Murder in the Mystery Suite (Book Retreat Mysteries, #1)

by Ellery Adams

A room without books is like a body without a soul. —MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO

STORYTON HALL

Resort Manager—Jane Steward

Butler—Mr. Butterworth

Head Librarian—Mr....

Head Chauffeur—Mr....

Head of Recreation—...

Head of Housekeeping—Mrs....

Head Chef—Mrs....

Merchants of Storyton Village

Run for Cover Bookshop—Eloise Alcott

Cheshire Cat Pub—Bob and Bett...

The Canvas Creamery—Ph...

La Grande Dame Clothing Boutique—M...

Tresses Hair Salon—Viol...

The Pickled Pig Market—the Ho...

Geppetto’s Toy Shop—Barna...

The Potter’s Shed—...

this was the personal reading room of her great-uncle Aloysius and great-aunt Octavia.

“Fitzgerald Steward,”

Hemingway.

Mabel Wimberly, a talented seamstress

Uncle Aloysius

“Imagination is more important than knowledge,”

crazy Walter Egerton Steward had it dismantled, brick by brick, and shipped across the Atlantic.

Jane’s cottage, which was once the estate’s hunting lodge, was much older. Like the rest of Storyton Hall, it had been dismantled in the 1830s and transported from its original seat in the English countryside to an isolated valley in western Virginia.

Storyton’s pub, the Cheshire Cat, had an enormous sculpture of a smiling feline in its garden. The cat’s famous toothy grin was made out of chipped dinner plates, which glimmered eerily in the dark.

Edwin’s moody, self-centered, and secretive. He doesn’t have good manners, rarely bothers with pleasantries, refuses to participate in small talk, and always looks like he disapproves of whatever it is you’re doing.

Edwin Alcott

Mrs. Eugenia Pratt, the biggest gossip in Storyton.

Pippa Pendleton had fiery red hair and a propensity for ignoring doctor-patient confidentiality.

Violet Osborne, the owner of Tresses Hair Salon.

Phoebe Doyle, who ran the Canvas Creamery, an art gallery combined with a frozen custard shop,

Randall, the town pharmacist, was constantly lecturing his customers on how to improve their health.

gin rickey, a drink F. Scott Fitzgerald enjoyed very much—among many others.” Jane held her glass out to the light. “There’s not much to it. Two ounces dry gin, half an ounce of lime juice, club soda, a lime half, and ice.”

lavender, bay leaves, and tansy. Keeps the flies away.”

Umberto Ferrari, the Italian detective made famous by the late Adela Dundee, the most popular authoress of traditional mysteries since Agatha Christie.

tussie mussie—a vase made to hold a nosegay of flowers or herbs.

Umberto Ferrari’s aka Felix Hampden’s

James Bond and his fiancée, Grace, aka Fred Stevens and Joyce Little.

Adela Dundee’s The Hollow in the Heart of the World.

the motto, De Nobis Fabula Narratur, roughly translated to Their Story is Our Story.

Enid Blyton?

Blyton, Enid /ˈblītn/ (1897–1968), British writer of children's fiction. Her best-known creation was the character Noddy, who first appeared in 1949. Her books for older children included the series of the Famous Five and Secret Seven adventure stories.

find Sinclair,” her uncle commanded. “Tell him I have named you the new guardian. He will know what to do next. He has been waiting for this day for many years.”

Sterling is former CIA,

Gavin, a retired Navy Seal,

Butterworth was an analyst in Her Majesty’s S...

“We call ourselves the Fins after the Finsbury Archers, England’s most famous archery association. The Finsbury Archers existed for hundreds of years and have always served the Steward family.

the woman with the cloud of white hair. “Moira McKee.”

dignified visage of the Colonel Hastings look-alike. “Desmond Price,

Alice Hart was a faculty member at the same institution.”