Marston, Edward – THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE

[LJ Roberts]

THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE (Amateur Sleuth/Architect-London-1670) – G Marston, Edward – 5th in series
Allison & Busby, 2006- UK Hardcover

Architect Christopher Redmayne is attending the party celebrating the completion of the house and wine shop he designed. As the guests are leaving, one is shot dead by a sniper. Because the victim was the friend of Sir Julius Cheever MP, the father of Christopher’s sweetheart, Christopher feels he must assist his friend, Constable Jonathan Bales, in finding the killer.

I had not read Marston before and admit to not being a huge fan of the amateur sleuth. However, I did find this a very enjoyable book with a wonderful range of interesting characters. The period details didn’t always ring true to me, although they may well have been, but nothing to cause me great distress. There was some good suspense; the dialogue was well done and seemed appropriate to the period. To the negative, there were a couple coincidences, and I did suspect on of the characters part way through. All-in-all, it was a fairly quick, enjoyable read.