Accident by Design

Accident by Design was honestly a really well done classic British mystery. I was surprised, expecting something subpar and generic. It was well-written, with interesting characters and some great descriptions of the British countryside and the work done on a tenant farm. The story is about a family estate in the early '50s. The patriarch lies in bed near death, but still quite aware. His eldest son is a feckless alcoholic with a middle-class (bad), Australian (worse) wife who hates pretty much everyone his father employed and has threatened to make a clean sweep when he takes over. When they both die in a car accident, too many people benefit, and this alerts the local constabulary (who are very well depicted in the best British tradition of the no-nonsense, practical, reasonable police force). When their surviving son dies a few days later, by seemingly eating some poisonous berries, the game is truly afoot.