Grace Under Pressure: A Manor House Mystery by Julie Hyzy

Grace Under Pressure (Manor House Mysteries, No. 1) by Julie Hyzy

The blurb:
Everyone wants a piece of millionaire Bennett Marshfield, owner of Marshfield Manor, and letters are coming in daily from those claiming to be poor relations.  The elderly, reclusive heir trusts no one but his aged curator, Abe.  But when Abe is killed in a case of mistaken identity, the tale changes. . . .

Although shaken by the murder, Grace Wheaton, whose lifelong dream has been to work at the manor, steps up to the challenge of assuming Abe's job.But now some of the letters arriving for Bennett have taken a nasty turn, demanding millions--or else.  When an uninvited stalker shows up at the manor and at Grace's home, she and handsome groundskeeper Jack Embers must protect their dear old Marshfield.  But to do this, they'll have to investigate a botched Ponzi scheme, some torrid Wheaton family secrets--and sour grapes out for revenge. . . .

Review:
Grace Under Pressure was my first exposure to Julie Hyzy, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Hyzy gives us a detective cozy in the traditional English manor house setting but with less conventional characters.  There are plots and subplots -- romances, fraud, petty rivalries and family intrigues.   

Well crafted, witty and engrossing, Grace Under Pressure is a book that I'd recommend to cozy lovers everywhere.  I look forward to the next installment in the Manor House Mysteries.

ISBN-10: 0425235211 - Mass Market Paperback $7.99
Publisher: Berkley (June 1, 2010), 320 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.

About the Author:
An award-winning author, Julie Hyzy also enjoys writing short stories, many of them mysteries and science fiction.  Julie was born in Chicago, but loves the history and grandeur of Washington D.C.

Thank you so much to Dana Kaye and the publisher for this review opportunity!