By the author of The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy (which you really want to get just for the title!) The Affair of the Mutilated Mink.
Now for those that think I've finally gone barking mad as this doesn't sound like my normal fare, this is a fabulous, tongue in cheek yoicks tally ho and away style which is frightfully funny (donchaknow) - well it is to me at least. And they are very entertaining books into the bargain. Of course it's all just ever so slightly over the top (and I have to say, one of the nicest dust jacket designs I've seen in a while.)
'On Guard!'
George Henry Alwyin Saunders, twelfth Earl of Burford, took up a fencing stance and thrust. The ferrule of his umbrella stopped one inch from his butler's waistcoat. 'Yield, villian!' the Earl exclaimed
'Certainly my lord.' Merryweather, the butler, relieved his master of the umbrella and his overcoat. 'An enjoyable cinematographic entertainment, my lord.'
The Earl of Burford can't believe his luck: Rex Ransom, his favourite star from the 'talkies', and his hot-shot producer, Haggermeir, want to film their next feature at Alderley, the family's seventeenth century country estate. Somewhat less enthusiastic is the Countess, who suddenly finds herself hosting an impromptu Hollywood crowd. And before long the guest list grows to include two of their wilful daughter Lady Geraldine's dubious suitors, a long-lost cousin, a sultry femme fatale, a bespectacled librarian, an eccentric screenwriter, and a professional blackmailer. It's almost too much for poor Merryweather, the family's imperturbable butler, to cope with. And that's before there's a murder in the dead of the night ...
By morning Inspector Wilkins of the Westshire Constabulary is cast in the unlikely role of hero, as he tiptoes through the evidence and endeavours to unravel the slightly batty, thoroughly baffling mystery ... and work out just what a mutilated mink coat has to do with anything.