Death in the Castle by Pearl S Buck

I've always associated Pearl Buck with stories set in China so this was a nice turn up for the books.
An ancient castle, a very English old couple, a butler and jack of all trades and his daughter Kate loyal stalwarts and the brash American who wants to buy the castle and transfer it (naturally) to Connecticut! His reasoning is that there are more people there who will appreciate the paintings he intends to hang in the castle converted to a museum.

You knew you were going in blind in this one. Very early on there are lots of fantasies being played out, especially with the older couple who seem to live in years gone by in the actual times of Kings and the part that the family played in whatever role they did. The fact that they thought the sale was a straight forward one with the castle merely changing hands not changing places was an added twist to the story.

The novel was not a mystery thriller for me in the real sense but it did make for interesting historical fiction. The characters were a little too defined for me, with Kate the maid not acting or speaking like a maid at all. However the interest in the story was the castle, its history, its future and the bit of romance that was evolving as we went along.

Sent to me by Open Road Integrated Media through Netgalley, for an unbiased review.