The Pigeon Pie Mystery

What a charming book! It is a mystery that takes place in Hampton Court's grace-and-favour residences in the late 1890's and is so well-researched it makes my head spin! The character dynamics are taken directly from Victorian manners and protocol, and the descriptions of Hampton Court, its byways and history, are stunning. And let's not forget that visiting said Court was a tourist attraction from way, way back!

The story centers around the daughter of a late Maharajah, whose family fortunes have been retained" by the crown due to the crown's cost of putting down the uprising of the people in Punjar. Our young heroine is reduced to straitened circumstances, including the loss of a fiance, due to the manner of her father's death. And show more said manner is not delved into at first, making the reading just that much more intriguing.

Relationships between mistress and servant, between married couples, between guests of the grace-and-favour apartments and these apartments' staff are all well-drawn and quite involved. And seemingly quite accurate." show less

Quirky, idiosyncratic, individual, peculiar, unusual, odd, strange, eccentric, unpredictable, distinctive, unconventional, weird, comical, bizarre, outlandish, wacky.  And that only describes the cast of characters.  Julia Stuart is a comic genius.  She gives us a list of characters so radically different and strange, and bizarre, and etc., etc., etc., that you have to plan an extra half hour just to get control of the tears of laughter rolling down your cheeks.

But intertwined with the personalities, Stuart gives us a pleasant, cozy, but well-crafted mystery.  It can't actually be described as a murder mystery, because the question is actually whether or not the deceased was murdered.  Once that part is decided, the search must show more shift to who-dunnit?  Did the Doctor who signed the death certificate make a mistake?  Is the homeopath (whom many regard as a quack) able to shed any light on the subject?  Did the good General (IS he a "good" General?) really die from ingesting a Pigeon Pie? 

The setting - Hampton Court Palace in London, where this looney tune roster of "Grace and Favor" residents enjoy rent free living courtesty of Her Majesty the Queen (in this case and setting, the ruler is Victoria)--is especially interesting in view of the current Olympic games being played there, with the palace serving as the staging area for the final journey of the Torch last week.  The sub-plot revolving around the authenticity and existence of ghosts in the residences, adds even more to the fun.

Not only do we get a good dose of wonderful characters, and a mind tickling mystery, we get some history, some culture, and a wonderful view of the vast British empire, it's class structure, and its polyglot population.  A thoroughly enjoyable read.

The ending is especially delightful as Stuart seems to be leaving an opening for a series.  Princess Alexandrina as a private detective?  I'd love to see that happen.  There is certainly enough here in setting, characters and opportunities for nefarious activity to be able to support several more in a series. show less

I bought this book purely on a whim while on holiday, based on the cover and the title, while trapped in a small used book store. I say 'trapped' because a terrific thunderstorm was raging outside, keeping me and the owner in the shop until well after her normal closing hours. Had I not needed to linger until the threat of leaving this earth as a human lightning rod had passed, I'd have probably not bought this book (I'd passed it over on my initial perusals).

Points to the thunderstorm; this was a charmingly eccentric Victorian age mystery with an Indian princess MC, who is forced to accept a Grace and Favour abode in Hampton Court Palace, after her deposed-Maharaja father passes away in less than illustrious circumstances. Soon after show more settling in, her lady's maid falls under suspicion of murder, after another Grace and Favor resident drops dead after eating her pigeon pie.

What follows is a colourful, wryly humorous, if a little over-long, mystery. The characters are all odd, eccentric and chock full of secrets; some of them rather shocking. There's a lot of situational humor, and levity based on misunderstandings. Not a single character is dull, but the story never quite goes over the top. My only complaint is that, even though I enjoyed the whole story, it was longer than it needed to be. The fluff was clever and interesting, but it was still fluff. The ending though, was clever as hell and delightfully unexpected.

I read this for Halloween Book Bingo's Country House Mystery. I was worried at the outset whether it would qualify, but the entire mystery and investigation takes place within palace grounds and involves only the residents and the servants. show less

The impoverished Princess Alexandrina whose father, the Maharajah, has just died, is offered a "grace and favour" apartment in Hampton Court Palace, courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Pooki, the only maid remaining in her employ is terrified of ghosts and believes the palace to be haunted. When one of the other palace inhabitants dies after eating Pooki's pigeon pie, she becomes a murder suspect that the princess must investigate. Stuart's entertaining story is crazy, laugh out loud funny yet somehow credible. I enjoy her writing and host of exceptional, zany characters to say nothing of the history lesson. However, The Tower, the Zoo and the Tortoise will always be my favourite.

From the first sentence, "As the hail bounced on the carriage roof, Mink suddenly wondered whether she ought to buy mourning knickers," the reader is caught up in [b:The Pigeon Pie Mystery: A Novel|13330604|The Pigeon Pie Mystery A Novel|Julia Stuart|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1332254523s/13330604.jpg|18538254] by Julia Stuart, an enjoyable tale of manners and mysteries in Victorian London.

Princess Alexandrina (aka Mink) and her maid Pooki are the newest grace-and-favour residents of Hampton Court Palace. The other grace-and-favour residents are mostly widows of military men, and those who have fallen on hard times. The residents remain staunchly (and humorously) upper-class, despite their parsimonious natures or financial show more changes in circumstances.

Pigeon pies (each adorned with six pigeon legs) are customary at the annual Easter picnic at Hampton Court. Pooki makes the pies for the picnic this year. The pie without eggs, for their loathsome lecherous neighbor Major-General Bagshot, is always distinguished by only three pigeon legs sticking up. As he is eating his third slice, the General suddenly becomes ill, and passes away later that day. As the autopsy shows traces of arsenic in all organs, the cause of death is found to be arsenic poisoning.

To Police Inspector Guppy, Pooki is the obvious suspect. To Mink, Guppy is the police inspector who hasn't got a clue, so she begins her own investigation. Mink makes many discoveries about the other delightful Hampton Court residents, even some that aid in Pooki's defense.

The pace is slow at times, but of course to rush things in Victorian London society is simply not done. I recommend this book, an advance copy of which I received for free through Goodreads First Reads. show less

Though the grace-and-favor homes in Hampton Court Palace are said to be haunted, Indian Princess Alexandrina has no choice but to accept Queen Victoria’s offer of rent free accommodation there. After the sudden death of her father she finds herself almost penniless, so the princess and her one remaining servant Pookie pack what’s left of their belongings and go. Historic Hampton Court, dating from the time of Henry VIII, is full of eccentric characters so life is anything but boring. It becomes a little too exciting however when Pookie is accused of murder after loathsome Major-General Bagshot dies of arsenic poisoning and the pigeon pie Pookie baked for him is assumed to be the cause.

Princess Alexandrina has already lost her show more mother, father, fiancée and home; she is not about to let loyal Pookie hang for a crime she didn’t commit. When the police prove incompetent, the princess launches her own investigation pursuing clues with determination, perspicacity and strategic charm.

Pigeon Pie is delightfully comic and a little absurd, but there is some substance to the story too. As the princess conducts her inquiry into possible murder motives she uncovers secret and often poignant life histories of Hampton Court inhabitants who had previously seemed mostly silly. This is a slow paced, rich with character and detail mystery that ends with a hint of romance. While I’ve heard nothing about it being the first of a series there is some hope of meeting the engaging people of this book again. Solving the mystery hasn’t solved the princess’s money problems, so when it’s all over she places a concise but proper advertisement in the paper hoping to get work as a private investigator. show less

The Pigeon Pie Mystery. Look at that name. Now think about it - maybe you will come to the same conclusion I did at first: the mystery must be about who, on earth, would eat pigeon pie?

However, that is not the mystery contained within the pages of this insanely witty, very dry, very British book about the HH Princess Alexandrina (Mink) and her maid from India, "Pooki". I don't read a lot of mysteries these days, and when I do I stick to authors that I've found through a (very painful) process that I have honed over the last few years. I don't like sensationalism, but I do like interesting character development - the more quirks the better.

Julia Stuart's writing reminds me a bit of Alexander McCall Smith's. But while his writing tends to show more be about developing the same characters and providing thoughtful insights into life in Botswana, Stuart's writing veers more toward bringing out the ridiculous in those we see around us. She's a fantastic mix of the more outgoing of Austen's awkward situations and McCall Smith's lovable characters. I don't know how to describe it better than that.

So, having loved The Tower, The Zoo, and The Tortoise with all its eccentricities and, having been moved to tears more than once (both from laughter and sorrow), I jumped on Stuart's new novel faster than you can say Victoria and Albert.

For the last two days I have savoured this novel (look at me, spelling with extra vowels now). I've giggled and enjoyed every quirk - from ghosts to murder mysteries to monkeys to ill-fitting trousers on amorous doctors. And while I'm a bit disappointed that there wasn't the same level of bitter-sweetness in The Pigeon Pie Mystery, I hereby deem it a novel worthy to be read - but only by those who appreciate good, dry British humour (and don't mind picking up an extra vowel or two). show less