For a book set in a big old country house with tons of rooms, a big cellar and with attached church ruins it's surprisingly weak on setting - I'd have appreciated some more description of the village and the house and just anything but there's very little at all. The characterisation is also really weak, the main family of characters is totally interchangeable and the others are stereotypes, which at least makes them distinct. The French artist character is borderline offensive - I feel he's intended to be partially humorous but it really doesn't work. Also the main characters are all rich toffs and often talk in annoying ways which makes me engaged even less. Also some ridiculousness - the female leads who were so desperate to move in and couldn't be swayed almost immediately want to move out when the possibility of a ghost is raised. This person who keeps hanging around my house in suspicious ways and who I've talked to like twice I should surely protect when I find he's been hanging around again and at the same time as there was an attempted break-inWe're trying to be careful because there's a ghost/someone pretending to be a ghost/someone trying to break in because they might be trying to steal something? Lemme just invite a vacuum salesman in and have him roam the halls unattended

Will almost certainly finish because Georgette Heyer is someone I feel I should at least give a fair hearing to and it's a pretty easy read but blurgh. Maybe it improves.

Ah ok so after finishing it I'm no more satisfied. There's a romance subplot and it's AWFUL - there's 0 romance just "oh you two are in love now". And this from a writer of romance novels! It feels like a plot device too because it's used to plant some red herrings. And the very ending felt like a Scooby-Doo style unmasking - it was so silly I laughed. There are very few clues throughout the novel and so instead we get a summary right near the end from the person who's *actually* been solving the mystery. Which is pretty disappointing because I immediately thought I'd rather be reading the book from his perspective. In general re the whole mystery - it's full of holes and with not enough clues, red herrings or info on any of the possible suspects to really make it interesting. There was no reason for the criminal gang to *care* about people living in the house!!! It was only due to their ridiculous bringing attention to themselves that the main characters cared about them. Of course they'd have got found out *anyway* because of the actual police investigator on their trail. But it makes the main characters feel even more pointless and marginal. The gang could just have blocked up the secret entrances in the house and been done with it.

Weirdly probably the best part of the book was the "ghost story" aspect - it only comes through a bit but I found the sections where people see the Monk genuinely a bit spooky. Although maybe only because I'm really easily scared. In general just really really poor - yes, there's some satisfaction at the end, but the characters, setting, mystery, plotting, romance, descriptions etc... it just all really really falls short. Not unreadable but I'd never recommend it over the mountains of other cozy mystery type books out there. ( )

Locals claim the Priory is haunted and refuse to put a single toe past the front door. Left empty for years, and even their deceased uncle chose to live in a different house, far away from this particular property. But the ramshackle old house, with its rambling charm is the perfect setting for a much-needed holiday for siblings Peter, Celia and Margaret, who have inherited it from their uncle. It wasn't the lack of modern conveniences that made a summer spent at the ancient priory mansion such an unsettling experience. It was the supposed ghost... or whatever was groaning in the cellars and roaming the countryside around Framley Village after dark.

But when a murder victim is discovered in the drafty Priory halls, the once unconcerned trio begins to fear that the ghostly rumors are true and they are not alone after all! But traditionally ghosts don't commit murder. And in this case, the things which go bump in the night are deadly. With a killer on the loose, will they find themselves the next victims or will they uncover the true in time? Does the key to the crime lie in the realm of the supernaturalr? Or is the explanation much more down to earth with a more corporeal culpritl of flesh and blood? ( )

Classic mystery, 3 siblings inherit a priory reputed to be haunted. They uncover ab international plot. There is a minor romance as well. ( )

Not since Austen's Northanger Abbey have I read about a supposedly haunted place where the expectations are humorously turned around.

Celia, her brother Peter, and sister Margaret have inherited an old priory. It's 1932, so the fact that the priory has no electricity doesn't daunt them. The siblings, their aunt, and Celia's lawyer husband, Charles, bring the faithful family retainers, Bowers and his formidable wife, with them to spend a few weeks relaxing in the old place.

Relax? Ha! The priory is said to be haunted by the ghost of one of the old monks. Yes, a cowled and robed figure does turn up on the grounds some nights. So do obviously human men, who may or may not be about on honest business. Could one of them be the mysterious monk?

The priory does have some nice secret spaces and passages, but can Charles and Peter find them all? Of the female characters, Mrs. Bowers is the one most likely to give the robed figure a good thump on the head with something heavy. It's a pity she never encounters him. Celia is the most annoying, timid creature. The only reason why she stays is that Charles refuses to leave. Margaret is much more stout-hearted. Her weakness is local inn guest Michael Strange. She refuses to believe that he could be the monk. The aunt (Lydia?) is the sort of aunt often found in Ms. Heyer's Regency Romances. She refuses to believe in the monk to begin with, but later decides to try to summon his spirit in one of my favorite scenes.
Given the period in which this was written, I'll have to forgive her for fainting when she encounters the monk during a late night visit to the priory's library, instead of using her candle to see if she set the monk on fire.

This is the third time I've checked this book out and listened to it, but it had been seven years. I hadn't remembered anything consciously, but did my subconscious remember who the villain was or did I genuinely fix on the right suspect before I was halfway through?

The action ramps up in the last two CDs. It's not a bad mystery. The humor makes it even more enjoyable. ( )

Mrs. Bosanquet is my favorite character--so funny. ( )