Major Rupert Stonely came home after a dubious career selling surplus army equipment. Unfortunately, the army didn’t know that. He had also expected to inherit his late mother’s estate; she, it seemed, had other ideas. Rupert was about to be usurped by a glorified-waiter and he, quite literally, didn’t have the balls to do anything about it. Timothy Montague however, did - he just didn’t know how to use them.
The Stonely Estate is set in the quiet English countryside, a world away from the problems of post-war Britain. Self-sufficient and off the map, its traditions and tranquillity was about to be shattered by the reading of the Stonely will. Rupert Stonely, heir-apparent, found himself demoted (for the second time in his life) to little more than a live-in caretaker. His mother, the Duchess, stout in both heritage and proportions, had taken a lover who had worked his charms into her bed and heart. All Major Stonely had to do, was produce a child and reclaim what was rightfully his. Sadly, his gun only fired blanks.
A busty barmaid, a solicitor with an awkward problem, a draconian housekeeper and a trainee customs investigator and amateur bird watcher, all play their part in the unfolding story of An English Custom.
James Henry
