This novel was not quite what I expected. One thing that did strike me about it was that I didn't really LIKE any of the characters. except perhaps for the one-armed step-father who is absent for most of the story. The Uninvited Guests reminds me a little of Alan Bradley's Flavia deLuce series, mainly because of the neglected youngest daughter, distracted parents, and crumbling house, but the comparisons stop there.
On the day of Emerald Torrington's 20th birthday party a train wreck occurs nearby and the Torringtons are ordered (?) by the rail line to provide accommodations for an odd assortment of "survivors," including a strange and, I think, very distasteful man from mother Charlotte's past. The whole story, from Imogen (known as Smudge) bringing her pony upstairs into her bedroom to the lone first-class passenger who entices the family into mean parlour games, is just weird. NPR.org describes The Uninvited Guests as "a delicious romp" and worthy of comparison to Agatha Christie's Mousetrap, but I just don't see it. I don't think it was bad, just odd. That's all I have to say!
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