THE DEAD HAND

Escalating misdeeds plague the trustees of an English estate in 1861.

It starts with mere mischief. First, two of the farm workers at Thorncroft Estate in Shropshire get into a drunken brawl. Next, someone cuts the cords holding up several of the portraits that adorn the halls of the gracious home, causing the heavy frames to crash down on whoever tries to move or dust them. But estate manager Matthew Rowsley and his wife, Harriet, have little time for such foolishness. Between keeping the estate fully staffed and running, riding herd on the fractious archeologists digging up Roman ruins found on the grounds, and supervising the construction of a model village that, in accordance with the will of the late Lord Croft, will provide housing for the local farmers and education for their children, their days are long and filled with hard though rewarding work. When Harriet finds that she must also make time to supervise Professor Marchbanks and his wife, who are charged with cataloging the late lord’s library, she feels as if she’s at the end of her rope. But when someone attacks Matthew and the local rector in the chapel and later beats one of the laborers to death, she knows she must act. Cutler’s quirky series blazes its own path as the Rowsleys struggle to imprint their own modern values on their wild and rambling Victorian household, even as they never fail to offer its guests a well-staffed dinner table.

A little history, a little mystery.