The Murder at Sissingham Hall (2013) by Clara Benson

💙 This was my second Clara Benson - I have loved my first; it's a Freddie Pilkington-Soames - and thought that it might be as nice as the other one. I was wrong. 

💙 The story opens when Charles Knox was coming home from eight years living in South Africa. He went there in the first place, right after his engagement had been broken by Rosamund, his beautiful fiancée, who thought Charles was too poor for her to maintain the comfortable life she's used to - with balls, parties, with all the social life of the kind. Now Rosamund has married a wealthy man, Sir Neville Strickland, and lived in the countryside mansion of Sissingham Hall. And surprise, surprise! It was to Sissingham Hall that Charles was invited to stay for the weekend.

💙 Charles dreaded his first meeting with Rosamund, because it was clear to us, readers, that he's still charmed by her. But the party was jolly enough, where there are other guests too: Bobs, Charles' old friend with his sister Sylvia; Angela Marchmont, Rosamund's cousin and our amateur-sleuth-to-be; the Murrays, Sir Neville's closest relatives; Joan, his ward; and last but not least, Simon Gayle, Sir Neville's secretary. That night Sir Neville retired early to his study, and the next day he was found dead; the study door was locked, but not the French window; and it seemed at first as an accident. But Angela Marchmont's thorough observation led the other to suggest that it's actually a murder. As it happened just after Sir Neville's solicitor arrived, apparently to change his will, it was suggestive that money was the motive. But is that so? 

💙 I have some problems with this book. I know that as a cozy mystery, there will be an equal amount of the mystery and personal life of the characters. But in this one, I disliked Clara Benson's choice of the main character - it should have been Angela Marchmont, instead of Charles Knox, who was a total simp. An unreliable narrator shouldn't be in a murder mystery. I have guessed the murderer easily enough very early, and was just wondering how on earth did both the Inspector and Angela Marchmont not see it right away, even after that incident had been disclosed? The 'dramatic' denouement is a bit ridiculous, thanks to Charles Knox. In the end, it's not a start of a series I have expected, and which I would certainly not continue.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐