(PAPERBACK) The Murder at Blackthorn Manor

The Murder at Blackthorn Manor A Country House Murder Mystery Chapter 1: The Invitation to Blackthorn The post in the village of Oakhaven was usually a lethargic affair, concerned primarily with the delivery of seed catalogues and the occasional stern notice from the parish council. However, on a Tuesday that smelled faintly of ozone and impending misfortune, the postman found his bag significantly lightened by a series of heavy, cream-colored envelopes. Each bore the crest of Blackthorn Manor, an embossed raven clutching a withered sprig of blackthorn in its talons, and the wax seal was applied with a frantic, uneven pressure that suggested Sir Reginald Blackthorn had been experiencing a significant tremor of the hand or perhaps a fit of singular, unbridled rage. The letters were not merely invitations; they were summons. For the recipients, scattered across the country like dust motes in a shaft of dying sunlight, the arrival of such correspondence was akin to receiving a court order for their own emotional execution.