The Pigeon Pie Mystery: A Novel

Set in England during the reign of Queen Victoria, princess in exile, Alexandrina, known as Mink is reeling from the death of her father in a scandalous fashion. She finds out that her father has left a great deal of debt, which will only be added to when her father's funeral is complete. With her maid Pooki, she takes the Queen's offer for a grace and favor home at Hampton Court. When they arrive, they find that the home is not as pleasant as they expected and that there are rules and regulations that they must follow, enforced by bossy woman. They find that there is quite a division between staff of the palace and those who live there in the grace and favor apartments or houses. When Mink and Pooki are invited to a picnic, the special pigeon pie that Pooki makes for an obnoxious neighbor is implicated in his death. Mink becomes convinced that the police are incompetent and mounts her own investigation into the assorted characters around her. Her digging unveils many secrets and the list of suspects continues to grow. While this was a charming story and the author does a great job with characterization, it lacked the poignant heartbreak of her prior book based around the Tower of London. It was still an enjoyable book and well worth reading.

This is the first book I have read by Julia Stuart, but it will not be the last! In fact, I am now reading The Matchmaker of Perigord by her and loving it too! But, back to The Pigeon Pie Mystery. This story is about a Princess named Alexandrina and her maid, Pooki. The princess is left penniless when her father, the Maharaja dies. Queen Victoria grants her a grace and favor home in Hampton Court Palace. When they get settled in, they are introduced to a peculiar bunch of neighbors, and one of them dies after eating some pigeon pies baked by Pooki. Pooki and the Princess have been together for most of the Princesses life and she knows that Pooki is innocent. However, the local law does not seem to be as interested as they should be in finding the real murderer. So, the Princess takes it upon herself to solve the murder. Along the way to solving the crime,she gets to know her strange and interesting neighbors very well. This story is a fun read! Oh, and the Princesses favorite pet is a tiny monkey that wears red velvet pants and causes quite a stir among the neighbors!Excerpts:"She was so skinny she seeme to have been eroded by years of persistant wind." Pg2"As a matter of interest, how mad should one's hatter be?" Pg 146Please visit my review blog at [...]

Recommended by a friend. A little too arch for me, but interesting way of achieving a murder, and it was interesting to see a slice of life in England in 1898. Author did research, and mentions a lot of everyday practices as well as brand names popular in England at the time.

This novel set in Victorian times at the Hampton Court Palace in England, follows the Princess Alexandrina and her servant, Pooki during their adjustment to being 'grace and favour' residents of the palace.Mink, the Princess' nickname, is offered the warrant to live at the Palace upon her father, Maharaja of Pindur's, demise. Finding herself losing all her belongings and impoverished, Mink is furthered worried by the accusation that her maid is the suspect in the death of Major-General Bagshot. The Major-General was despised by his fellow residents of the Palace as Mink soon learns, but it is up to her to prove to the Inspector that it is not by the hand of her trusty and beloved Pooki.The characters in this book are colorful, kooky, and interesting. Their secret lives are tales that would make novels within themselves. Romance, ghosts, and the lifestyle of the classes are related in a fascinating fast paced storytelling manner.I truly enjoyed this novel and look forward to future books by Ms. Stuart.

After her fathers rather embarressing demise, Princess Mink & her maid Sooki find themselves broke, & living in a 'Grace & Favour' house at Hampton Court Palace. Overrun by down-on-their luck aristocrats & gawking tourists, the Palace is a simmering pot of intence emotion & secrets.During a picnic, one of the more loathsome characters gets his comeuppance - seemingly of natural causes. Unfortunately, all changes when new evidence points to the death being intentional. Whodunnit? There are suspects aplenty, & Mink must uncover the real killer before the wrong person is hanged.At first the author seemed to be trying too hard to be witty & quirky. As the story unfolded though, it flowed more naturally.I loved the fact that it was set in Hampton Court, and that Ms Stuart did her homework on the history of the place. Included were old rumours, scandels & ghosts.Funny & interesting, it was a good follow on from ' The Tower, the Tortoise, & the Zoo'.

Enjoyable, particularly for an English reader, or just an anglophile, as it is the social incongruities that make the reader shake his/her head at the nonsense so often related to British social customs in an ever present attempt to maintain status quo. Rarely do I laugh out loud, when reading, but Pigeon Pie made me do just that.

I must say, when I started this book I was a tiny bit put off by the sheer volume of clever Victorian historical detail. But as I continued, the author's style quickly grew on me and I adjusted to her pace, finding this to be a very entertaining and satisfying cozy.Lacing everything with a refreshingly sly wit, Julia Stuart creates a vivid sense of place and time via all the details, as well as a cast of quirky, endearing and three dimensional charcters. And the mystery is quite satisfying, illuminating darker sorrows hidden beneath the veil of stiff and silly Victorian manners.I loved this book and recommend it highly!

Princess Alexandrina (Mink) has lost almost everything - first her English mother in childbirth, then her father, a reckless and charming Maharajah, her house in London to debts and, finally, her suitor Mark Cavendish, fleeing the hint of scandal due to her father's rather unsavoury demise. Relocating in a 'grace and favour' house at Hampton Court, she has to overcome her fear of change and her Indian maid Pooki's horror of ghosts. Finding her way around her new environment, Mink is befriended by Lady Beatrice, Lady Mortfort Bebb and Lady Bessington. They invite her to the annual residents picnic, during which Pooki is asked to provide some pigeon pies. During the picnic General Bagshot is taken ill and, when he dies, Pooki's pigeon pies are regarded as the source of poisoning. Unable to face losing her irritating, but much loved maid, as well as everything else, Mink sets out to solve the crime. Along the way she uncovers motives and secrets from both the other residents and those that work at the Palace, while trying to stop Inspector Guppy from tightening the noose around her beloved Pooki.This is a really fun mystery, with great characters and genuine humour. There is one great scene where the Vicar insists on singing a different song to that the organist is playing, while the congregation join in using class considerations as to which side they should take, which actually made me laugh aloud. There are a fair amount of social and class stereotypes, but the characters are interesting and you care about what happens to them. Hampton Court Palace and the Victorian setting are also well done, the mystery well plotted, and I hope we hear much more from Mink - I look forward greatly to reading more about this intelligent and resourceful heroine.

Excellent

Great fun to read but not a complete beach read; it has more substance. This was the first book i have read by this author and after having finished it I have been tempted to buy more.

Product accurately described by seller.

This book was reviewed by my book club and everyone agreed that it would make a fun movie. I enjoyed the light humour and the British history. Unfortunately, most of us felt it challenging to continue to the end of the book. It was a very easy read, and at times we wondered where the story was going. But, it deserves to be a movie-