Mrs. Jeffries Plays the Cook

Oh dear. Mrs. Goodge, the cook, is away, and the staff has to help cook the meals in her absence. The trouble is, none of them remotely measure up, and they and the Inspector have to eat horrible meals. The Inspector, of course, is too polite to complain, and only asks now and then if Mrs. Jeffries (the housekeeper and leader of the staff) has found a replacement cook. Of course they can't hire a replacement cook - the staff has to investigate the murder in SECRET, and it wouldn't do to have a stranger in the house. But they can't very well tell the Inspector that. That is the subplot and is hilarious in itself. The main plot is of course the murder of the odious Mr. Barrett and the list of suspects a mile long. The household is baffled at first, but not for long!

Mrs. Jeffries and her crew (minus the cook this time) are on the trail of another killer. The murder victim though is one that everyone hates and the list of suspects is longer than they're used to. This is actually quite a funny Mrs. Jeffries. The efforts that each of the staff make to cook while the their cook is away visiting a sick relative are creative if not palatable, and poor Inspector Witherspoon is suffering greatly. This is a wonderful cozy series set in Victorian London. There's not much history in the books, but they are fun nonetheless.