Happy Hour: Murder and the Manor House
January 6, 2027 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm EST
January 6, 2027, 5 PM ET, Sponsored by the ESU Charlottesville, VA Branch
Do you love a good mystery? For five decades, Agatha Christie’s primary obsession was murder, but her interest in houses was a close second, particularly the English country house. Taken together, some of her most popular works offer a keen look at the changing fortunes of English country houses in the 20th century. Beloved by readers worldwide, Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is the best-selling novelist of all time. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation.
Join Anne Kenny-Urban for an exploration of what Christie’s mysteries reveal about changes in the houses themselves and the people – both upstairs and downstairs – who lived and worked in them. This ESU Happy Hour is sponsored by the ESU Charlottesville, VA Branch. The program is online, free, and open to ESU members and the public. Registration is required to receive the webinar link.
About Anne Kenny-Urban
Anne Kenny-Urban is the Executive Director at Agecroft Hall & Gardens, a Tudor manor house that was built in Lancashire in the 16th century and then dismantled, crated, shipped and adaptively rebuilt in Richmond, Virgina in the 1920s. Previously, she worked for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for nearly a decade. Prior employers include Citibank, Christie’s auction house in New York, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Ms. Kenny-Urban is a graduate of Princeton University. In addition, she holds a master’s degree in art history from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. In her free time, she is an active community volunteer. Currently she serves as the President of the American Friends of Attingham which supports the work of The Attingham Trust, a British educational charitable trust that organizes specialized courses to study British country houses, their collections and settings, and the history and contents of British royal palaces. She also serves on the boards of The Valentine Museum, Hollywood Cemetery and the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart Foundation for Historic Preservation.
Cocktail
Corpse Reviver #2:
What could be more appropriate to go with an Agatha Christie murder mystery? The cocktail was created by Harry Craddock, an American bartender who worked at the famous American Bar inside London’s Savoy Hotel during Prohibition. It’s a classic drink that belongs to a family of pre-Prohibition cocktails that were said to be created and consumed for the chief purpose of rousing the drinker from the dead—in other words, meant to cure hangovers, increase vigor and otherwise improve one’s morning.
Ingredients
3/4 oz London Dry Gin
3/4 oz Fortified wine such as Lillet Blanc or Cocchi Americano
3/4 oz Orange liqueur such as Cointreau or triple sec
3/4 oz Freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 dash (or rinse) Absinthe
Lemon twist for garnish
Instructions
Prepare the glass: Rinse a chilled coupe or cocktail glass with a small splash of absinthe, swirling it to coat the inside, then discard any excess.
Combine ingredients: Add the gin, Lillet Blanc, orange liqueur, and lemon juice into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
Shake: Shake vigorously for about 10 to 15 seconds until well-chilled.
Strain: Fine-strain the mixture into your prepared absinthe-rinsed glass.
Garnish: Add a lemon twist on top.