The Calleshire Chronicles Volume One: The Religious Body, Henrietta Who?, and The Stately Home Murder

by Catherine Aird

A trio of sharp-witted British whodunits featuring Detective Inspector Sloan—from a CWA Diamond Dagger winner and “a most ingenious” author (The New Yorker).   In her debut novel in the long-running mystery series, The Religious Body, Catherine Aird introduced the sleuthing team of shrewd Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his less-than-shrewd sidekick, Detective Constable William Crosby, in the fictional County of Calleshire, England. Over the course of twenty-four crime novels, the award-winning author has maintained the perfect balance between cozy village mystery and police procedural.  The Religious When Sister Anne’s body is found at the bottom of a steep set of cellar stairs, her veil askew and her head crushed, it’s clear she’s been viciously attacked. Heaven help Detective Inspector Sloan as he’s called to the Convent of St. Anselm to determine why someone would want to murder a nun.  Henrietta Who?: In a quiet English village, a woman’s body is found in the road, the victim of a hit-and-run. Miles away, her daughter, Henrietta, is given the bad news. But an autopsy brings even more shocking Not only was Mrs. Jenkins’s death no accident, the woman never had a child. If Henrietta is not her daughter, who is she? It’s up to Detective Inspector Sloan to find out.  The Stately Home To survive financial hard times, the Earl of Ornum has opened his estate to tourists. One curious young boy sees a full suit of armor and lifts the visor . . . only to see a face staring back at him. Now Ornum House is a crime scene, with Sloan and Crosby determined to discover how a murdered man ended up in knight’s garb.

Genres: Mystery

657 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 2018

About the author

Kinn Hamilton McIntosh, known professionally as Catherine Aird, was an English novelist. She was the author of more than twenty crime fiction novels and several collections of short stories. Her witty, literate, and deftly plotted novels straddle the "cozy" and "police procedural" genres and are somewhat similar in flavour to those of Martha Grimes, Caroline Graham, M.C. Beaton, Margaret Yorke, and Pauline Bell. Aird was inducted into the prestigious Detection Club in 1981, and is a recipient of the 2015 Cartier Diamond Dagger award.

Reviews

[Bibliocat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m so thrilled to have found this series! For me it’s the perfect mix of cozy mystery and police procedural. The writing is very good, the clues are right there, and it’s pleasant to read adult books without being assaulted by graphic sex, profanity, or dysfunctional detectives. These are intelligent stories told at a calm pace. I’ve read the first three novels and, while there isn’t deep character development or extremely intricate plotting, I’m fine with that! It’s nice to be able to keep up with the characters and the plot at the end of a long day at work or on a weekend afternoon without constantly thinking, “Who’s this? When did that happen? I don’t get it.” On the contrary—the cast of characters is clearly defined, the plot is well fleshed out, and the endings are satisfying. I’m looking forward to the next box set! 5 stars from me!

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compendium of three books, a reread for me of the first three procedural/cozy mysteries by an author whom I enjoyed very much back when British mysteries were a staple of my voracious consumption of books, any book that i could find in my public libraries.

[Janie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Enjoyed that humor was included in this cozy mystery I was surprised how the mystery developed unexpectedly by not solving until the end

[Linda Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can We Blame It On The Bomb?

I like Site's books. Inspector Sloan has his troubles. A skeleton, his supervisor and the police officer assigned to assist him.

[Kay McChesney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good light reads

Three delightful little English mysteries. All very different from each other but all with interesting characters and lots of local color. Charming, with no gore.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are 3 fine outings for C.D. "Seedy" Sloane. I especially enjoyed the final entry; The Stately Home Murder, which is a kind of reverse classical English drawing room murder.