The basis of the book is good - the epitomy of a country house Victorian murder mystery. The early chapters unfold well and the situation is full of suspense. The problem....there is maybe 150 pages worth of material here. As with so many of these books, the author spins it out. There are links to the fiction of Dickens and Wilkie Collins, as well as comments on the emerging phenomenum of the detective. This reader, at any rate, found these discursions tedious - I bought a book about this murder. Does the booktrade believe that the public won't buy books under 300 pages long?