I picked this book up in a charity shop a couple of months ago I think, and picked it up in early September. I knew it was one of Ann's older series, but I haven't read any of them, so I was intrigued to get into this. I think that her writing and her series have improved over the last couple of decades as I don't believe her earlier writing stands up to her current writing. It's not to say that this book is bad, because it isn't, but I think it was just a bit 'cosy' which isn't really my kind of thing.
It's part of the George and Molly Palmer-Jones series. They are a married couple, George is a keen bird watcher and also solves mysteries, clearly. In this book, he and Molly are on their way somewhere and they decide to stop off at the house belonging to her elderly aunt, Ursula. When they get there, they find her dead body.
Ursula lives on a huge estate owned by a man called Marcus Grenville who is a politician hoping to rise to the top. He wants Ursula out of her cottage so that he can convert it into a holiday cottage, but she has refused to move and she obviously has tenants rights. Then she discovers that he has been using illegal bait on his land which has killed a rare bird of prey and also her beloved cats. She marches into his house where he is having a dinner party and accuses him of using the illegal bait. And the next day she is dead, which is a little bit too coincidental for Molly, who starts investigating her aunt's death immediately.
Grenville is a typical lord of the manor, used to throwing his weight and money around to get what he wants. He has a wife - Olivia maybe? - who is a recluse and who never leaves the manor house. He has two grown up children. His daughter is a bit fragile, she had a breakdown and she now does pottery and lives with her husband. His son - James, maybe, it's a while since I read this - is very much in his father's shadow but eager to take over the running of the estate. At the dinner party that Ursula interrupted he had brought his girlfriend, Emma, to meet the family. She isn't used to their world - she's a nursery nurse - but she's nice enough.
There are so many secrets in this book and I thought the mystery got lost a bit. Plus as I say Ann has really bettered her writing over the past thirty years so this didn't thrill me, but I'm giving it a solid three out of five.
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