3.5 stars

This series debut is advertised as in the Agatha Christie mode, but really reads a bit more like Phryne Fisher. Young adventuress and orphan Ellie has suddenly inherited a title and an estate to become Lady Eleanor, courtesy of an uncle she didn't know well and felt a bit neglected by.

She appears back in England after worldwide adventures too amazing to actually believe. Her uncle's seemingly staid household, run by consummate butler (and close friend of her uncle's) Clifford. Ellie's first night at the mansion is unsettling -- while out for a walk she witnesses a murder. But she has no luck in convincing the local bumbling constabulary there's been a crime when the body is disappeared and no evidence remains.

There are lots of entertaining scenes in this mystery. Ellie is an uneven character -- sometimes bold and determined, sometimes foolish and a tad entitled. But it's fast-paced and mostly amusing. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I want to start by giving kudos to the person responsible for the cover. It's just great and reflects the period in which the story takes place perfectly.

Ellie is a wonderful character. She is stubborn, feisty and fierce and she does not stop when she has a plan in her head.

Clifford is the typical stiff butler, but never judge a book by its cover. There is more to him than meets the eye.

Ellie is determined to find out what happened and who the culprit is. She is convinced she has seen a crime being committed. If only the police would believe her. That leaves her with only one solution : take the matter in her own hands.

A good cozy mystery book with a balanced amount of suspense and humour topped with a few emotional revelations and a little bit of romance. 4 stars.

Thank you, Verity Bright and Bookouture.

Eleanor returns home from her intrepid and independent travels in South Africa after she was notified of the death of her uncle, Lord Henley. She was shocked to be informed that she has inherited his very fine country manor, surrounding parklands and staff. She is quite ambivalent about this as, after the sudden death of both her parents, she had hoped to live with her uncle, but was disappointed to be sent to boarding school instead and rarely see him. On the first night of her return, after a run in with Clifford the butler, Eleanor rushes out of the house to walk off her upset only to see a man murdered.

Unfortunatley by the time Eleanor is able to get to the scene of the crime the body has disappeared. The police refuse to come until morning by which time even the blood has disappeared. It seems that everyone thinks she is making it up but she is determined to not only prove that a murder has occurred but to identify the killer. And then a second death occurs and Eleanor realises that she too may be at risk.

I note this novel has been compared to Agatha Christie novels and it is set between the wars however Eleanor is no Miss Marple and certainly does not have the grey matter of M. Poirot. She is the Watson to her butler, Clifford's, Holmes. In fact, Eleanor is a ditz which would be fine if her back story was not one of being an able and independent woman who had travelled the world on her own. She shows absolutely no evidence in this story of any survival instinct or experience in dealing with people. The characters of the staff and the villagers, on the other hand, are beautifully presented.

I was somewhat disappointed in this cozy mystery, both for presentation of Eleanor and because I am always irritated when titles are misrepresented in novels when one only needs to check Google. The heroine is Eleanor, Lady Swift NOT Lady Eleanor Swift if, as claimed, she holds the title in her own right. She must be at least a Baroness (of Swift with potentially a different surname) and should be announced as such. Also, when speaking to a Viscountess, one addresses her as Lady Whosit (My dear Lady Whosit, would you like some tea?) not Viscountess Whosit, as happened at a social occasion Eleanor attended. The problems of situating the story in the peerage.

I'm still looking forward to the next book in the series to see where this goes.

Thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for an advanced copy of this book. I have happily provided an independent review.

What a great Cozy Mystery! I am hooked! This is the best book, bar none that I have read this year, yes, it is only the first part of March, but I have read at least fifty books of different genres thus far. I plan to place this extremely witty, fast paced mystery on my top twenty books of 2020! I love the heroine, intrepid adventuress Eleanor, Lady Swift, her Butler, Clifford, her housekeeper, and cook! I want to live at Henley Hall, I love Gladstone, the very funny bulldog, too cute! I like the two possible love interest, DCI Sheldon, is more my taste, the other man, Lancelot, son of the local Lord, is gregarious, but too silly for me, we will see. The mystery was very well thought out, even though I guessed the murderer, it still made for a most enjoyable read! The one pet peeve I have is the use of the word giggle to describe a grown woman's laughter! It drives me nuts! However, being the first time I have read this author I will still give this book five pearls on my site, it was too entertaining for me to not wholeheartedly endorse this book!
I highly recommend! Thank you Bookouture! Thank you Netgalley!

Lady Eleanor Swift has a new home, Henley Hall, a place where she spent difficult summers as a child with her late uncle. Having spent most of her adult life travelling in parts of the world where very few of her 1920's contemporaries venture it now seems her existence is to be very different, as lady of the manor with a staff she has never met and a bulter she remembers as being quietly aloof.

Finding a companion in the portly but friendly bulldog, Gladstone, Eleanor heads out into the darkness for a panic laden walk needing to get away from a stuffiness she isn't sure she can live with even on the first day in her new old home. As the weather descends into torrential rain with thunder and lightning she finds herself not only hopelessly lost but also the only witness to a brutal and callous murder happening right in front of her. The horror is increased by a lackadaisical police force who have no intention of investigating a crime they don't believe happened and Eleanor finds her only allies in strangers she isn't sure she can or wants to trust.

Lady Eleanor Swift is a little stereotyped, the modern young thing, orphaned, used to tackling problems head on whatever the usual niceties decree, flouting the rules of her silver-lined existence, while fighting a slothful local police force and finding assistance in places she least expected. This is the problem with setting a crime series in the early 1920's with a titled lead female protagonist who has to be portrayed in this way to actually get anything done.

This is an easy, non-taxing read but with very little in the way of surprises although there are hints of secrets kept from Eleanor by her late uncle with a few tasty morsels shared along with the promise of more to come. There was also the hint of a possible romance unfortunately with a vacuous young man who hopefully has more going for him than was delivered in this first book in a new series.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and will definitely read the second book in the series as in spite of its limitations there is the promise of more good stories to come.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this. I will be posting a full review to Goodreads, Amazon, and Instagram.

If you want something that will remind you of Miss Marple or Agatha Christie books and at same time want a sassy and impulsive and all around adorable heroine, a cozy light murder mystery. This one is for you!

Eleanor (Ellie) returns to country side England after her Uncle's death Inherting his Estate and Title and becoming Lady Eleanor Swift. Yes immediately reminded me of Taylor Swift, so many times in the book she reminds me of the Music star of how she would be like in the 1920s.
Moving on.. Although it seems that the staff and especially the stiff butler doesn't like her. They recieve her quite warmly.

She sees a murder on a dark stormy night while on the walk with Gladstone (he is a star character in this). But when she tells the police and goes back to the scene. There is no sign of crime. No body, no blood, no murder weapon nothing. And so the police don't believe her and think she is just a rich heiress trying to get attention. If only Gladstone could talk and be the witness. But he is a dog!😂 And adorable one at that 😍

No one but her butler Clifford believes her. Together they form quite the team. Bringing them closer in some ways and raising many questions about his and her uncle's adventures (I cant wait to find out). I love Clifford and his sarcasm, wit and his calm mind. I loved All the quotes and sayings said by him throughout the book. My favorite is,

‘Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.’ Oscar Wilde.

There is some romance and a hint of a love triangle here. But for now let's focus on Lancelot he seems to be wild enough to match Ellie but I have a feeling it wont last. 🤷‍♀️

The highlight of this book is definitely the relationship between the butler Clifford and Lady Swift(ellie). As Ellie herself said..
‘Yes, Clifford. A mere woman and a mere servant. Two classes undervalued and underestimated for generations, joining together to make a formidable team.’

The suspense and the murder story part was a bit lacking but it's okay enough for a light read.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for providing me to read this for my honest opinions.

Overall, I enjoyed the book I do wish it had been shorter though; it would have been shorter if she wasn’t such a know-it-all! She’s an enjoyable heroine, but I’d like to see her be less.... everything? Just marching right in and asking everyone if they saw a body? Tact, a little more tact and thought is all she needs.

An ok start to a mystery series. The back story felt a little disjointed - not sure if it was intentional but it did take away from my enjoyment of the story a little bit.

A Very English Murder by Verity Bright was a lighthearted romp of a Golden-Age-esque murder mystery with the requisite Jeeves-like butler and a charmingly ebullient bulldog named Gladstone.

Lady Swift has just returned to England after years of globe-trotting and I enjoyed her perspective as an outsider thanks to her international outlook but also an aristocratic insider by virtue of her birth and social position.

In these newly-written pastiche types of books, I am often brought up short by modern solecisms that have sneaked past the editor. In this book, I didn't notice any! If there were any, Lady Swift's unusual background made it seem quite likely that she would behave in a more independent and modern way than women of the era, so perhaps that helped.

I am glad this is the first of a series and look forward to reading more of Lady Swift's adventures, perhaps with a Goggles and Sherlock crime-fighting team developing their promising friendship.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

My thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for this eARC. Set in 1920 Eleanor returns to Henley Hall upon the death of her uncle Lord Henley. She has now inherited Henley Hall and is now Lady Eleanor Swift. The characters in this book are well written, with the interaction between Lady Eleanor and Clifford the butler being so engaging. I loved reading this book it was so easy to read and absolutely captivating. I cannot wait to read of the further adventures of Lady Eleanor and her beloved bulldog Gladstone. . Highly recommended

This is the first of what I hope will be a series of cozy mysteries, set in the 1920’s and featuring Lady Eleanor Swift, Clifford the butler and her engaging household staff.
Lady Swift has recently come back to her uncles house, now hers as he has passed this and his title to her upon his death. She has spent little time here since childhood and returns to find the butler and staff remember her fondly and discovers her uncle sent her away to school to protect her, not as she has believed to get rid of her.
The characters who live and work in the household have a good grounding in this novel and I particularly liked Clifford the butler who is intelligent, stoic and humorous. Together he and Eleanor try and solve a crime to which she was witness and the police have dismissed.
The style of writing and use of language is very charming. I was rooting for Eleanor to catch the murderer and find love, in the shape of “Goggles”, the dashing local squire. I will definitely be looking out for book two.
This book was read courtesy of Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Verity Bright has set the stage for a really enjoyable series of classic British mystery stories. I was immediately drawn to the character of Lady Eleanor Swift and will look forward to more of her adventures. But, for me, the star of the book was her straight-laced, somewhat mysterious Butler, Clifford.

Clifford clearly holds all the cards in Bright's first book in the proposed series---and, as the story unfolds we suspect we have a lot to learn about Clifford and his late employer (Lady Eleanor's uncle). This story felt somewhat incomplete, but I imagine that it is intended simply as an introduction to the characters and the series. We have to stay tuned for more depth of understanding about who's who, and what's going on in the country house. And, I will be perfectly happy to do that. Clifford has all the deft skills and dry humor of Lord Peter Wimsey's partner-in-crime, Bunter---so, I expect big things from Clifford and Lady Eleanor in the future.

Netgalley provided me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for a candid review.

1920, England. Eleanor Swift's travels round the world have finally come to an end as her uncle has died and she is the new heir to Henley Hall in Little Buckford. After the grueling and long journey to the Hall she goes for an evening walk just as a storm approaches. Unfortunately she witnesses a murder, which the police fail to believe happened, especially when there is no body or blood discovered.
I thought the local police were too ineffectual to be believed, and the guilty party was a bit too obvious. Overall an enjoyable lightweight cozy mystery though I didn't take to Lady Eleanor's character.

I love books set in the 1920's and if they take place in England it's a bonus. This is a well written cozy that kept me entertained. Lady Eleanor's staff are the stars of this book, they're engaging and not at all who they appear to be. The jury is still out for me on Lady Eleanor, she just struck me as a little abrasive, hopefully in the next book she'll grow on me.

This has to be a gentle, cosy mystery which, I'm afraid, I found rather shallow. Eleanor (Ellie), the heroine is a strong minded young woman of the early 1920s who has spent much of her life travelling, exploring and generally doing things not approved of for young ladies. Her uncle dies and she finds herself the new lady of the manor complete with servants and expectations of society. She sees a murder on a dark and stormy afternoon but, when following this up, there's no body and no evidence of foul play. The police don't believe her so she sets out to solve the case of course, this time ably supported by the faithful butler - the best character of the book but then, think Jeeves. They have plenty of suspects and then there's another murder and her car brakes are tampered with leaving more suspicion in the wake. We do get her frustration at the rigours of polite society, a male dominated police and at her discomfort of being her ladyship. She does develop a strong relationship with the elderly butler, who is not quite just as he seems, as well as with the rest of the staff; but that with the exceedingly annoying young man about town just seems off to me - for a woman of her worldy experience what on earth does she see in him? The characterisations are good, however, and that's why it got 4 stars, the story line rather less so, shallow as I said. There is potential for further stories but, if they are to continue along the detecting line, need a bit more meat and bite to them. Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

In the first book of a new series, set in 1920, world traveler and adventurer, Eleanor Swift has inherited the estate of her late uncle. On her first night walk she’s caught in a thunderstorm, gets turned around and finds herself on the edge of a quarry, where she witnesses the murder of a man through a cabin window. When the police finally come to investigate the next day, the body is missing, and the officer treats her like a mixed up helpless female.
What’s she to do but solve the murder herself. A heroine who’s filled with gumption and brains, it was fun getting to know Eleanor Swift. She puts me in mind of Miss Fishers murder mysteries, and I’m looking forward to the next installment. And how can any book go wrong with an English bulldog as one of,the characters!

A "classic" whodunit placed in the 20s, in a small town in Wales. lady Swift has just arrived to inherit the household from her uncle. She witnesses a murder and starts to investigate it, despite all the difficulties.

I liked the setting and the atmosphere of the book. The butler, Clifford, seems copied from any British aristocratic comedy but he's more than it seems in the first place. The other characters, such as Lancelot the pilot, the police officers and the mayor are less crafted but still very believable.

There are many mannerisms in the dialogue, reflecting the way of speaking in 1920s England. Nothing difficult, but I had to take a peek or two in the dictionary (English is not my native language).

Overall, a great murder mystery novel best described as "Agatha Christie meets Downton Abbey". I give it 4 stars out of 5 because of the aforementioned characters and the plot, which is gripping until the climax where somehow the suspense didn't work that well for me. However, your experience may vary.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the eARC.
It's 1920 and Eleanor Swift has come back from her worldwide wanderings after her uncle, Lord Henley, died and left her Henley Hall. She's now Lady Eleanor, something she's not entirely comfortable with. The butler, Clifford, doesn't seem overly happy to see her and after her lonely childhood, she's not sure she made the right choice to come back to the Hall. At least Gladstone, the bulldog, is overjoyed to see her and becomes her faithful shadow. I loved Gladstone and his ferocious kisses!
When she sees a man shot, she goes to the police, but there's no body and they quickly decide she's imagining things. She's determined to find the truth, though and eventually Clifford lends a helping hand and the two of them become a sleuthing duo.
There were times I was reminded of The Thin Man series and the Jeeves and Wooster books, which created a nice feeling of nostalgia. I liked Eleanor a lot, she's feisty and sweet and has a wonderful relationship with the staff of the Manor. The ending had me a little teary, because she's finally come home. The mystery was fun, but the best part of the book was (after reading quite a few dark mysteries) that it made me feel cosy and warm. Looking forward to the next book! Highly recommended.