The country house murder mystery is possibly the quintessential classic whodunit, and so many people have written them that another one seems superfluous - or does it? Against all odds, Raichev has actually managed to bring something fresh and new to the tired old formula, and produce a story that embodies elements from both the classic style and other contemporary crime fiction. There is the impoverished old aristocrat in her crumbling old house, rejected by the National Trust, and a relic of a former age. The book is filled with motifs from times past - the age of the classic country house murder - at odds with modern times. Antonia is the outsider, feeling like a court jester one minute and a sleuth the next, but always the voice of reason with her heart and mind in the outside world. To its detriment the puzzle is not hard to guess, but this is not a long novel and there is plenty of bizarre color to at least partly make up for this fault. A series to watch out for.