A stately British country manor. A house party complete with impoverished gentry, American millionaires, and foreign envoys. Dressing for dinner. What could be a better comfort read than a traditional Golden-Age mystery? But James Anderson's delightful novel, The Affair of the Blood-Stained Egg Cozy, is actually a historical mystery first published in 1975 (when was the last time you heard someone refer to anything as delightful? I guess I'm in the spirit of the setting).
Jane is our impoverished gentry who, after losing yet another job for which she has only meager skills, is given a respite from job hunting by an invitation from her old school chum, Lady Geraldine Saunders (Gerry), to visit her family's estate in the country for the weekend. Also invited are an American millionaire who shares an interest in gun collecting with Gerry's father, the Earl, his wife, his secretary, the Earl's brother who is in politics, his assistant, two foreign envoys, a young man writing a travel book about country houses, and a beautiful and exotic foreign Baronness. But no one is who they seem, and when not one but two of the party are found dead, it is up to Detective Inspector Wilkins to sort it all out.
The characters are engaging, the plot is full of (wait for it) delightful twists, and I would be surprised if you are able to figure out whodunnit.
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