Loch Down Abbey is a very frolicsome caper full of slapstick humor taking place in Scotland sometimes in the 30s. The story centers around the Inverkillen, an aristocratic but penniless Scottish family and the mayhem that ensues after the accidental death (or is it murder?) of the current Lord. Suffice to say that the family is mostly composed of a large number of obnoxious, selfish, overbearing dimwits running a wheel short of a full set, a family that would definitely be unable to survive one single minute without the faithful dedication and goodwill of their numerous and very efficient staff. And yes before I forget, a nasty virus called VPM (virulent, pernicious, mauvaise) is spreading around the land and threatening to wreck havoc in Loch Down Abbey.....
Cleverly plotted, peopled with a cast of unforgettable characters and written with an uproarious mix of Anglo-American humor, this very funny and unputdownable novel is a sure winner from start to finish! To be enjoyed without moderation.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to read this wonderful book and for the laughter

I really enjoyed this fun book. The storyline and characters are equally absurd, but I found it hard to put down, and it certainly made me chuckle. I found the large number of characters difficult to keep track of (but not horrendously so) and my only real criticism is the spelling errors - e.g. Wedgewood. I would thoroughly recommend this as a light-hearted read.

1930s Scotland.

The servants at Loch Down Abbey are dropping like flies from a mystery debilitating virus, but above stairs the family are more concerned with the lack of bathroom tissues and feral children (since Nanny has so inconveniently popped her clogs).

But then Lord Inverkillen is found dead in suspicious circumstances. The useless Inspector declares it an accident, but redoubtable housekeeper Mrs MacBain isn't so sure. Since the house is in lockdown, only someone on the inside can be the culprit. And with the family doing who knows what all day,. Mrs MacB (in the face of dwindling staff numbers and increasing workload) goes digging.

It's amazing what secrets are hidden....

Excellent :)

In this quick and delightful read, Beth Cowan-Erskine takes elements of our current pandemic (the isolation, the quarantining), gives them a surprisingly playful spin and a 1930s setting, and introduces readers to the Ogilvy-Sinclair family, which is holed up at the family estate in rural Scotland, being attended to be their band of faithful (?) servants. With elements of Downtown Abbey, Gosford Park, and Clue, this novel takes the classics upstairs-downstairs trope and livens it up with details of family squabbles, pandemic, and murder most foul!

While I enjoyed most of this work, I do have to say that I had one major problem, especially early on - the large cast of characters. While a guide is provided at the beginning of the book (which, in hindsight, was also a warnings of sort of the large cast to come), keeping aristocratic titles and unusual names straight was a task. While it didn't put me off the task of reading Loch Down Abbey, mileage may vary by reader.