A Mansion and Its Murder by Robert Barnard
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

"The great joy of my early womanhood was not love, not 'sex', but learning my trade of banker. [...] I was learning to take my place as one of the country's leading bankers, [...]"

The non-traditional persona of the narrator, Sarah Jane Fearing, who had read maths in Cambridge, worked on breaking German codes during World War II, and became the first, and so far the only woman in charge of a major British bank, is the most interesting component of Robert Barnard's suspense story A Mansion and Its Murder (1998), the 20th book by this author that I am reviewing here on Goodreads. I keep returning to Mr. Barnard's work - even if he is not successful with many of his books - because his novels are mostly free of horrible clichés of the genre that plague the majority of American mysteries. Perhaps it is because his are British clichés, ones that I am not that familiar with. Alas, in my view Mr. Barnard has failed in this instance.

While Sarah Fearing is telling her story in 1946, the events begin in 1884, when she was five-and-a-half-year old child in a very rich and powerful family of bankers. Sir William Gladstone, British prime minister, who was the guest at the extravagantly opulent dinner took note of little Sarah and predicted a great future for her. Ms. Fearing reminisces about her youth and her enchantment with Uncle Frank, a bon vivant, and a sort of black sheep in the family. Uncle Frank is forced into an unwanted marriage which does not end well. One night Sarah overhears a heated argument among several family members, and Uncle Frank disappears. It is said that he left the country but Sarah suspects he has been murdered.

Sarah's efforts to find out the truth about that fateful night provide the narrative axis of the novel. The plot is relatively interesting until almost the very end. Most readers will enjoy well-written visuals that describe the stupendously huge Blakemere mansion and its grounds: when the mansion opens for public, it takes three days to visit it in its entirety. In addition the reader gains nice insights into the rigid British class society a hundred years ago - with the clear distinction between the "us" and the "below stairs people," the stratified staff of the mansion.

I am quite disappointed in the author's use of a cliché component in the denouement, which cheapens Mr. Barnard's work. It is a pity because the combination of interesting story, atypical protagonist, social commentary, and the usual good writing could produce a memorable novel of suspense. I wish I had not read the last few pages.

Two-and-a-quarter stars.


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