The Murder of Viscount Montcrief by Karen Baugh Menuhin Narrator: Sam Dewhurst-Phillips
Series: Heathcliff Lennox #15
Published by Little Dog Publishing Ltd on March 16, 2026
Source: Purchased
Genres: Historical Mystery
Length: 7 hrs 39 mins
Pages: 235
Format: Audiobook
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Viscount Montcrief was a man of wealth, refinement—and secrets. A recluse by nature, he lived in seclusion behind the iron gates of Montcrief House, a palatial estate renowned for its opulence and exquisite painted ceilings. Few were ever admitted, and those who entered were bound to silence.
But in the spring of 1924, the Viscount developed a curious obsession with plays broadcast over the wireless. When he invited a troupe of actors—seven players and their director—to perform a private drama within his grand drawing room, the staff raised their eyebrows. When he was discovered the next morning, brutally murdered, they raised the alarm.
With a house full of servants, a retinue of gardeners, and eight guests with dramatic inclinations, there is no shortage of suspects. But who among them turned a performance into a killing? And what was it the Viscount truly hoped to hear that night?
A mystery of masks and motives, The Murder of Viscount Montcrief is a tale of performance, masquerade and deadly pretence.
The reclusive Viscount Montcrief, whose country home is not far from Lennox’, has been murdered shortly welcoming an acting troupe into his home. Lennox and Swift are sent to investigate, but since it’s close to home, we get to see plenty of Florence and Persi, too, and the pets. As always, Swift tries to do everything correctly and by the book, while Lennox kind of jumps around and goes more by instinct.
The plot works well. The actors are appropriately eccentric and are trying hard to keep their secrets. We’ve got a couple of surprising twists, and another dead body or two. Maybe I’m getting a little bored with the series, though.
About Karen Baugh Menuhin
At 60, Karen Baugh Menuhin decided to write, and suddenly the stories came pouring out, along with the characters. Eccentric Uncles, stalwart butlers, idiosyncratic servants, machinating Countesses, and the hapless Major Heathcliff Lennox.
An itinerate traveller all her life, she grew up in the military, often on RAF bases but preferring to be in the countryside when they could.
She is living and writing in the Cotswolds with her dear husband Krov. Krov is a professional writer, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, professional diver, pilot, ex US special forces soldier, and the eldest son of violinist, Yehudi Menuhin.
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