Verity Bright’s A Very English Murder – Meet Lady Eleanor Swift!

Last Updated on April 22, 2026

A tried and tested concept for some cozy crime novels is to set them in the past, and the roaring 1920s seems to be where it is all happening.

I’ve previously read (and reviewed) The Picture House Murders by Fiona Veitch Smith and, having enjoyed it immensely, was more than happy to give A Very English Murder a read.

After all, it’s an era with limited technology, and one that, as an amateur sleuth, requires more than Google to solve a murder, so the plots and puzzles are often far more intriguing.

I’m happy to report that Lady Eleanor Swift, accompanied by her sidekick, Clifford the butler, and her aging dog, Gladstone, are delightful characters who bring the book to life.

So what is it all about, and will I be reading more of Ms Swift’s adventures in the future?

Eleanor Swift and Clifford

It is the late 1920s, and Eleanor Swift is a woman who excels at living life to the fullest.

She has just returned from an unaccompanied trek around the world following the death of her Uncle, Lord Henley. As he had no children of his own, he left her Henley Hall, her family estate.

The problem is that Eleanor isn’t ready to settle down and become Lady of the Manor. But to worry, life is about to throw her a curve ball…

It’s a cold, rainy night, a storm is brewing, and Eleanor is out walking, trying to clear her head. She gets lost, spots a workman’s hut at a quarry site, and sees a man being shot.

By the time she gets there, she has nearly been run over by somebody on a motorbike; the body is gone, and she has no idea exactly where she is.

Never fear. She is soon found and, once home, calls the local police to tell them what she saw, only they have no interest in her story.

Given her noble status as a Lady, they humour her the following day, and when they arrive, there is absolutely nothing to suggest that anybody was murdered.

The only person who even tentatively believes her is Clifford, her Uncle’s right-hand man and butler at Henley Hall.

So Lady Eleanor Swift decides that if nobody is going to look into the case, she’ll solve it herself!

Does It Get The Thumbs Up?

There’s a lot to like about A Very English Murder. Firstly, the protagonist is feisty and unapologetic for not wanting to slot into 1920 high society.

She is unconventional, very sweet, and quite likable. But she’s also flighty and appears to have her head turned by anything resembling a man with a pulse. Surely, they can’t all be that gorgeous!

The author may simply be laying the groundwork for future potential romances, but they did introduce characters with whom Eleanor appears to have a real connection, only to dismiss them from the book as soon as they had served their purpose.

From that perspective, I wish the secondary characters had been given a little more airtime or at least had storylines that furthered the plot. As an example, a detective arrives from London and seems to believe Eleanor – he pops in and out, and then poof! We never read about him again.

There is also a hint that Lord Henley may not have died accidentally, and unless that mystery unfolds in the next book (I haven’t read it yet, so apologies if it does), then that’s another thread left hanging and going nowhere.

The book comes out of the gates like a bullet. The pacing is fantastic, and you think you’re in for a wild ride, only for it to really slow down in the middle.

We see Eleanor and Clifford repeatedly going back to the same places to check for even more evidence. They talk to the same people over and over, and in the midst of it all, even when somebody is clearly trying to kill Eleanor, she blindly carries on as if this were an everyday occurrence.

Overall, the writing is witty and entertaining, but we never really scratch the surface of either Eleanor or Clifford, the death of her parents, the mysterious death of her uncle, or any of the other side plots that are introduced but never explored.

It wasn’t my favourite simply because Eleanor Swift started to get on my nerves, and by the time she worked out whodunit, I don’t think I really cared anymore.

However…I would read the next book if only to see where the character development goes.

How Many Books In The Series?

I know I’m going to end up getting really into this series despite my issues with the first book.

And I’ve come to that conclusion based on the fact that there are TWENTY books so far, and if Lady Eleanor Swift wasn’t so compelling, then they would have stopped writing them long ago!

By the way, Verity Bright is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing partnership, so it’s not just one person putting pen to paper.

The first book looks like it was published in 2020, so this couple is well able to publish multiple novels each year, which is great if you love the series, as it means you don’t have to wait a staggeringly long time for the next instalment.