? Algernon ""Buck"" Gilroy, married to the American DeeDee, decides to put the dark, foreboding house to work and advertises an Agatha Christie murder mystery weekend. The weekend, however, begins as ominously as one of Dame Agatha's own stories. First, the Christie estate won't let them use her name or plot for their mystery. Then the Gilroys discover that the real estate developer who has been pestering them to sell their land is on the short guest list. On the morning of the make-believe murder, the developer is found fatally and all too truly poisoned, and the rest of the guests are confined to the house until the police sort out whodunit. Retired claims adjuster Jim Savage, assigned to be the weekend's sleuth, takes on his role for real as he and his daughter Jemma, a crime reporter, ferret out the secrets of the other guests, all of whom seem to have a reason for killing the developer. Heber brings the English manor house mystery into the 1990s with this entertaining debut. (Oct.)