Manor House Mysteries Books In Order

Publication Order of Manor House Mysteries Books

The Manor House Mystery series is a series of historical and cozy mystery books written by the world famous British author named Doreen Roberts under the pseudonym of Kate Kingsbury. This series consists of a total of 9 books, which were released between the years 2001 and 2006. The series basically takes place at the time of the World War II and follows the activities in the life of the main character named Lady Elizabeth Hartleigh Compton. She is described by author Kate as the lady of the prestigious Manor House, located in Sitting Marsh, the United Kingdom. Author Kate started with the written work of this cozy mystery series in the year 2001 and also released its initial book in the same year. After the publication of the 9th book in the series in 2006, author Kate informed everyone that she has concluded the series. The debut book of the cozy mystery series was published under the title ‘A Bicycle Built For Murder’. This book was published by the Berkeley publishers in the year 2001. At the beginning of the story, it is shown that it is the time of the Second World War in England and the people living in the quiet Sitting Marsh village seem to be facing the problems of scarcity of food rations. They also fear for the safety of their loved ones in such difficult times. During this, Elizabeth Hartleigh Compton is introduced in the novel as the lady of the hugely built Manor House. She is one of the residents of the peaceful village of Sitting Marsh, who insists with stubbornness that people should continue to live their lives as usual in spite of the harsh conditions that the world war has brought.

Seeing Elizabeth as a bright light of hope in the feared situation, the people of the Sitting Marsh village request her to make sure that the things go on smoothly in the village. And with everything, Elizabeth knows that she has to really deal with everything, starting from the sorting out of the gossips to solving the murder cases happening occasionally in the village. A 16 year old girl named Beryl Pierce, who also lives in Sitting Marsh, seems to be causing a lot of trouble for the other residents. She always tends to indulge in something or the other that disturbs the peace and harmony of the villagers. But soon, she is found dead under a cliff and villagers think that she might have gone through an accident. More than showing grief on her death, the residents of the Sitting Marsh appear relieved with the fact that one of the troubles of their lives has gone. However, when Beryl Pierce’s mother cries out that it was not an accident, but a cold blooded murder, Elizabeth Compton too begins to suspect the same. She investigates the matter of her own and comes up three probable suspects of Beryl’s murder with possible motives.

The list of suspects includes Beryl Pierce’s boyfriend, a jealous acquaintance, and a soldier in the American Army. More than helping the victim’s mother to get justice in her daughter’s murder, Elizabeth wants to solve the case for her own satisfaction to catch the deadly killer from among the innocent residents. After a short while, Lady Elizabeth Compton comes to know that the Manor House has chosen to host a few American officers. She thinks of it as a better chance to look into the lives of the officers and try to find whether there is a killer hiding among them. Moving forward with her dedicated attempt, Elizabeth remains alert with all her senses open to the case of military mayhem and murder. She thinks that she will be able to bring the best out of her sleuthing abilities and solve the case very soon. However, she does not consider the fact that the killer is also keeping a watch on all her activities. As she moves ahead with her investigation, the killer does not get a good feeling and thinks that Elizabeth might cause real harm to his freedom if she becomes successful in getting to the bottom of the case. Therefore, he decides to shut the mouth of Elizabeth Compton once and for all. But, she too knows that the killer will try to make her his next target. And so, she stays prepared for the worst situation. In fact, she thinks of it as a good way of getting closer to the murderer and hunting him down at the first chance that she gets.

One of the other novels released in the series by author Kate Kingsbury is titled as ‘An unmentionable Murder’. This book was published in 2006 by the Berkeley publishers. The story of the book once again depicts Elizabeth Hartleigh Compton as keeper of the heritage-wise rich, but money-wise poor manor house. She is also a peace keeper living in the Sitting Marsh village in England. Author Kate has once again described how the residents of Elizabeth’s village lived in fear during the time of the World War II. But, Elizabeth Compton keeps on making them realize that the only way to tackle these difficult times is by moving forward in life as usual. In order to make things easy and smooth for the people of the village, she even tries to sort out things for the betterment of everyone. Elizabeth also tries to deal with the occasional murder cases happening in the village in her own way in order to remove the fear from the lives of the villagers. But sometimes, she is even forced to face the downside of her dedicated actions for the betterment and peace of the Sitting Marsh village. One of the cases that she gets busy with is the worrying situation of Major Earl Monroe. Earl flies over Germany and captures France. Problems keep on adding up in the life of Elizabeth Compton as she learns about the frequent disappearance of things and people from the manor house. The most noteworthy ones missing among them are the elderly butler named Martin and the knickers of the ladies from the place of washing line. As Elizabeth gears up to find them and reason behind the disappearances, she comes to know that a man has been shot dead in the village. The victim, named Clyde Morgan, was known to be a bad tempered person. He was not at all humble or soft hearted. When his dead body is found with a close range shot, the villagers think that he might have accidentally shot himself under the influence of his high temper. Even the police declare after their investigation that it is the case of suicide under the influence of mental imbalance. But, Elizabeth Compton does not seem to be ready to accept this reason. In order to find the real reason behind Clyde Morgan’s death, Elizabeth sets out to investigate the matter by herself.