Emily Brightwell, Mrs Jeffries Stands Corrected (1996).
Good Reads meta-data is 233 pages rated 3.99 by 1,204 litizens.
Genre: krimi; Species: period.
DNA: England; Victorian.
Verdict: Cute but slow.
Tagline: He did it! What a surprise.
Mr Obnoxious is stabbed in the back during a party celebrating the opening of his new very posh pub. Since he was universally disliked, despised, and hated as everyone from his wife, brother, sister, and the family dog is quick to say, there is no shortage of suspects. In addition there are all the people whom he has shortchanged, cheated, and stole from in his pursuit of free marketeering.
By a quirk of fate a not very sharp tool at Scotland Yard has inherited, not only a grand house, but a housekeeper and her staff. While Inspector Dull bumbles around, Mrs Jeffries and her associates get to work and uncover clues to place in his path, some of which he notices. Others not. Some he understands, others not.
With this invisible help he meets with success, a surprise to him and to others, and so he muddles through.
However, in this outing the worm turns. Slightly. There is a nice plot twist at the end, but it was a tedious trip to get there. I all but drowned in the blue herrings.
This is number nine (9) in the sequence which has, sit down, more than thirty titles. I bought in Canowindra in 2025.
There a similar spin on Sherlock Holmes with Mrs Hudson, see Martin Davies, Mrs Hudson and the Malabar Rose (2005) and more.