Downton Abbey, Clue (the movie), and lovers of campy murder mysteries need this book! It was hilarious and fast paced!

Loch Down Abbey was such a fun read. It is set in Scotland in the 1930s where a pandemic is making more and more people sick, many are dying, shops are closing, and people are staying inside. Everyone is scared, except the noble Inverkillen family, safe in the ancient home of Loch Down Abbey with its 125 rooms – not counting the servant rooms – of which only six are used. The entire Inverkillen family is in the Abbey, starting from the matriarch Lady Georgina to her children, her grandchildren, and her great grandchildren. Entitled and self-absorbed, when Nanny suddenly dies their only worry is: who is going to look after the children? The death of Hamish, the head of the family, only affects them regarding what he left them in their will, while Mrs. MacBain, the head housekeeper, wonders if his death was really an accident or if he was killed.

And as shortages force them to cut down from six to three cakes and to share toilet paper, they barely notice that their servants are also getting sick until they are asked to dress themselves and make their own beds.

After a slow start during which it took me a while to figure out who was who (despite the characters list at the beginning of the novel 😅), I found myself completely absorbed in this novel. Mysteries, secrets, and drama make for an entertaining and thrilling read and Loch Down Abbey is a fantastic setting with its many many rooms, its locked offices, and the secret tunnels in which the children keep disappearing.

The characters are very well-crafted and intriguing. Lady Georgina is a force to be reckoned with while Mrs. MacBain somehow manages to keep everyone in line, servants and family members alike.

If you are looking for a fun, gripping read full of wit, humor, and strong characters, then I highly recommend you give Loch Down Abbey a read… you won’t regret it!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It had a splash of Downton Abbey, a splash of Upstairs, Downstairs and a splash of humor all thrown in. While not all of the characters were likable, and I don't think they were supposed to be, I found myself enjoying the amateur sleuthing of Mrs. McBain to be fun and interesting. There were a lot of threads woven together and it made for a good, and fast, story.

Loch Down Abbey by Beth Cowan-Erskine is a murder mystery that has a lot of elements of lock down life in 2020!  There is toilet paper hoarding, food shortages, and unexpected childcare!

In the style of a golden age murder mystery, this is a country house murder set in the 1930s, where the guests can't leave due to an illness sweeping the countryside. 

The house is Loch Down Abbey, and when the Earl is found dead, everyone is a suspect.  We have family members who don't get on, weird dynamics, and of course, secrets and lies.

This is a rollicking read, and especially funny as you encounter lockdown reminders as you go along.

 Loch Down Abbey  was published on 10th June 2021 and is available from  Amazon ,  Waterstones  and  Bookshop.org .

I'm afraid I couldn't find anywhere for you to follow Beth Cowan-Erskine.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to  Hodder & Stoughton .

With a large cast of characters worthy of an Agatha Christie novel, the setting of a Scottish Downton Abbey, and a deadly virus spreading through the downstairs and the upstairs, Loch Down Abbey is an intriguing mystery. Who will still be standing in the end?

The family at Loch Down live extravagantly. I truly enjoyed the tidbits of family customs that the narrator feeds to the reader, almost as a way of setting the stage as the characters take their places for the scene. I would have been quite lost without these quick details of family history added in right when I needed it.

Really enjoyed this read! Would read another from this author.

Recommended for: Adults & Teens
Suitable for: Ages 15 & up (Contains adult themes.)

This was the best fiction book I have read in 2021, to date. Funny, well-written, satiric, with a superb cast of eccentric and selfish characters and the perfect blending of country house mystery with the reader's own recent experiences in a world gone half mad--it's a delicious parody of Downton Abbey and pandemic lockdowns. The aristocratic Scottish family, the Ogilvie-Stirlings, has descended on the ancestral home (for 600 years, no less) for the one time a year they all visit. Reason: for a local ball, where they can dance, gossip, and relish their importance and relevance, and ignore each other. The three generations don't really like each other and barely speak unless absolutely necessary. So when a very contagious sickness sweeps through the village and through the Abbey's servants, and Lord Inverkillen dies under somewhat mysterious circumstances, the family is suddenly faced with horrors big and small: trapped in their absurdly enormous home, trying to figure out how to cover the enormous death duties and continue their pampered lifestyles, while facing the collateral damage of their servants dropping like flies, with rations of food and--gasp--toilet paper and the indignities of giving up breakfast trays and having to make their own beds. Family scuffles and family secrets are punctuated by a marauding band of unsupervised children intent on wreaking havoc while a skeleton crew of cook, housekeeper, and chauffeur do their best to keep the family from killing each other. The parody of Downton Abbey was hilarious. The threat of a pandemic sweeping through the family, village, and all of Britain causing disruptions to food delivery services and everything else, so familiar after the past year, was handled so brilliantly that instead of causing traumatic flashbacks, those sections brought on laugh out loud guffaws. What a completely brilliant book. Highly recommended!

This is not a great read. it was very contrived and I found the author's lack of knowledge about the british upper classes grating. Not everyone is a Lord if they are aristocracy! I would have expected a good editor to have picked up on this, The plot was a bit holey - i felt that not all the threads were tied up at the end and there was quite a lot of info dumping. Many of the plot devices were utterly transparent - clearly only included to move the plot along. I know I have forgotten other problems with it as i have tried to put it out of my mind. The puns were dreadful.

1920s classic country house mystery with more than a dash of 2020 pandemic references, as the Inverkillen clan are trapped in lockdown on their large estate. First Nanny dies, then the head of the family follows, and as the household is struck down with the mystery virus sweeping up from England it is up to the indomitable housekeeper Mrs Macbain to get to the bottom of things.

A really enjoyable escapist mystery, perfect for fans of the cosy/classic mystery. A very solid 3.5 stars.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

Loch Down Abbey is a fun, light historical cozy mystery set in a manor house in 1930s Scotland. Caper is a much more accurate word to use when describing this book, as the mystery is pretty light and most of the plot focuses on family secrets and shenanigans. This book was amusing, but I had a very difficult time distinguishing one character from another and keeping track of all the characters and who was married to whom.

I ended up liking this book, but I had a hard time keeping straight all of the characters. Reading a physical book might of helped me so that I could go back to the front to see the cast of characters. I will be interested in reading the author's next book.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest reveiw.

This is a cosy, light-hearted mystery read - however, I wouldn't say that the mystery itself is the most prevalent part of the plot. It is more just another element to a very busy book. There are lots of characters, lots of drama, lots of side twists and turns. I would say the overall family/household dynamics are the star of the book, and I really enjoyed that. The setting is fantastic. It felt like another Downton, and that's exactly what I was after.

The 1930s and set in a town in Scotland, the story surrounds the inhabitants of the local aristocracy and they are a callous, strange lot.
A disease is striking Scotland and people are falling down like ninepins but all they are concerned with is of the inconvenience of looking after
the children after Nanny has so inconsiderably fallen down dead and now staff are falling sick. The possibility of even considering making their own
beds, reducing the number of trips that maids have to take to bring and take tea trays and the horror of reducing the number of cakes at tea from six to
three are some of the major problems faced by this family.

The head housekeeper is the only sane being in the lot and when the Lord of this manor is found dead, she is the only one concerned enough to do
some private sleuthing because something does smell rotten. No one else is bothered. Since no one is allowed in or out of the house due to the illness
sweeping the village it is apparent that the suspected murderer is one of their own.

Unravelling the mystery with no help from the family and still having to run the house with no apparent shortcomings is a herculean task. The true color of
the relations come to the fore with the death of the Lord especially when his will is read and the skeletons come out of the cupboard. The family is facing
bankruptcy and the sale of the manor is the only way out, something that most of them cannot get their heads around and their hearts to accept.

Tongue in cheek British humour at its best, the bunch of characters are so varied that the mix of them is what is best in the story.

I loved it and hope it's the first in a series because it's very entertaining and gripping.
There's plenty of humour and I loved how it used Golden Age tropes and made me them work.
Excellent plot and character development, a solid mystery that kept me guessing.
Can't wait to read another book by this author.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I picked Loch Down Abbey from NetGalley (thank you, NetGalley) as an advanced copy without any knowledge of Beth Cowan-Erksine as an author. As I read through the book, I found that Cowan-Erksine’s writing style was totally enchanting, but the plot a little transparent. I did enjoy Loch Down Abbey as a quirky and amusing novel.
The Inverkillens are a unique family, to say the least. The matriarch, her sons, grandchildren, and their wives and children all currently reside in Loch Down Abbey, the Inverkillen family home. Nobody can figure out what they do all day or how they amuse themselves, aside from running the servants off their feet. When Lord Inverkillen is found dead in the weir, and the local inspector seems incapable of finding out what really happened, the family dissolves into chaos over inheritances - or lack thereof. Housekeeper Mrs. McBain is the only one who sees something suspicious about the Lord’s death, and takes up the cause of investigation.
While this novel is technically classified as a mystery, I would honestly consider it more of a general work of fiction. I thought the Inverkillens were hilarious, and I was highly amused reading about them; this novel would have made an excellent book without death involved at all. Cowan-Erksine does a delightful job of third-person omniscient narration, and switches between perspectives of all of the characters flawlessly. The smooth transitions between thought processes are part of what make the book so entertaining, as all of the characters are so different and constantly warring with each other.
This novel had a lot of entertainment value and was written very well, but I wouldn’t say it had the greatest plot of all time. It was very light on the mystery (30-40% of the book actually spent on the mystery, I’d guess), and could have been more subtle about the coronavirus pandemic and the author’s utter disdain for the “ruling” class. As things get worse and worse for the Inverkillen clan, a mysterious disease sweeps the nation, killing many people, shorting out supplies, and requiring the servants to wear masks and gloves. By the time we got to the masks, gloves, and lack of toilet paper, I was rolling my eyes a bit because it was just too obvious. However, it did keep the family looking the worse they possibly could.
The Inverkillen clan are not nice people. I don’t know who they’re supposed to represent in real life (just the rich in general or maybe a specific set of the aristocracy), but based on these characters and their endings I would infer that Cowan-Erksine has a beef with either money or titles, and thinks that someone who has either or both is naturally a cruel and selfish person. I don’t think it was a coincidence that all but the “good” people in the family had a fairly unhappy ending. Mrs. McBain’s ending also didn’t surprise me, but I found it hard to believe - I’ll let you read for yourself, but I will hint that it seems she got what she deserved and the family got what they deserved. I just wasn’t a fan of this whole political discourse as I’d rather read about some weird, quirky, unusual family and not a poorly disguised social commentary.
The social commentary piece only really started to get at me towards the end of the novel, so I wasn’t too bothered throughout the whole book. It certainly wouldn’t stop me from reading another one of Cowan-Erksine’s novels as I found her writing style amusing and very humorous.

PBS needs to pick this up for a production on their Network. Thoroughly enjoyed the scenes of setting, almost a character in and of itself. Entertaining dynamic of family especially in the 1930's.

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers in exchange for my honest review.

This is a comic novel, partly mystery and partly family saga. It is light-hearted but a lot of fun, drawing parallels with 2020 Lockdown, but set in Scotland in the 1930s.

It ostensibly revolves around the death of the head of the family, Lord Inverkillen, but is really a merry-go-round of an aristocratic family with lots of secrets that they are determined to keep hidden. The title is of course a parody of Downton Abbey, and we have a formidable matriarch with some waspish put-down lines and some foppish men, silly women and redoubtable staff. The family estate is in jeopardy because they can’t afford the death duties, the shops in the village are closed because of the mysterious virus, dinner may have to be restricted to only five courses, and who is actually looking after the children?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it’s a relaxed read and something light-hearted to while away the Lockdown hours!

3.5/5 stars

Loch Down Abbey is a light but delightful read that takes place at Loch Down Abbey in Scotland, possibly in the early 20th Century. Lord Inverkillen (and Earl/head of family) has died mysteriously and head housekeeper Mrs. MacBain attempts to uncover the truth of what happened. Meanwhile, she unearths a plethora of family secrets that upend family members and alter relationships.

If you are a fan of PBS's Downton Abbey, you will enjoy the parallels to the show as well as the author's tongue-in-cheek style. The characters are self-absorbed but relatively benign; I did have a bit of trouble keeping track of some of them, even with the directory at the front of the book (I don't tend to go back when reading on my Kindle). I could have done without the obvious references to the COVID-19 pandemic: mask-wearing and toilet paper shortages. I got a few chuckles while reading, but there were no particular plot points propelling me through to the conclusion. No plot twists or shocking surprises, but an enjoyable and creative read nonetheless.

I would recommend this to Downton fans, who will get the most out of the story and appreciate the parody. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an advanced e-reader copy of this book!

Humour is such a subjective thing that I feel bad even giving feedback seeing that most people enjoyed this a lot. For me, this book did not work, because it is not my sense of humour so all the nudge-nudge, haha references fell totally flat and were super cringe for me. And then the mystery plot was actually not that brilliant for me either. So sadly not my thing.

I picked up Loch Down Abbey expecting it to be a golden age era mystery, but it was not exactly that. Loch Down Abbey is in Scotland, and as soon becomes apparent, it is a play on words, because a strange disease is making its way through the British Isles, putting everyone on lockdown. This part of the book confused me a little. I guess it is a nod to recent pandemic events, but it was never fully fleshed out and seemed irrelevant to the story, at least to me.

What I enjoyed about the book was the setting and the family drama. Everything takes place in the abbey, and I could picture this making a great theater production. The characters are over the top, the house was atmospheric...I can easily picture it playing out on stage and being a lot of fun.

There was a mysterious death in the book, but strangely it sort of fizzled and wasn't really much of a mystery, and was solved fairly early in the book. There was a lot of family drama, and as other reviewers have mentioned, in the final pages there is a delightful and totally unexpected surprise.

Loch Down Abbey is a fun golden age family drama and in the course of the story the reader gets some great insight into life in a grand house in the 1930s, and how dependent the families were on their servants to run things and take care of them. If you understand the premise, and are not expecting a mystery and a string of murders like I was, then I think you will really enjoy the book. Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton, and author Beth Cowan-Erskine for a fun read!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun mystery, and a great way to tackle the idea of a pandemic without being a little too present. I enjoyed it but I would have liked to see slightly shorter chapters (100+ pages in a cozy mystery is oddly long- it felt rather run on), and there were a lot of characters to keep track of for a shorter book. Still, an entertaining read!