OR

Kindle Price:	$1.50
Sold by:	Amazon.com Services LLC

Promotions apply when you purchase

Read with our free app

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

Suzanne Downes

+ Follow

More books from this author

A Noble Pair of Brothers (The Underwood Mysteries Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Suzanne Downes (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.2 1,167 ratings

Book 1 of 7: The Underwood Mysteries

See all formats and editions

An historical murder mystery set in the 1820's.
When C. H. Underwood arrives in the village of Bracken Tor in the spring of 1820, he intends only to visit his brother, the vicar, and take a long rest from his work as a Classics tutor at Cambridge University.
However, almost as soon as he arrives he finds himself intrigued by an unsolved murder, committed the year before.
The headless corpse of a young woman was found in woods belonging to the local landowner and Magistrate, Sir Henry Wynter.
Underwood finds the notion that the body lies in a grave marked “Unknown” to be abhorrent. He decides to use his free time to discover the identity of the victim – and if possible bring her killer to justice.
His brother begs him to proceed with caution, as the murder had roused feelings of a controversial nature amongst the villagers.
Before long he has uncovered not only the girl’s final movements before her death, but also the possibility of two other murders having taken place in Bracken Tor.
His task is not made any less complicated by his developing relationship with Charlotte, one of Sir Henry’s daughters, and by the myriad characters he comes across in his investigation.
The theory that the girl had been killed as some sort of barbaric ritual is only one of his difficulties, and when a young man arrives in the midst of a cricket match, claiming to be the victim’s husband, the whole village becomes privy to the fact that Underwood is attempting to solve the mystery.
When the newcomer is shot through the heart whilst in Underwood’s company, he finds himself not only universally reviled for his interference, but also accused of murder himself.
It takes all his ingenuity to extricate himself from the chaos he has caused, but he always has Verity Chapell, governess to the Wynter girls, to help him in his quest to find the murderer.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00HWFEVRE
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Suzanne Downes; 1st edition (January 15, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 15, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 866 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 250 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #503,988 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #3,661 in Traditional Detective Mysteries (Kindle Store)
- #4,093 in Historical Mysteries (Kindle Store)
- #7,015 in Historical Mystery

Customer Reviews:
4.2 1,167 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Suzanne Downes

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

1,167 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

M. Slavidou

Delightful, enjoyable window into history

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2017

Verified Purchase

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was like a murder mystery written by Jane Austen, with words and phrases in a bygone style.

Other reviewers who criticise the romance element fail to consider the era in which it is set and the social norms of the day - characters in Austen's novels announce bethrothals on even more scant acquaintance!

I found the writing delightful, quite different from a lot of other historical novels written today. The style drew me in and got me hooked. I enjoyed the dialogues, written to reflect the era, but just as full of nuance as if they referred to the present.

The plot does seem to ramble a bit in places, but in an endearing way, and the loose ends come together at the end. There were a few parts that were predictable, such as what ultimately happened between Charlotte and Underwood; but this in no way detracts from the story.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Promising beginning

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2014

Verified Purchase

One star is withheld for typos/grammar problems. I do not like being a language/spelling nazi but the errors were more than a handful. That said, the story and plot is a good one. A small town where the magistrate rules and no one questions his authority until a Cambridge professor comes to visit his brother, the local vicar. The characters are well drawn although at times a little contradictory but that could be said of all of us at times. The author writes extremely well in the time period she has chosen. Not an easy task, I am sure. There is also a good sense of location, not only geographically, but historically as well.

Helpful

DRRD

Kind of disappointing on two issues.

Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2014

Verified Purchase

This wasn't awful, but the writing itself was good enough to make the plot disappointing. The characters, as they were, were well described, and the setting easily visualized. And there were only a few missing or misspelled words once in a great while.

But this is really neither a good mystery, nor a good romance. Too much time was spent in description of events that didn't really move either the mystery or the romance along, and there was too much of the mystery -told- to the reader after the event. "Show, don't Tell," wasn't really followed in parts. I got bored being told how he discovered much of the information he needed to solve the mystery, instead of getting to see him do the work and being there as witness.

And the romance seemed forced, since there was -no- good reason for the main character to be drawn to the lady he was supposed to be interested in. It just came out of the blue. It was clear they were not well suited for each other, since other characters also noticed this. So the 'romance' felt forced and out of place. When you root for the main character not to be successful in his romantic pursuits, you know something is off. The ending came off more as sad and unbelievable than happy.

The ending felt rushed, with information just spilling out of people at the end. Even the disposal of the body at the start makes no real sense when the truth is revealed. There was really no real reason for it to have been found in the first place.

I really wanted to like this one, but it really didn't work as a romance nor as a mystery, no matter how I tried to ignore what wasn't working for me. Not a horrible read, and pleasant at times between the two brothers, but it just didn't hang together for me.

35 people found this helpful

Helpful

jojoC

WELL WRITTEN HISTORICAL MYSTERY

Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

This type of historical mystery represents some my favorite reading and this particular book is one of the best that I have enjoyed. It is a time when men and women, for the most part, were very civil in their conduct, when integrity and their "good name" was of upmost importance. The mystery was very good. I did not figure it all out and I love to be surprised. The Underwood brothers are very engaging characters. I would love to visit them and have a cup of tea. There is some romance, both brothers are single, one in the clergy and one a professor. I am so glad this is a series. I just ordered the next two and plan to read them as soon as they arrive.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Kindle Customer

Interesting

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2014

Verified Purchase

This story kept my interest and I found it difficult to put down.

Chuffy is the hero, and he has come to visit his brother who is the minister in a small village. Chuffy learns of a murder of a year woman that occurred the previous year. The corpse was left headless so she was never identified, and the murderer was never caught. Our hero decides he will solve the mystery.

He is a teacher at Cambridge and had been engaged years ago but the young woman died. His personality is rather stiff and he seems to have the tendency to have low spirits.

Chuffy meets one of the daughters of the local magistrate and wealthy landowner. Charlotte is vivacious and beautiful -- and more than a little spoiled. He finds himself thinking he is in love with her.

I realize a large age difference wasn't much of a consideration in the time period, but she was maybe 19 while he was nearing 40. He would have to give up his position at Cambridge if he married. Their personalities were so different. Frankly I just couldn't see it.

There are incidents that lead to another death. The closer the hero comes to solving the crime the more there is at stake for many people.

I was extremely frustrated with the hero. His affections seemed to float around. He was going to marry Charlotte, but was somewhat attracted to another woman. Charlotte's governess fell in love with the hero almost immediately. But the governess was plain and intelligent, and he didn't notice her feelings for him.

Whenever something terrible happened Chuffy would have to take to his bed. Everyone had to tiptoe around his sensitive nature.

I don't want to give away the storyline. The writing was good and often clever, though there were some errors. I wanted to slap the hero a few times for his stupidity. I do recommend this one.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

J.Clark

Excellent Author

Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2022

Verified Purchase

I truly enjoyed this book! I very much enjoyed the author, Suzanne Downes. Her characters The Underwood brothers are oppisites but both very engaging. This author made me laugh out loud in certain cases and I became very serious in others. I did not guess the ending or who dunnit. This is unusual for me I must say! I will be very anxious to check out more from this author. I will also recommend her to my friends and family! Read and Enjoy!

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Sharon E. Leighton

A good but flawed story

Reviewed in Canada on September 30, 2015

Verified Purchase

I'm giving this a four as a compromise. But for a trifle, I would have made it a five; however, with that trifle, my true feeling is that it ranks at three. Knowing the trifle for what it is, however, I suspect most people would be happy to rate it at four. It's an intriguing combination of the cozy mystery and the Regency romance, with many ups and downs, several surprises at the ending, and the two lead characters as happy as they should be. What was the trifle? A matter of characterization being marred by poor proofreading. I have gotten used to the fact that modern authors are unable to do their own proofreading and are either unwilling or unable to pay someone fifty dollars to do it for them. I ignore as best I can most errors. However, Chuffy Underwood is painted as a classics tutor at Cambridge, immersed in Greek and Latin, both fully inflected languages, and the author has him refer to something happening "with Charlotte and I". For such a person, it would be as unnatural to use the nominative as the object of a predicate as it would be to attend church in his underwear. This happened fairly early in the book, and completely broke my "suspension of disbelief". Although I read the whole book and enjoyed most of it, I was unable to believe in Underwood as a real character again until almost the last chapter; therefore, I could not identify with him nor become engrossed in his adventures as I would have wished. I know most people will scarcely notice - but for those of us who do notice, I think the author would have been well advised to find that fifty dollars somewhere.

One person found this helpful

Love to Read

A comfortable read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 22, 2015

Verified Purchase

I don't normally check out the reviews posted by others but the 3 star comments said. "Tedious" "No character." Did they read the same book as me?

A Noble Pair of Brothers is anything but tedious, Suzanne Downes does slow the pace at times but only because the story needed it. Pacing in a book like this needs to be paced correctly to a) make the story work and b) enjoyable for the reader.

As soon as I read the prologue I knew I would enjoy this book. It was a comfortable read in every sense of the word. I was curled up on the sofa, coffee cup in one hand and kindle in the other. The narrative was easy reading, the plot unfolded steadily.

The characterisation of the Underwood brothers is great and you know when you read that the author has so much more in store. I wasn't sure about the romance element but that didn't matter to me because the story was all about mystery.

The author certainly has done her homework and research around the 1800's. The language used in the dialogue can only be described as quaint and it is suitable and true to the era in which the book is set, also the lack of contractions added credibility to the dialogue. The written narrative is also to be applauded, Suzanne Downes has produced a great book one and I will be reading more from her.

3 people found this helpful

Natalie

Couldn't put it down

Reviewed in Australia on May 23, 2014

Verified Purchase

Recommended by a friend I have to admit I was cynical about paying for a novel by an unknown author but I'm glad I trusted the recommendation because this was an excellent investment. If you are looking for a gripping, well written mystery with clever twists and plots this is the book for you. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.

jenny perren

My husband had suggested that I would enjoy this series

Reviewed in Australia on November 23, 2017

Verified Purchase

My husband had suggested that I would enjoy this series. I was a bit skeptical, and even after this book I was ho hum! But I have kept on with the series and enjoyed the second book much more, as I got to know the characters better.Its different, and I do enjoy the characters!

S. G. Benady

An enjoyable read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 3, 2014

Verified Purchase

A historical mystery set in rural early 19th century England. The main characters are well-rounded, and the plot is mysterious enough to keep the reader puzzled. An enjoyable read. I look forward to reading others in the series.

OR

Buy for others

Buying and sending eBooks to others

Follow the author

Image Unavailable

A Noble Pair of Brothers (The Underwood Mysteries Book 1) Kindle Edition

Product details

Videos

About the author

Suzanne Downes

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries