The British Manor Murder

Available: September 27, 2016

Thank you to NetGalley.com for the opportunity to read an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I’ve liked the character of Lucy Stone for quite a while now, but her latest adventure, how do I put it nicely? Sucks. Not only does the murder not happen until the second half of the book, it is treated like an afterthought of the plot of the novel. More emphasis was placed on the small thefts that were occurring around the estate and the consequences of dry rot than the actual murder which made for a not so interesting tale. The entire story could be summed up as this: Lucy is depressed; blah, blah, blah, snooty English people, blah, blah, blah, annoying Aunt, murder, oh look – dry rot, blah, blah, blah we solved the murder. Yippee.

What I loved: I’m stretching here, but what I liked most was that Zoe opted not to go almost $150,000 in debt for her college tuition. Its refreshing to see someone realize that the name of the school isn’t usually everything (except for the exceptions) and its better to go a route or to a school where you will graduate with minimal student loan debt.

What I didn’t love: Sue is such a snob and I’m not really sure why. Maybe back in small town Tinker’s Cove she’s kind of big deal but the way she treated Lucy in the story was horrible. Last time I had checked, Sue wasn’t of the manor born as well.

What I learned: Lucy needs to stay stateside and be able to solve murders to make for a good read.

Overall Grade: C+