When Rex Sutherland and his employer, Eleanor, Dowager Duchess of Drakeford, find a body by the lake of Bircham Manor, Her Grace – or ‘HG’ as Rex calls her – is reluctant to let it ruin their picnic.

After all, HG is a sleuthing professional and at home with crime scenes, having cracked many a case with Scotland Yard’s top dog, Inspector Whipple, over the years.

The duchess has been invited to the manor by her friend Colonel Crispen Percival-Travers, alongside a host of other esteemed guests, for a weekend of high tea and hobnobbing. So, she sends for Whipple to assist her and Rex in weeding out the culprit from this cast of sophisticated suspects.

There is much unearthing to be done. Between love triangles and brotherly rivalries, rumours from servants and village gossip, Rex, HG and Whipple barely have time for their cocktails or cream fancies.

And then a second body is found.

Can the unlikely trio get to the bottom of these oh-so posh murders? And, when a besuited gentleman of influence turns up with a threat for the talented threesome, will they come to find they’ve bitten off more than they can chew?

A Posh Murder is everything we love about 1920s, Agatha Christie-style whodunits: opulent, wildly entertaining, and about as posh as murder can get.

Callum Hale

Stem