Ms Tey certainly didn’t write mystery novels by the numbers. There is a mystery in this one, but it’s not really the main part of the book. Brat, his name is from Bartholomew, is an orphan rolling around the world, working here and working there. In his first days back in England, he meets Alec Loding, a fading actor, who mistakes him for someone else. That someone being Simon Ashby, Alec’s neighbour, about to turn 21 and take over his parents’ legacy. Simon had had a twin brother, Patrick, who supposedly killed himself at the age of 13 soon after their parents died in a plane crash. That twin would have inherited the House and the Stables, but for his untimely death. The similarity is uncanny, and Brat’s new friend can sense a money-maker. There is no mystery about whether or not Brat is Patrick. That is covered at the beginning. But as Brat-Patrick gets to know the Ashby family and care about them, he realises that there is something dark and evil lurking underneath them and he sets about discovering what that is. Even if it puts his own life in danger. The world-be con man has a heart of gold.
