Broken Star

In this sprightly mystery debut, set in an English village, tension between the impoverished gentry and the newly rich leads to murder. Actor, TV personality and parvenu Larry Aitken, who has recently bought the Manor House in the fictional South Harptree, near Bath, believes the right to run things--including the local church--is part of his purchase. The fatal poisoning of Aitken's chief local detractor during a church-related meeting in the Manor brings deep hostility into the open. Targeted by a hate-mail campaign, Aitken hires young Bath private investigator Max Shepard to find out who is responsible. With the help of American widow Elizabeth Blair, who sells patchwork quilts in a shop beneath his office, Max sets out to find the womanizing Aitken's enemies--and they are many, including ex-mistresses and the former owners of the Manor. Another murder and Elizabeth's sharp-eyed forays into village society add interest to the credible plot as Brown skewers social foibles and the delusions of the pretentious. (Jan.)