Stonebridge Manor Review

Stonebridge Manor               

Written by Peter C. Bradbury

Reviewed by R. Murry

I’m no Sherlock Holmes, but I have read enough of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels to have figured out who-done-it before the last clues were arrived at, when reading a clone. This is not one.  Maybe it’s because I have read so many mysteries and have good intuitive abilities.  Who knows?

Mr. Bradbury’s novel had me stumped until the end.  He meticulously and slowly develops his characters and story for the first half of the book, bringing you into the workings of an English Manor.  This is needed to hook the read; and it was written very carefully.  You get to know all the characters that might have done the deed beforehand.

Phillip, one of the main characters, is a butler in one of Lord Baldwin’s houses.  He is commanded, so to speak, to come to Stonebridge Manor to help in the servicing of a weekend gathering by Lady Baldwin for her friends and lovers.

The killing you don’t find out about until the appropriate time.  However, one may guess who the victim will be, because of the person’s manner of living.

All is well, sex and hatred aside, until the body is found.  All who are at the weekend affair are suspect, even the one who confesses to the crime.

Good police investigative work through all the kinds of well written side stories leads to a conclusion that I did not foresee.

Maybe you can pick the killer out earlier than I did by reading this character driven novel.  I enjoyed the challenge.

Thank You Peter.

Mr. Peter C. Bradbury’s link: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorPeterC.Bradbury