What would you do if you unexpectedly inherited a titled British estate?

In this book, the first man who inherits the title and the estate is the son of the old Earl’s youngest son, who was disinherited for marrying a commoner, a cockney woman from inner London. He didn’t have much chance of inheriting anyway, what with his older brother already married and with a son. The disinherited son and his wife have a son, Percy, called Perce, who embraces his cockney life and laughs at the idea that he is “in line” to inherit. But then the old earl dies of old age, and his wild son crashes his fast car and suddenly Perce is the new Earl.

He and his wife fire the staff, take a couple of weeks off to visit the estate, and begin negotiating with the lawyer – whom they inherited with everything else – to put the the whole shebang on the market. The lawyer, used to working with the local aristocracy, tries to persuade him to hold onto the estate, at least for a little while if, for no other reason, to avoid the death duties – for two sets of death duties in a single year is putting Perce’s new-found wealth at risk.

Perce, determined to sell, invites his family down to see the place this once. There is his daughter in law Dixie – his eldest son is just wrapping up a jail term for B&E – who is accompanied by two male friends and his four young grandchildren, the apple of their grandfather’s eye; his middle child, a prim and proper daughter and her insurance adjuster husband, also prim and proper; and his youngest, who is half-heartedly pursuing an on-screen career in pornographic movies and his latest girlfriend who is also an actress, who he met on set.

All of whom – well, perhaps not the grandchildren – wonder what’s in it for them. Perce’s intention is to sell out, upgrade his own life slightly, and leave the proceeds split evenly amongst his children when he goes. Yet the lawyer, who believes firmly in primogeniture, had him sign a contingency will after he was nearly run over by a bus soon after inheriting.

So when Perce is killed right there in the estate, his incarcerated son scoops the pot. With only a couple of weeks left in his prison term, the warden makes a deal that allows him to finish out his term at the manor house, under the watchful eye of the local police who are investigating his father’s murder.

What he does next defies the lawyer’s belief and may rescue the estate from a fourth set of death duties in a single year. But will the murderer strike again?

This is one of my favorite of Barnard’s books. It’s fun to have your assumptions about who these characters are and what they can accomplish proven wrong – although the stuffy lawyer does not seem to appreciate that.