People sometimes see a butler in the movies, or read about one in a book, but in general when I come across a fictional one I find fault. He may be dressed wrong, serves incorrectly, or is just ridiculous.
They do get it right on occasion. PJ Wodehouse created a great butler/valet with Jeeves, Sir John Gielgud got it right in the original Arthur, and Remains of the Day was very good with Sir Anthony Hopkins. But he was a little timid with his employer.
Where PJ Wodehouse got it especially right with his series of books was with the employer. Absolutely perfect for a butler. Wooster was single, easily manipulated, and totally dependent on Jeeves. Whenever Wooster got close to marriage, Jeeves would step in as he knew that he would never be able to work for a wife to Wooster as his control would wither and die.
I never found that perfect employer. I came very close and I have worked successfully for married couples. I have also incurred the wrath of a new wife as she asserted her position in the household.
So I began to write the book but back then I didn’t know what to do with it. So I did nothing. I then found myself out of work during the recession, a victim of another new wife, so I returned to the book with a fresh perspective. I created a plot, based most of the characters on people I knew, and got to work.
Stonebridge Manor is a murder mystery set in the 1990’s. It revolves mainly around Lady Baldwin and one of her butler’s, Phillip. The story shows both sides of a very wealthy mansion, with the staff on one side and their employers’ and friends on the other.
Lady Baldwin is beautiful and bored with her husband the Lord. She wants to have fun and doesn’t care who she hurts to get it. Although she is generous to her staff, she is also demanding and can be very cruel. She is loved and loathed in equal measure.
When a murder occurs at the end of a very eventful weekend at the mansion, there are a lot of suspects to sift through as it seems that almost everyone has a reason to kill.
Despite being a murder mystery, the book is a lot of fun and is very entertaining.
Since I had the book re-edited in June 2012 the reviews have all been great, and if you enjoy this kind of scenario then you will get a kick out of it.
Stonebridge Manor
Kindle Edition
File Size: 583 KB
Print Length: 494 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1460923057
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Amazon link
Published by: Createspace
Website: https://petercbradbury.com
About the author:
Peter C. Bradbury was born and raised in the North West of England near Manchester. He still has quite a family living there, but since marrying his American wife Debbie he also has family in California and Florida.
His second novel Prospects is newly available, and you can check it out at: www.pcbradbury.com
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