Unnatural Ends by Christopher Huang

I picked the book up for reading thinking this had got archived a long way back and only just saw that it is well in the future. An excellent puzzle of a murder mystery with a lot of suspects which kept changing with every chapter. Sir Lawrence Linwood is rather old, death was not expected but his head was found bashed in with a mace so there was nothing natural about his demise. He was estranged from his children who did not show a united front when they did arrive and who were hostile to everyone around them. Sir Lawrence had a strange proviso in his will. His estate would go to the person who solved the mystery of his death, if he did die of unnatural causes. There was a very cryptic puzzle available and his Secretary and companion of many years was also entitled to the search for clues. As the story progresses, many skeletons in the closet are revealed even those in the Secretary's past and now the two who are assisting in the investigation are beginning to doubt all those who are in pursuit of the clues. When the eldest son is also found murdered, when the pursuers are locked up to prevent them reaching the final clue one begins to see the dysfunctional features of the family which are so twisted and macabre. A lot of attention to detail, a setting of the 1920s very well done too. Sent by Inkshares for an unbiased review courtesy of Netgalley.