E F Benson 
The Luck of the Vails 

A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY
WH Auden, Nancy Mitford and Noel Coward were among his fans… But have you discovered E. F. Benson yet?

In a Holbein portrait above the grand old fireplace, Francis Vail, second baronet, brandishes a beautiful golden goblet, encrusted with pearls, rubies and emeralds. But this treasure, the Luck of the Vails, has since brought the family nothing but ruin and death.
On the eve of his twenty-first birthday, Harry Vail discovers the Luck hidden in the attic of his ancestral home, the family curse is reawoken, and a tale of madness, avarice and murder unfolds.
Murder mystery… Ghost story… Whodunnit. This is a classic detective story from the author of Mapp and Lucia. Crime fiction at its best.