Best country house whodunnit?

[Bellevilles]

I love a country house whodunnit and am looking for some new ones. Please recommend your faves- thank you!

Another vote for Georgette Heyer. All of her detective novels are well worth a read but The Unfinished Clue & Envious Casca (also known as A Christmas Party) both have a country house murder type plot

Yep, you're right. Misremembering the title of something I read years ago.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie.

Along with all the other Christies which have been mentioned, I will add:

Cards on the Table
Three Act Tragedy
Dumb Witness
The Hollow
After the Funeral
Sad Cypress
Five Little Pigs
Black Coffee
Peril at End House (this one is my favourite, I think)
They Do It With Mirrors
A Pocket Full of Rye
The Murder at the Vicarage
A Murder is Announced
Crooked House
Spider's Web

And also:
The Act of Roger Murgatroyd by Gilbert Adair

An English Murder by Cyril Hare

The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy, The Affair of the Mutilated Mink and The Affair of the Thirty-Nine Cufflinks, all by James Anderson- these are SO brilliant and deserve to be far more well-known than they are.

Happy reading!

A lot of the British Library Crime Classics feature country houses.

Ooh you could say The Franchise Affair at a stretch. By Josephine Tey. @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g posts reminded me.

@IdgieThreadgoodeIsMyHeroine oh yes the James Anderson books are excellent.
I would say as a country house style mystery series the Daisy Dalrymple series by Carola Dunn are excellent.

Another vote for Georgette Heyer. All of her detective novels are well worth a read but The Unfinished Clue & Envious Casca (also known as A Christmas Party) both have a country house murder type plot

I was going to say Envious Casca. Several of Georgette Heyer's mysteries have country house settings.

Dame Agatha's Cards on the Table isn't a country house setting, but I like it because it has Mrs Oliver. Dead Man's Folly, also with Mrs Oliver, is a country house setting - in fact the house in question is based on Agatha's own house in Devon.

Another of her 'group of suspects in a house' mysteries is Murder in Mesopotamia.

Envious Casca by Georgette Heyer fits the bill perfectly. Highly recommend.

I like Ariadne Oliver but Deadman's Folly is one of the weakest Christie's imo.

I remember wondering how on earth they'd do it on tv after I read it. Not surprised they didn't tackle it until quite late on in the series.

@IdgieThreadgoodeIsMyHeroine

The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy, The Affair of the Mutilated Mink and The Affair of the Thirty-Nine Cufflinks, all by James Anderson- these are SO brilliant and deserve to be far more well-known than they are.

I completely agree, I loved these books and I hardly ever see them recommended or mentioned they are definitely underrated.

The Hollow is one of Christie's best, slightly darker than her usual storylines but very good. The play version is great, too!

The Ice House - Minette Walters. They made a tv miniseries - Daniel Craig was in it as I recall. 😁

AA Milne’s only detective story is a country house whodunnit. I think it’s called The Red House Mystery.

It is- have you read it? It's very funny, but the mystery part is a bit disappointing.

Yes. I read it last year. I enjoyed it but you could really tell that he wrote it as a love letter to golden age crime writers. Felt formulaic, like her was ticking off the tropes.

Yes! I agree with that assessment.

Thanks for recommending these! I’m listening to them now too, perfect ‘cosy crime’ with engaging characters. I like the combination of new plots with the ongoing story arc, though it’s taken me a bit of time to get my head around stories of 1920s England being written in US English.

I can’t remember who it was in A Murderous Marriage who used the epithets tosser and wanker, but that had me howling with laughter & wondering if the author actually knew what the words meant…

As already mentioned, several of PD James' books fit the bill. The Lighthouse (a Big House AND and island, doesn't get more closed mystery than that!), Death in Holy Orders and The Private Patient jump out.

Glad you are enjoying them, but entirely understand about the Americanisms. I don't understand why authors don't get someone from the UK to proof read! I'm currently reading a Sariah Wilson book with a supposed Earl in it and cringing frequently. I'd love to volunteer to be a proof reader for some genres.

Oh, me too.

The latest howler is the small branch of the Bank of England in the village!

I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of it is intentional because the books are aimed at the US market.