Tea on Sunday (1973) by Lettice Cooper

☕ A sixty-ish widow Alberta Mansbridge lives alone with her two servants in London suburb. On Sundays, when her servants take their day off, she likes to throw tea parties for her closest friends or family. On that particular Sunday, eight people were invited: her family doctor, her accountant, her solicitor, the manager of her late father's company, a companion with whom she's lately having a quarrel, her two latest protégés (young men with dubious characters), and last but not least, her nephew Antony Seldon with his wife.

☕ Alberta is a punctual woman, she likes her guests to arrive at four a clock sharp; and her guests well know this fact. On 3:30 that day however, her door bell rang. She had installed an intercom to know who's calling, and if she wants to let the guest in, she would just push a button from her room, and a spring would be released, and the guest would be able to open the door and let his or herself in. She did this, and when the guest entered her room, Alberta's greeting was: "You are early!" Then on 4:00, eight of her guests (two of them were several minutes late) rang and knocked without avail. No one seemed to be at home. Later when the police broke into the house, they found Alberta on her desk, strangled to death.

☕ One thing I liked most of this book is that Lettice Cooper provided us a rarely chance to possess a knowledge that neither the police nor the suspects had known. That is, that Alberta's murderer was definitely one of the tea party guests. Only the readers know it from what Alberta said to her guest: "You are early". The minor thing for me was the denouement, which came too early, despite of the actions that followed, which was also a bit anticlimax. Inspector Corby, the investigator, is a competent police officer. I liked his neat and thorough style of investigation, combining skillful interviews with the suspects and both logical and psychological deduction.

☕ On the whole, it's a cross between the Golden Age mystery and cozy mystery. I liked the side story of Antony Seldon, though, which might not have close correlation with the murder investigation, but provides an interesting glimpse of the life in the 1970s. Antony's relationship with his more superior wife - she's a model with bright prospect, while Antony is just a clerk in a men's boutique - is pretty interesting. I liked also that we were introduced to Inspector Corby's personal life; his brief interaction with his wife Lucy, and their little daughter. The case ended just in time for him to attend his daughter's birthday. Lastly, while the end is a bit anticlimax, like I said before, Antony's personal ending provides a little humour to end the book - and to emphasize its cozy mystery vibes.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐