SHERBOURNE'S FOLLY

When news comes that her much older step-sister Monica is ailing, middle-aged Allison, who has been living in America, returns to family-filled Snows-down Manor with adopted daughter Jennifer. Monica is ill indeed--dying of leukemia--but only Allison knows that, and Monica pluckily urges everyone to join in one of those old-fashioned treasure hunts in the estate's Hampton Court-y maze. The hunt ends when Monica turns up dead among the hedges--not leukemia, but murder. A huge family trust, multiple wills, multiple suspects (sisters, brothers, in-laws), and secrets galore (whose daughter is Jennifer really?) make this a soggy, soft-edged pleasantry for mystery fans with gothic leanings.