Eighteen-year-old Christopher Prentiss is visiting his grandfather, retired Scotland Yard Superintendent Lord Edgington. An unexpected invitation arrives, one marked urgent, from the Shipley sisters, who live in Suffolk. The three are well-known, except to young Christopher. One writes historical biography, one is a mystery novelist, and the third (and youngest) is a travel writer.
The invitation doesn’t explain the urgency, but Lord Edgington and Christopher quickly pack up and head to Suffolk.
The three, now in their 50s and 60s, live together with their elderly father at the large family estate. Only the youngest is married. The conversation at dinner still doesn’t explain the urgency, but it does focus on how to commit the perfect crime. When old Mr. Shipley is found dead the next morning, seemingly having fallen from a window during the night, Lord Edgington quickly sizes up the situation. It was no accident, and it was definitely murder.
A Novel Way to Kill is a novella in this 1920s Lord Edgington series by British author Benedict Brown. It falls about halfway in the (so far) 12-book series, the twelfth being the recently published The Puzzle of Parham House. The story told in the novella is essentially a murderer testing how much the great Lord Edgington still knows about the business or murder. It’s a rather fun read, and a quick read.
In addition to the Lord Edgington stories, Brown has 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.
Death on a Summer’s Day by Benedict Brown.
The Tangled Treasure Trail by Benedict Brown.
The Curious Case of the Templeton-Swifts by Benedict Brown.
The Crimes of Clearwell Castle by Benedict Brown.
The Snows of Weston Moor by Benedict Brown.
What the Vicar Saw by Benedict Brown.
Blood on the Banisters by Benedict Brown.
A Killer in the Wings by Benedict Brown.
The Christmas Bell Mystery by Benedict Brown.
Some Thursday Readings
On the Invention of M. Dupin – Olivia Rutigliano at CrimeReads.
‘France! à l’heure où tu te prosternes’ (1853) by Victor Hugo – Adam’s Roberts at Adam’s Notebook.
The State of the Crime Novel, Part 1: The Writing Life and Part 2: The Future of Crime Writing – Molly Odintz at CrimeReads.
“Confused about the Ivy League,” poem by A,M Juster – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.
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