Death of an Earl (Catherine Tregowyn Mysteries #5) by G.G. Vandagriff

Death of an Earl (Catherine Tregowyn Mysteries #5) Reviews

• 
  Diane Challenor

  A perfect comfort read. A good mystery, with likeable characters, and the writer’s knowledge of the period made the plot believable. I’m sure I’d enjoy the whole series. I usually start a series at Book One; Death of an Earl is Book Five, but this one popped up in a blogger’s feed, and I grabbed it. I’m glad I did. The writing made the reading enjoyable.
• 
  Barbara

  On the plus side, I was happy to read this all the way to the end as I was curious to find out whodunnit. But the reader wasn't given the clues needed to work that out for themselves, which is a cardinal sin in a mystery novel in my book.
  
  Also, this is the only book in this series that I've read so I didn't have the backstory on Catherine and her fiance so I found all the angst about their relationship a little tiresome. The other characters were rather flat too, particularly Anne and James, which didn't help as they were crucial to the relationship drama.
  
  Finally, the subplot about the Dean just did not make sense. If she didn't have any siblings, I would have been willing to believe her family acted the way they did, but not otherwise. So why include them? It wasn't necessary for the plot and it just left me thinking WTF? What happened to them? Why didn't anybody care?
• 
  Alison

  This is the fourth book in a series. I haven't read any of the others but it is easy to pick up the story so far.
  
  It's 1935, the Earl of Severn holds some pretty unappealing views about Hitler and Jewish people which he freely spreads far and wide. Perhaps unsurprising then that someone murders him. Catherine Tregowyn, an amateur detective, poet, and English lecturer at Oxford University is asked to take the case by her fiancé, Harry Bascombe, when his hitherto unheard of sister-in-law Anne is accused of the murder. Anne, and Harry's brother, have been living in Germany where Harry's brother works for Bayer. Recently returned to the UK, Anne has been a vocal critic of the Earl's views and has created a small group of like-minded individuals.
  
  When he is around Anne, Catherine sees a different, more passionate man, and begins to reconsider their engagement, she's already been misled by a man once and doesn't want it to happen again.
  
  Throw in a second murder, blackmail, secrets going back to WW1 and there is a lot to keep the plot moving forward. Unfortunately, for me the plot was spoiled by the obsessive listing of everything everyone wore (for no reason relevant to the plot), the ghastly attempts at 1930s language ('jolly spiffing' type of thing) and then Harry's use of 'gotten' which I think would probably have got him drummed out of Oxford back in the 1930s. Also, and this could just be me, but I'm sure one of the witnesses said he knew one of the other witnesses on one occasion and then said he didn't on another.
  
  Overall, I would read another book in the series if it was also free on Kindle but I don't think I would pay list price.
• 
  Nadine Gardner

  Up there with Sayers, Christie and Allingham!
  
  This book was so enjoyable, I did not want it to end.
  The language, the depth of characterisation is a cut above the rest. Intrigue, mystery and romance. Wonderful!
• 
  Alayne

  I would give this book 3 and a half stars. As a mystery, it was a puzzling and interesting one. However, it had a terrible need to be properly proofread, and it was obvious it had an American author. There were a lot of inconsistencies - eg, we met Harry's sister Mary and brother-in-law Ned early on, and she was very close to having a baby. Nothing was said ever again about them which was extremely unlikely. Even a "how's Mary?" query would have sufficed each time they saw Harry's parents! A character was said to have travelled alone by ship from NZ to England in 1915 - again, highly unlikely as that was the time when the Germans were hitting shipping. And the man (spoiler alert!) who went mad in 1915 was 36 years old - I doubt he would have been lecturing at Cambridge at that time. He would have been called up for the war. I'd better stop or I'll take off more stars!
• 
  Rebecca Augustine

  Trouble for our Sleuths?
  
  What starts out as a weekend filled with lovely possibilities -- (1) to meet Harry's parents who are so excited to meet Catherine in turn; and (2) to get more of the feel of his childhood home and environment -- quickly degenerates when Harry's older brother and especially his sister-in-law, Anne, make their appearance. Anne is movie star glamorous and knows it! She and Harry had a past, and she wants to take up where she left him! However, at that point, the Oxford police barge in to arrest her for the murder of an earl who was also an active supporter of Hitler! (This IS 1935, remember?) Needless to say, Catherine has mixed emotions about wanting to help her!
• 
  Kathy

  I love this series! Catherine Tregowyn and Harry Bascombe are both College literature lecturers. Catherine works at Summerville in Oxford and Harry teaches at Christ Church in Oxford. Each book in the series is a stand alone but also builds on the same characters as the last book. Again, the mystery took twists and turns and I was surprised at the end to find out who the murderer was. WONDERFULLY written and great snippets of 1934-35 history!
• 
  Page Roman

  great read
  
  Once again another great book to this series. Loved it all the way through and will reread again for sure.
• 
  Barbara

  The best yet. Complex and very revealing about a time period with which I am pretty unfamiliar. I recommend highly.
• 
  Reita Pendry

  Captivating story.
  
  The characters are lively and engaging. The period before World War II is carefully drawn. The plot kept me eager to move to the next clue. A satisfying read.
• 
  Ann Marie

  Great story
  
  I had many ideas about who "committed the crime" but none were correct. The characters were great and the story believable.
• 
  Ellen Bard

  A fun, gentle golden age, detective mystery.
• 
  Saundra

  Very good read, marred only by multiple typos and grammatical errors. It kept me guessing!