Review: The Mystery at Underwood House
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 25, 2014
Louisa Haynes asks Angela Marchmont to look into why her husband’s brother and sisters have all met untimely deaths in her home, Underwood House.  Angela very quickly gets the idea that she could be poking a stick into a hornet’s nest and wonders seriously whether to refuse.  Then she meets her friend Inspector Jameson of Scotland Yard who asks her unofficially to take on the task.This is an entertaining and complex mystery written in the nineteen twenties and featuring the Haynes family who are constantly at each other’s throats.  This state of affairs is not helped by the provisions of their late father’s will which seems designed to create discord rather than harmony.  Angela soon finds out rather more than she needed to know about the whole family and the deeper she digs the more secrets she uncovers.  She finds herself in danger too and must risk all to finally unmask the killer.A well written and at times amusing mystery with a sufficiently complex plot to keep most readers guessing.  I though the characters were believable though some are less than likeable.  They are never cardboard cut outs and all behave in plausible ways given their circumstances and upbringing.  I’d recommend the Angela Marchmont mysteries to anyone who likes Golden Age crime fiction.  They can be read in any order.