A fun pastiche and beautifully wrought cozy mystery.

Grace Under Pressure (Manor House Mystery, #1) Julie Hyzy

Grace Wheaton becomes the Curator of Marshfield Manor after Abe (the Curator) ends up dead. Millionaire Bennett Marshfield is her boss and owner of The Manor. He gets threatening letters demanding money or else. Grace begins her own investigation as she tries to protect her Boss as well.

A fast paced murder mystery with a classic who-done-it plot. There are many suspects, with plot twists, family secrets and well developed characters. Grace is very likable, she is devoted to her job and Boss. Overall I found Grace Under Pressure enjoyable and feel those who like a cozy murder/mystery will enjoy it as well. ( )

I enjoyed this novel but perhaps because I discovered the Book Retreat Mysteries Series by Ellery Adams first, I chose "liked it" rather than "really liked it." There seemed to be many similarities in my mind between reading about Storyton Hall (the storybook resort tucked away in the rolling hills of rural western Virginia) as created by Ellery Adams and Marshfield Manor (part mansion and part museum in the town of Emberstowne, a quaint tourist town in the hills of North Carolina). Jane Steward is Resort Manager at Storyton and Grace Wheaton is Assistant Curator at the manor.

The supporting characters of Marshfield Manor are interesting to meet. Grace's roommates actually reminded me of Scarlett Parker and Vivian (Viv) Tremont's neighbors in The Hat Shop Mystery series written by Jenn McKinlay. Nick is a dentist and Andre is a photographer and they're always creating wonderful dinners for Scarlett and Vivian while Grace's roommates seem to care for her by ensuring she has their best glass of wine to relax after a stressful day at the manor.

I probably will not continue reading this series but truly it's only because I have so many new novelists to discover and I'll continue reading about Storyton Hall as who can resist a thoughts of a book retreat getaway. ( )

Grace takes a job at Marshfield Manor. Her boss is killed and suddenly she is running the elegant mansion. The small town police department isn't well equipped to investigate a murder, and they think she might be a suspect. The employees of the Manor are suspicious of her also. Grace takes it on herself to figure out who killed Abe. In doing so, she learns more about the Manor's employees and her own family's connection to the Manor, while juggling home repairs and a couple of roommates (the roommates get scammed by the same woman who scammed Grace at Marshfield - a nice subplot). Grace is also struggling personally - her flighty sister and her ex are peripherally mentioned, and there is groundwork laid for a potential romantic interest in Jack, who works at the Manor.

The plot was interesting, though a bit unwieldy at times (I'm still not sure why the inept private detective was mentioned so much) - but perhaps that will all become more clear later in the series. The characters were interesting, particularly the annoying Frances (who I hope gets hers at some point). The setting was delightful.

I look forward to reading more by this author. ( )

Great start to hopefully a long series. I enjoyed the main character grace but felt that she should have been much stern with her "new" assistant, Frances. She was over the top rude and horrid behavior - I would never put up with it.

Their were a few open ended story lines including her younger sister and Grace's fiancé running off together and getting married, and of course the hunky Jack Embers. There always is a hunky young thing with a soap opera style name.

I will definitely read further into the series of this. Loved the setting of a beautiful mansion manor, however don't remember hearing where it exactly is in the US. ( )