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The Imbroglio at the Villa Pozzi

(Angela Marchmont Mystery #6)

Clara Benson (Goodreads Author)

4.08 · Rating details · 701 ratings · 47 reviews

While holidaying in Italy, Angela Marchmont is persuaded to postpone her trip to Venice and go to Stresa instead, to investigate a pair of spiritualists who are suspected of defrauding some of the town’s English residents out of their money. But what starts out as a minor matter swiftly becomes more serious when one of the residents in question is found dead in the beautif ...more

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Kindle Edition, 206 pages

Published September 10th 2014 by CreateSpace

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Start your review of The Imbroglio at the Villa Pozzi (Angela Marchmont Mystery #6)

Apr 09, 2020 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Angela Marchmont is on holiday in Italy and plans to go to Venice next, when a plea from an old friend, leads her to go to Stresa instead. A new friend, Elsa Peters, is also visiting, as are two art students, who she has met. Angela’s old friend, Mary Ainsley, says her vicar husband, Jonathan, is distressed about two local spiritualists, who he feels are defrauding English residents and visitors. Angela agrees to help, but quickly decamps from their cramped apartment, to a nearby hotel, where sh ...more

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Jan 23, 2017 John rated it liked it

Shelves: ebooks, mystery

I felt that this was one of the better entries in the series so far; almost, but not quite, stands alone. Characters were varied, rather than stock, and mostly English as Angela doesn't speak Italian. Setting made a nice change of pace from English country houses. ...more

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Apr 19, 2020 Susan in NC rated it liked it · review of another edition

3.5 stars for another enjoyable outing with the glamorous, likable Angela Marchmont; this time, readers get a delightful visit to Stresa, Italy as she answers a friend’s request to interrupt her holiday to investigate two questionable psychics.

Angela is enjoying a delightful, but rigorous, guided tour of Italy (great pandemic reading, Angela always travels to interesting places in this series, set among the British upper classes between the wars). She has made a friend, Mrs. Peters, who is trave 3.5 stars for another enjoyable outing with the glamorous, likable Angela Marchmont; this time, readers get a delightful visit to Stresa, Italy as she answers a friend’s request to interrupt her holiday to investigate two questionable psychics.

Angela is enjoying a delightful, but rigorous, guided tour of Italy (great pandemic reading, Angela always travels to interesting places in this series, set among the British upper classes between the wars). She has made a friend, Mrs. Peters, who is traveling on to Stresa, and speaks highly of the town and it’s beauties. Angela means to see Venice, but an old school friend asks her to come to Stresa as she needs her help.

Angela goes, and finds the town beautiful, but is less than thrilled when her friend, Mary, explains the problem - her husband, the local English vicar, feels a mother and daughter pair of psychics, are conning English visitors and depleting his flock. Angela agrees to try them for a sitting, and promptly checks into the nicest hotel catering to English tourists. She meets some interesting locals and fellow tourists, has a seance with the interesting and agreeable Mrs. Quinn and her daughter, and runs into an old acquaintance (I haven’t read the entire series, so was not familiar with the backstory of Edgar). Soon, one of the English ex-pats is found dead, apparently a suicide, but Angela isn’t satisfied...

I mostly enjoyed this book and it was a treat to visit Italy with Angela and learn a bit more about her - this Edgar guy is very attracted to her, she doesn’t want to visit her stuffy brother, and her husband is apparently still alive. I’ve read a few other books in the series with the Reading the Detectives group, and gather she lived in America for awhile and left her husband, but her past is somewhat of a mystery. I’d like to read the next book, where she visits the stuffy brother and family, to see how that goes, and see if we learn more about the cliffhanger ending of this book. No spoilers, but there is no resolution of the mystery, so that affected what had been an enjoyable book for me - the romance angle took over. I’ll probably read the next book to see what happens, and if the mystery is more front and center in the next outing. ...more

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Apr 26, 2020 Jae rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would - I thought it might be too cosy but it was a well-written mystery with likeable characters and, of course, it was set in Italy (I love Italy). In these strange days of lockdown I found this book a breath of fresh air.

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Nov 14, 2015 Pauline Ross rated it it was amazing

Shelves: price-borrowed, genre-mystery, self-pub, year-2015, 5-star

Good grief, that was the most amazing fun. The sixth Angela Marchmont amateur detective series, set in the twenties, sees Angela holidaying in Italy, tangling with spiritualists and meeting an old acquaintance, a certain jewel thief by the name of Edgar Valencourt, last seen charming Angela in The Treasure at Poldarrow Point, book 3 of the series. I always hoped he’d turn up again, but his reappearance was even better than I could have imagined.

The mystery this time is nothing terribly convolute Good grief, that was the most amazing fun. The sixth Angela Marchmont amateur detective series, set in the twenties, sees Angela holidaying in Italy, tangling with spiritualists and meeting an old acquaintance, a certain jewel thief by the name of Edgar Valencourt, last seen charming Angela in The Treasure at Poldarrow Point, book 3 of the series. I always hoped he’d turn up again, but his reappearance was even better than I could have imagined.

The mystery this time is nothing terribly convoluted, but I enjoyed trying to puzzle it out, getting it wrong and watching Angela resolve everything with an airy wave of her hand. But the murder takes a back seat to the characters, and their personal lives. The mysterious Duchessa, for example, who pops up from time to time. The fidgety English clergyman and his long-suffering wife. The almost-convincing medium and the daughter who ‘sees’ things. Even the Italian hotelier and the relaxed ask-no-questions local policeman. All of them feel very real, and the author has cleverly resisted the temptation to resort to caricatures or stereotypes.

But for me the big attraction is Mr Valencourt. He’s a charmer, of course, but then, he’s a con-man, so that goes with the territory, and Angela should know better than to fall under his spell. She does know better, in fact, but somehow she can’t resist him, and he can’t resist her either, even though she knows his criminal background and could give him away. And oh so gently they circle around each other. Their conversations are an absolute delight, every scene sparkling with wit and charm and affection, in a manner completely lost in modern-style books where the romantic couple simply dive into bed together. I loved it.

This book was a joy to read. Italy was the perfect setting, the mystery was plausible, the characters were entertaining and the romance - oh, the romance! If Mrs Marchmont and Mr Valencourt don’t make a match of it eventually, I shall be sorely disappointed. Although Mr Marchmont would seem to be something of an obstacle.

This series just gets better and better. Five stars. At least. ...more

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Apr 16, 2015 Anne rated it really liked it

how can one not like a book that throws the word imbroglio around?

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Apr 06, 2015 Marley rated it it was amazing

Angela comes of age! I'm surprised at some of the criticism of this entry; that is, it wasn't so interesting because it was it takes place in Italy, not a country house in some isolated spot in the British Isles. The plot isn't as gory as some others in the series, but that's OK. And so happy to see the return of Edgar Valencourt. Yay! I have to agree with him that he and Angela have a bit more in common that Angela would like to admit. Actually, I think she knows it too, and that's what scares ...more

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Sep 30, 2015 Peter rated it did not like it

Shelves: awful

I really don't think these 'Clara Benson' books were written in the early 20th century. The book is a perfectly fine 'cosy' mystery, but I don't buy the story that it had recently been found by the author's family.

Writers of popular novels from the 1900 - 1930 era, like Jane Abbott, Edgar Wallace, E. Philips Oppenheim, Edna Ferber, Margaret Sydney, Willian McLeod Raine, or Angela Thirkell, include a great deal of description in their novels. Typically, there are pages and pages of detailed descr I really don't think these 'Clara Benson' books were written in the early 20th century. The book is a perfectly fine 'cosy' mystery, but I don't buy the story that it had recently been found by the author's family.

Writers of popular novels from the 1900 - 1930 era, like Jane Abbott, Edgar Wallace, E. Philips Oppenheim, Edna Ferber, Margaret Sydney, Willian McLeod Raine, or Angela Thirkell, include a great deal of description in their novels. Typically, there are pages and pages of detailed description of absolutely everything. Especially if the book is set in a foreign country like this one is. At the time, very few people had the means to do very much traveling, so readers liked finding out about the details of what it's like to live in a place like Italy. There was no television, or magazines, or much of the other media which we take for granted these days. So books were seen as a way to learn about foreign cultures. The food, clothing, family life, architecture, art, even the plants and local animals are all described in novels from this era. . It could be why these writers are not very well known now, it's a different style that seems odd and at times tedious to modern readers. There's none of this type of description in these books. Since there is not as much description as is typical for this era, the plotting is too fast paced to have been from this era.

The vocabulary is also not as complex as the typical novel from this era. Yes, it's sprinkled with a few key phrases, but each sentence is fairly simple and uses common words. Read an old book and the sentences are filled with words that are not very commonly used now, and are much more complex than this.

Also, the attitudes and reactions of the characters are much too modern. It was very rare for a single woman to travel as much as this character does, and she also does it not just as a single woman, but alone as well, with no friend with her. Maybe this is explained in one of the other books, but this really was not common at the time. Isabella Bird was able to do it, but she was the rare exception.

There is a scene where the main character drives a car. Driving was still very uncommon in the 1920's, a bit less in the 30's, but very few people had cars in comparison to the total population, and it was not at all common for women to learn how to drive. Cars of this era are not at all easy to drive, they don't have all the modern conveniences like power steering and automatic transmission, so it's not exactly easy to drive a car from the 1920's, it's a lot of work to just steer the car. In books of this era, there would normally be a detailed description as to how the main character learned how to drive, where they got the car, why they were driving,what an adventure it is to drive. But not here, she just gets in the car and drives.

I would have been much more accepting of the premise if I knew it had been written recently, and it had been released as a mystery that just happens to be set in the 1920's, but being told that it was written close to 100 years ago just ended up getting me irritated. Read a Dorothy Sayers or Agatha Christie instead. ...more

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Jul 10, 2017 Marjorie rated it really liked it

I read the first books (started with the three "Freddie" books) just to find out what they were (questions about the authors existence were intriguing ; were these newly discovered cozy murder novels written in the 1920's? Or written by a modern author mimicking the 20's writings of , say Margery Allingham???)

I love these books and am so addicted now. So thankful for kindle unlimited for feeding that addiction!! However I am sure the author , who maintains a viable Facebook page, is alive, well ...more

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Nov 18, 2018 Jughead rated it it was amazing

Shelves: detective-fiction

Plot-wise, definitely not the greatest, but if you have been following the series from the start, you would absolutely enjoy this one. You get to know more about Angela, which I liked reading very much. Also, new relationships are formed, which I'm hoping would continue in the following books.

The Story is set in Italy, where Angela has gone for a vacation, but a sudden detour takes her to Stresa, where there is a man hanging to his death. Everyone assumes it is suicide since there is no evidence ...more

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Jul 31, 2018 PeterK B rated it liked it

Recommends it for: people who enjoy the characters and not in a rush to get into the murder

Once again, barely a 3 star rating. This is a murder mystery .... why does the author spend so many pages introducing secondary characters, and their tour of Florence. (This is a murder mystery!)

Why not have the murder occur much earlier? I have now read most of this series and I do like the primary character Angela, but someone new to the series may not read very far into the book. Nothing much of significance happens for a long time. Dining, touring, chatting ... a boring seance that does not ...more

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Jul 19, 2020 Amanda Jane rated it liked it

The return of Valencourt

A bit of a mishmash. Not sure that I honestly enjoyed it that much. There's a lot of silliness over spiritualism and some terribly unconvincing scenes with Asphodel Quinn having visions.

Angela herself is rather two faced in this novel although there's lots of random hints about her past which doesn't really seem to lead anywhere.

I didn't feel it was a particularly believable situation and don't believe that someone of such a nervous disposition would have got involved. ...more

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Aug 10, 2018 Scot rated it really liked it

Sixth in the series. Angela is off to the Italian Lakes region, but her holiday getaway en route to Venice, which was intended to help a friend check out the practice and possible scamming by a medium and fortune teller, gets complicated by running into a dashing, raffish man she had encountered in an earlier book, and then she discovers a dead body while on a picnic. Nice sense of culture and practice of tourism then and there.

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Apr 12, 2020 Jill rated it really liked it

Shelves: clara-benson

I have given this a 4 star rating but it is a weak 4 stars as I didn't like it as much as those that went before it. I did find Angela a bit trying at times. I hope the romance either takes off or a line is drawn under it, as the on/off does tire me. Other than that, the characters were different with a religious man and wife, a spiritualist mother and daughter, and a new friend who found romance. The Italian setting didn't really come to the forefront. ...more

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Sep 09, 2020 Louisa Jones rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I did not care for this book until around chapter six or seven. Then I gradually got more and more interested in the story. At least it wasn’t as gory as the previous five stories in the series.
I don’t know why Vallencourt had to do with the storyline, as Angela herself had said that she could have done her own sleuthing. Maybe he was added so the the scraps of burnt paper could be found.
Oh well, it will be resolved in the next installment.

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Feb 27, 2017 Gabi Eagon rated it it was amazing

Romance and Mayhem

In book 6 Angela Marchmont has travelled to Italy She was planning to visit Venice when she received a telegram from Mary Ainsley and her minister husband They needed help in the town of Stresa concerning some fortune tellers that were leading his congregation astray. Angela stays longer than she wanted due to two mysterious deaths. Great story.

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Oct 13, 2019 Susan rated it really liked it

While on holiday in Italy Angela Marchmont receives a request from her friend Mary Ainsley to vist them at Stresa and investigate two spiritualists. As her husband is convinced they are defrauding people of their money. But the investigation becomes more important when a body of one of the English residents in the town is discovered dead.
Another enjoyable and well-written mystery in this series

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Dec 31, 2017 Tracey North rated it it was amazing

Excellent series

Loved it! This whole series is just one delightful book after another. I am looking forward to reading more about Angela's adventures and hope to for a long time. ...more

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Jun 19, 2020 Jane Shibilski rated it really liked it

I thoroughly enjoyed this adventure in Italy. Angela has romance in her life at last as well as a fascinating mystery. Edgar Valencourt is a bit dangerous for her liking, but the heart wants what the heart wants. Looking forward to the next in the series.

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Sep 14, 2017 Teddi rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery-series, classic-mystery

It's a fairly solid book but rather full! and plodding. ...more

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Jan 28, 2019 Jodi Lee rated it really liked it

I love these books, they are an easy read but still great stories

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Feb 15, 2019 Cathy rated it liked it

I like the setting in Italy, but the murder mystery was a little weak. The ending though will have me reaching for book #7.

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Feb 04, 2021 Valerie added it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 26, 2017 ShanDizzy rated it it was ok

This story contained too much of the occult for my taste. I still like the characters and will read the next in the series.

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Sep 18, 2016 Whistlers Mom rated it really liked it

I can't decide if this is a romantic mystery or a mysterious romance, but it's my favorite in this series.

You know you're an Angela Marchmont fanatic when you download the latest book and read it until you can't stay awake one more second and then eagerly polish it off the next day while the morning newspaper sits in your driveway. Wars and political dust-ups must wait while I find out what Angela has gotten herself into now.

It's murder, of course. You know how she is. She's on vacation in sunn I can't decide if this is a romantic mystery or a mysterious romance, but it's my favorite in this series.

You know you're an Angela Marchmont fanatic when you download the latest book and read it until you can't stay awake one more second and then eagerly polish it off the next day while the morning newspaper sits in your driveway. Wars and political dust-ups must wait while I find out what Angela has gotten herself into now.

It's murder, of course. You know how she is. She's on vacation in sunny Italy. (Without her faithful maid Marthe and her enterprising driver William. I missed them.) She's slogged through museums and ancient buildings in Florence and is looking forward to seeing the fabled canals of romantic Venice. Unfortunately, she's unable to resist the pleas of a friend in trouble and is diverted north to Stresa. Her congenial new acquaintance - a lively widow named Elsa Peters - is headed there and that's an added incentive.

Stresa is a lovely small town on Lake Maggiore near the Swiss border and Angela is soon settled happily into a comfortable hotel enjoying the society of the sizable English colony. Of course, where there are English living abroad there must be an English church for them to attend or they might "go over to Rome." (Gasp of horror.) Angela's friend Mary Ainsley is married to the vicar who's presently in a state of high dudgeon because he believes that a mother-daughter team of spiritualists is luring away his congregants. It's bad enough that the English are so addled by the balmy Mediterranean weather that they lose their morals and start acting like the wicked Italians. Communing with the dead is the last straw!

Spiritualism enjoyed great popularity in England in the 1920's (as Mary Ainsley says, "it's all the rage.") Many families lost husbands, sons, or brothers in WWI and those who promised to put the grieving wives, mothers, or sisters in touch with their dead loved ones did brisk business. Most non-believers shared Angela's indulgent attitude that the harmless practice brought comfort to the bereaved, but Mr. Ainsley is convinced that Mrs. and Miss Quinn are fleecing the gullible.

Angela agrees to look into it and starts by posing as a widow and attending a seance to contact her still-very-much-alive husband. Mrs. Quinn's spirit guide (the ancient Egyptian Thutmose) sees right through this subterfuge and calls Angela a rude name before disappearing back into the mists. Insulted by a spook! Serves her right for sticking her nose in.

Then there's the suspicious "suicide" of someone who may (or may not) have promised to bequeath money to the Quinns. It's followed by a second, even MORE suspicious suicide in the English colony. Angela isn't buying either one and neither is the local policia - the impassive Mr. D'Onofrio. As he is fully aware, however, the government's main concern is keeping the income from ex-pats and tourists flowing into Stressa. Suicides are preferable to murders and he doesn't want to lose his job. However, he does see the down side of letting a murderer get away with it and he's happy to have the English lady-detective nosing around.

There's a major complication in the form of an attractive gentleman out of Angela's past. (If you've read the earlier books in the series, you already know him.) They're the most entertaining sparing partners since Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy and only one thing stops the course of true love. He's a crook. While Angela doesn't really (as she claims sarcastically) spend her time teaching Sunday School and knitting clothes for the poor, she's always been on the right side of the law. Will she be lured astray by a romantic man and all that sunshine?

The battle rages on as to whether these books were written in the 1920's (as claimed) or if they are of more recent production. Frankly, Scarlet, I don't give a damn. They're full of delightful characters such as Mrs. Quinn - the world's most likable medium. She's the sort of down-to-earth, never-met-a-stranger kind of woman whom you expect to see selling eggs and butter at a farm store or behind the bar at your local pub. Instead, she contacts the dead and tells people's fortunes, dispensing common sense advice cheerfully and hoping for the best. If I met Mrs. Quinn, I'd probably take up spiritualism myself.

When we last saw Angela, it was in the snow drifts of mid-winter Scotland. I think the trip to Italy was an inspired idea, moral lapses and all. I hope this series continues. Maybe it's creeping senility, but I'm enjoying them. This particular one reminds me of E.F. Benson's wonderful "Lucia" books where the spiritualism craze provides unexpected and frequently hilarious complications.

...more

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Mar 19, 2017 Maureen Hetzel rated it really liked it

Love the change in locale to Italy and return of the romantic jewel thief. A fun read and the plot and style increase with each addition to the series

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Sep 14, 2014 Damaskcat rated it it was amazing

Angela Marchmont is on holiday in Italy and has plans to go on to Venice when she receives a telegram from a friend who is married to the vicar of an English church elsewhere in Italy asking her if she can help with a problem. Reluctantly Angela changes her plans and goes to see Mary. Her husband, Jonathan believes a local spiritualist is enticing his congregation away from him and wants Angela to investigate.

Angela is a little reluctant to get involved but decides it can't do any harm to book a ...more

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Sep 27, 2014 Rosemary rated it really liked it

This series just gets better with each installment! In this one, Angela Marchmont gets roped into investigating a couple of mediums who are plying their trade in a resort on Italy's Lake Maggiore. But of course, that's not the real crime that's happening in Stresa, and soon Angela finds herself caught up in a much darker scenario. And her old nemesis/flame, Edgar Valencourt, turns up, just to make things even more complicated. Fortunately, Valencourt brings out the best of Angela's acerbic wit, ...more

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May 24, 2015 Debbie rated it it was amazing

I loved this book. I'm not even going to say anything else for fear of giving something away. It's awesome.
Okay, one thing: Yet another Agatha Christie parallel for me: Angela's relationship with Edgar Valencourt puts me in mind of Hercule Poirot and the Countess Vera Rossakoff throughout the Poirot series! :)
I will say that I have noticed that Clara Benson has a love affair with the word perspicacity. I have seen the word at least once (the last book she used it three times!) in most of her bo ...more

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Sep 21, 2014 Elisa rated it it was amazing

As always, a delightful gem. It really doesn't matter whodunit, because the whole story is such a treat. Born in 1890, Clara Benson wrote several novels featuring Angela Marchmont. She was unpublished in her lifetime. After her death in 1965, her family started publishing her work. As an avid Agatha Christie fan, I was pleasantly surprised to discover this author. I can't wait for the next in the series. ...more

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About Clara Benson

Clara Benson

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Clara Benson is the author of the Angela Marchmont Mysteries and Freddy Pilkington-Soames Adventures - traditional English whodunits in authentic style set in the 1920s and 30s. One day she would like to drink cocktails and solve mysteries in a sequinned dress and evening gloves. In the meantime she lives in the north of England with her family and doesn't do any of those things.

If you want to be ...more