"Death on a Summer's Day" by Benedict Brown

It’s the summer of 1925. Seventy-five-year-old Lord Edgington is taking his 16-year-old grandson Christopher on a motor tour of England. When Lord Edington travels, of course, he doesn’t really travel. He migrates with a substantial portion of his household – chauffeur, maid, cook, footman, and even the gardener. 

They’re rather leisurely aiming for Cumbria and the Lake District to visit the Duke of Chandos, a childhood friend of the Edgington’s. Along with two women friends and another friend who’s now a professor, the five have known each other for almost 60 years. It’s a friendship marred by a tragedy – the death of another member of the group, the daughter of the estate manager. The girl had died from smoke inhalation when the conservatory caught fire.

 

Lord Edgington has always believed the fire was no accident. And he thinks the duke himself did it back when they were all teens. 

 

Benedict Brown

All of the friends arrive. But it’s not long before tensions rise, and the duke himself is murdered. And almost everyone has both motive and opportunity. Lord Edgington, who was inspired to join Scotland Yard because of the girls’ death all those years ago, undertakes the investigation, helped by grandson Christopher.

 

Death on a Summer’s Day is the third Lord Edgington mystery by British author Benedict Brown. Brown uses the investigation to expand the knowledge about Lord Edington’s youth, both for his grandson and the reader. And Christopher himself gets some additional development and filling out, with a bit of a love interest.

 

In addition to the five published Lord Edgington stories, a sixth is scheduled for publication in the summer of 2022. Brown has also written seven Izzy Palmer mystery novels and three novellas. A native of south London, he lives with his family in Spain. The Lord Edgington mysteries are likely aimed at both the general reader as well as the young adult audience. And they’re well-researched stories, full of information about the mid-1920s.

 

Related:

 

Murder at the Spring Ball by Benedict Brown.

 

A Body at a Boarding School by Benedict Brown.

 

The Mystery of Mistletoe Hall by Benedict Brown.