Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to Clued in Mystery. I'm Sarah. And I'm Brooke, and we both love mystery. Brooke. Hi, Sarah. So I love an old historic home, and so I have been anxiously awaiting this episode for this season.
Speaker: Well, you're in luck because today we are talking about old homes or manor houses and the mysteries that we love that are set in them.
Speaker: We've spoken before about mysterious buildings, but today we're going to dive a little deeper into manor houses specifically as the settings for mysteries. And it's easy to see why they are popular.
Speaker: They are large homes with enough bedrooms to accommodate several guests and staff for what turns out to be a deadly weekend. Manor houses often have secret passages and hidden rooms, dark woods and forgotten attics, perfect for stashing a clue.
Speaker: Some manor houses, like And Then There Were None, are modern, bright spaces that don't hint at the future that's awaiting the characters. Instead, it's their remoteness that induces a chill.
Speaker: Or it might be a member of staff who sets the tone, like the housekeeper in Rebecca. So let's explore some of the most mysterious manor homes that we've encountered. That sounds great, Sarah. This is going to be a lot of fun. And, you know, I think we can find the seeds of this, I guess we'll call it a trope, all the way back to Edgar Allan Poe's Follow the House of Usher.
Speaker: And I also think we're using the term manor house kind of loosely because we're not necessarily talking about like the feudal system home. But it's that idea of this big, stately, historic place. And that definitely counts in Fall of the House of Usher. We have the house that is basically a character in this story because it is disintegrating quickly. Just like this family is disintegrating and it plays a very thematic part in the story. And I think those seeds of then what become ah a more of a murder mystery are way back there with with Poe.
Speaker: Yeah, I think you're right, Brooke. I think that Poe really set the tone for this trope, right? And I think you're right to call it a trope because as soon as you pick up a book and the house is either part of the title or featured in the description, you've got a pretty good sense of what you're going to be in for.
Speaker: Definitely. Probably closed circle because we're going to have this limited number of characters all in one place. And so, yeah, that gives us a really good feel for what type of a mystery this is going to be. Something you said that kind of made me chuckle is if it's in the title, because if you look like the manor house mystery or, you know, mystery at the manor house, like there are so many titles that just like directly tell you because the it is in the title itself. It's almost ah comical, actually.
Speaker: Yeah, no, you're right. there are There are so many examples of that. So um ah relatively recent release in 2023, Jilly McMillan's Manor House. I'm reading it this week, Sarah.
Speaker: It's so good. Yeah, it's pretty good, isn't it? Yeah. um And so in that one, it's ah it's actually a combination of two, right? the The modern, very modern house that's built on the grounds of a manor house. And ah there's kind of that history that comes with the older home and the family that has had that for years. And then this other couple that's that's living in this you know very state of the art building. um
Speaker: So yeah, that's a that's a great example. Agatha Christie, of course, had several books that were set in stately homes, and they're featured in the title. So the first one is the mysterious affair at Stiles, which was her first book. And then The Crooked House, The Secret at Chimneys, at you know, there are countless other examples of her books that feature in the title, you know, a home.
Speaker: That's right. And is anyone else like me, like once you start seeing these, you kind of want to give your house a name? Yeah, very much so. But maybe not because you don't want something um very mysterious and, you know, a number of deaths on your hands. Yeah, for some reason, when they have a catchy name, things go south there.
Speaker: Your observation that they are usually closed circle, I think, is a really important part of this trope, right? so you've got a lot of people who've gathered. Sometimes it's family,
Speaker: And we've talked before about kind of the tensions that family can bring. Or sometimes it's friends, like in The Seven Dials. A group of people have gathered at a home for a for a fun weekend. And then someone ends up dying and that kicks off this mystery. So most of that mystery doesn't actually happen in the house. But that is the setting for that initial murder.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. there's typically some sort of hierarchy. I mean, it might be, you said family, like so it could be in the inheritance, like what's going to happen with the family line. That's often a thing. It also could be like upstairs, downstairs, because most of these large stately homes have servants or staff. And so they're meant to be just invisible, living in their own sequestered spaces. But we know that that there's that interplay between the upstairs, downstairs people. So that can also be a hierarchy and another place where there's some you know secrets and tension.
Speaker: So often, Brooke, these homes are a little bit isolated. So I mentioned, and then there were none. And, you know, that house is is on this island. Another of Agatha Christie's is towards zero, where the house is housed.
Speaker: I don't remember if it's on an island or a peninsula, but it's not super easy to to access. um And that one, I think, if I remember correctly, has ah an inheritance theme associated with it as well.
Speaker: The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict, in which was published in 2022, that features an inheritance theme as well, and its family have collected at Christmas and... and ah There's a game that's part of the holiday festivities that leads to murder. It's it's a great read um for anybody who's looking, particularly if if you're looking to read something at Christmas time. It's ah it's a good read then, but it's it's a good read anytime.
Speaker: And their isolation lends itself to, you know, really cutting the characters off from the world, right? So the power goes out or the road gets blocked. So, you know, it's like a closed circle plus. Nobody else can even come and help them.
Speaker: h Right. It's almost a necessity because otherwise, why wouldn't the police... ah you know, be dispatched and they get saved. And so, um i mean, and that's like another trope, isn't it? Where you're cut off from the rest of the world.
Speaker: But I think that even though you know that this is going to happen, we're in a manor house and there's going to be this group of people and ah something's probably going to happen so that they can't reach the outside world. We don't mind because this is the game. This is the fun of it. And to see how that particular author strings it all together and and and makes it work. i You were talking about ah the Christmas murder game and I think that one is done really well because it plays with so many of these things that we've talked about, the hidden rooms, the family, the um you know the the happy atmosphere that goes south because that's something else we have in this is this this grand, beautiful exterior, but on the inside, you know there's seedy darkness. um And you get all almost all of the different components put into that story really well.
Speaker: What about, i'm just thinking about films, Knives Out, the first Knives Out movie, I think I would categorize as being a manor house mystery, right? It's family who've all gathered in um the ancestral home and um one of the characters dies.
Speaker: That's an excellent example and one that's really accessible. If you haven't if you're not familiar with this, like I would say go watch Knives Out and you'll get a sense of like what these manor house mysteries are all about, even down to like the beauty of the home, right like the architecture, the beautiful staircases, the stained glass. like These are very special places. They don't have to be. We mentioned that some of the houses can be more modern, but I think that the real traditional way of looking at this trope is some of these you know more ancient places.
Speaker: Another movie that I particularly love in this category is an adaptation of Crooked House, which you mentioned earlier. ah So yes, obviously Agatha Christie, but it's a 2017 adaptation. I think it's available on Netflix right now and Glenn Close stars in it and it is fantastic. It's it's really good. It's quite chilling actually. And Crooked House is a rather dark story. So be prepared.
Speaker: Yeah, i I think it's maybe one of the darker ones that Christy did. i would agree. it it It definitely seems that way to me too, Sarah.
Speaker: I have read a couple of books in a series by Kate P. Adams, and those books feature ah a manor house that has been converted into a tourist attraction in the UK. It's a very cozy series, and the... um Mysteries are, as you would expect in in Cozy Mysteries, or you know a little bit lighter, but features you know some of the the people who work at this manor house that's now at a tourist attraction.
Speaker: Oh, that sounds really fun, Sarah. So from awa a YA perspective, Maureen Johnson, who wrote the Truly Devious series, has a standalone novel called Death at Morning House, and that was published in 2024.
Speaker: ah And ah it's a dual timeline. So there's ah you know something happening in present day that's influenced by something that happened app in the past at this.
Speaker: It's a... um I think it's been converted into ah a tourist attraction in kind of a a beach summer community on the eastern um part of the United States. ah And um it was it was a It was a great read, i i as I enjoy all of Maureen Johnson's books. um But I like the way, and there are a couple of other examples where authors take, you know, the
Speaker: sad past of a home that, you know, has all of the tensions of the family that used to live there and kind of the secrets that have been forgotten or, or never fully answered. And then several decades later, there's someone who is in this home and uncovers the truth. And I like that kind of, ah that kind of mystery.
Speaker: Yes, I think you just hit on what my favorite part about some of these are, is this bit of history or this secret that has been laying dormant. And for some reason, someone uncovers something and then it's dangerous either for them or someone else. i think you're I think that's right on what I love about a lot of these stories is when you they can weave in some history and in multi-generations, because obviously these homes have been around for generations. So yeah, that's wonderful.
Speaker: Another book I read recently and didn't realize when I picked it up that it was going to be a great manor house mystery example is The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell.
Speaker: And this was a 2023 release that was kind of a big deal when it came out and I i missed it, but I had a friend recommend it and said, you've got to read it. And this one is fun because it's definitely the manor house trope. because we have the one of the main characters who has, this is her family home and for generations they've lived here. ah But it's a mashup with a culinary mystery because it's sort of like the great British baking show, right? Like this person who lives in the manor house, she is a ah pastry chef and she started hosting this television baking show. And so everybody convenes on her grounds and they're going to have, ah they're going to tape this season of the baking show and a mystery ensues. I thought it was really well done. Definitely has the part that you're talking about. Like there's this
Speaker: mystery in the past or this event that happened in the past that everyone has sort of forgotten about. But in the course of the story, it comes to light. And I just really liked it. Have you read that one, Sarah?
Speaker: Yeah, I did. I did read that book when it came out. And um you're right. It is a ah a great example of a mystery that's set in one of these older homes. And then that contemporary element of the cooking show, i think, makes it interesting.
Speaker: Perhaps a little bit more relatable because I think a lot of us have never, you know, maybe we've visited a manor house as as a tourist, but, you know certainly never spent a weekend um at a at a manor house party, um you know, with a bunch of other guests. So don't have any, you know, um um only have the experiences that we've seen or read about to to draw from. So I think the way that she modernized that story, I think she did that in ah in a really great way.
Speaker: Well, Sarah, you know, over ah the various episodes, I have brought up Rebecca ah by Daphne du Maurier several times. And I know you read it fairly recently. um And I think that even though this is a different kind of story, we don't have a group of people convening. We don't have... um you know, that traditional murder mystery taking place, I definitely think that it, maybe it's sort of like the Poe reference I said. It's like a seed to some of these other stories because we have this house that is definitely a character in the story. We have the upstairs downstairs thing because Mrs. Danvers is a
Speaker: is the housekeeper who is very secretive and makes Rebecca feel off kilter most of the time. um So I still think it counts as a good example of a manor house mystery.
Speaker: Yeah, I i agree. i think um it's that element that you were talking about that it's, you know, Mrs. Danvers setting that setting that tone for the story. I think another one that I would include is Wuthering Heights.
Speaker: ah Definitely, yes. For some of the reasons that you just mentioned, right? There's not a a huge cast of characters, but there's definitely some mystery about that house.
Speaker: Right, right. So a couple of more classic, maybe not straight mystery stories, but influences on this trope very heavily. Yeah.
Speaker: um An author who's drawn on this trope in a couple of different books is Rachel Hawkins. So her 2021 release, The Wife Upstairs, I think is ah think it's a retelling of Wuthering Heights. um And more recently, her 2023 release, The Villa. ah features a home in Italy, i believe, and it has dual timelines. So there's something that happens in the 1970s and something that happens in present day. And this house has some secrets that that get uncovered.
Speaker: Yeah, those so sound fantastic. but Rachel ah Hawkins has a lot of books and I've read some of the other ones, but The Wife Upstairs, I think, seems like one that I would really enjoy.
Speaker: Well, Brooke, this has been a lot of fun to chat about manor houses. I hope that we've talked about all of the things that you love about this trope.
Speaker: ah We did. This was so much fun, Sarah. And listeners, here's your question of the week. When you're reading manor house mystery, do you prefer the more traditional stately home or do you like the modern takes on these large homes that mystery can happen in? Let us know. you can reach out to us by email or on social media. But until next time, thank you for joining us on Clued in Mystery.
Speaker: I'm Brooke. And I'm Sarah. And we both love mystery. Clued in Mystery is written and produced by Brooke Peterson and Sarah M. Stephen. Music is by Shane Ivers.
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