Other editions of book A Corpse in a Gilded Cage

A man’s home is his castle, but for Percy Spender that motto has been taken just a bit too literally. After the sudden death of first one distant relative and then another, the amiable Perce has become the 12th Earl of Ellesmere. And his home, no longer a cozy council flat, is now the drafty, imposing Chetton Hall, complete with more bedrooms than Perce can count and an army of servants. Frankly, all these fancy trappings make Perce itch. He’d just as soon sell up, buy a comfy cottage, and put a bundle on the ponies. However, some of his mates and family members have other ideas. And the sad fact is that an Unfortunate Accident can happen to anyone, even a lord of the realm.

Chetton Hall was one of the glories of Jacobean domestic architecture, and the Spenders had lived in Chetton ever since their founder had peculated the money to build it while he was the King's Secretary of Monopolies. Over the years they had accumulated accrustations of dignity, to say nothing of wealth. Which made it doubly shocking when the Earldom descended to Percy Spender, who was 'not quite', not to mention his family, who were not at all. When the family descends on Chetton for his sixtieth birthday, accompanied by various hangers-on, their main obsession is to discover his intentions for the future of the place. Hardly less interested is his man of business, and his neighbours, who feel sadly the diminished glory of the house. The Spenders, in fact, have always felt like birds in a guilded cage at Chetton. Before the celebrations are over, one of the birds is a very dead duck indeed.The traditional country house party murder is turned on its head, given a few twists, and ends up much reinvigorated in this witty and lively whodunit by a writer who, as described in the Times Literary Supplement, 'can write most under the table with one hand behind his back.''Mr Barnard always maintains an exceptionally high level, being as much littérateur as mystery story writer; fortunately, he never lets his literary flair get in the way of his mysteries.' New York Times Book Review

A man?s home is his castle, but for Percy Spender that motto has been taken just a bit too literally. After the sudden death of first one distant relative and then another, the amiable Perce has become the 12th Earl of Ellesmere. And his home, no longer a cozy council flat, is now the drafty, imposing Chetton Hall, complete with more bedrooms than Perce can count and an army of servants. Frankly, all these fancy-pants trappings make Perce itch. He?d just as soon sell up, buy a comfy cottage, and put a bundle on the ponies. However, some of his mates and family members have other ideas. And the sad fact is that an Unfortunate Accident can happen to anyone, even a lord of the realm.

A man?s home is his castle, but for Percy Spender that motto has been taken just a bit too literally. After the sudden death of first one distant relative and then another, the amiable Perce has become the 12th Earl of Ellesmere. And his home, no longer a cozy council flat, is now the drafty, imposing Chetton Hall, complete with more bedrooms than Perce can count and an army of servants. Frankly, all these fancy-pants trappings make Perce itch. He?d just as soon sell up, buy a comfy cottage, and put a bundle on the ponies. However, some of his mates and family members have other ideas. And the sad fact is that an Unfortunate Accident can happen to anyone, even a lord of the realm.

What would you do if you suddenly became an earl? That's what happens to Perce and Elsie Spender, an average working-class couple from Clapham, who wake up one day to find themselves the 12th Earl and Countess of Ellesmere, owners of a huge estate named Chetton Hall. It's more of a palace than a house really, with enough antiques and artwork to fill a museum. Perce never hoped to become an earl, and he's none too grateful to the distant cousin who died inconveniently and made it happen.Perce and Elsie have now spent six weeks at Chetton Hall, which is six weeks too many. It's cold, the silk chairs are uncomfortable, and you have to walk a mile to get to the kitchens.Perce wants to sell the whole estate to the highest bidder-even a nasty foreigner, if that's where the money is-and retire to Clapham. Countess Elsie agrees. The sooner she can put all this countess business behind her, the better. But Perce and Elsie forget that their children may like Chetton Hall. Their eldest son, Phil, a nice young man who just happens to be in prison, discovers being the heir to an earl carries certain privileges, even behind bars, while his wife. Dixie, thrills to the title of Lady Portsea. Perce and Elsie's younger son, the Honourable Trevor, finds that his X-rated film-star girl friend, Michele, shows sudden interest in more than his talent under the sheets. And daughter Lady Joan and her insurance-man husband Digby seem inordinately fascinated by the pictures and the silver.