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3.38 AVERAGE
3.38 AVERAGE
Nothing I enjoy to read more during the Holiday season than reading a Christmas themed country house murder mystery. Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press' British Library Crime Classics imprint specializing in reissues from the first half of the 2oth century for supplying another read. This one was enjoyable if not particularly an all-time classic.
A decent 3 1/2 star mystery. This cozy Christmas mystery is set in the 1930's in the countryside outside Bristol. The Melbury family led by Sir Osmond gathers together, and there are plenty of additional guests. Of course, there's a murder in the library - actually the study - and it's the family patriarch who is dead. Almost everyone is a suspect, and various possibilities are considered. The Christmas holiday makes investigating a bit more complicated as some people are away for the holiday.
Fortunately, the authors provides a list of characters in the front of the book.At the conclusion, all of the clues that led the police to identify the suspect, are provided at the end. This is a technique I haven't seen done quite so extensively at the end of a crime novel but it worked. This is a part of the new British Library Crime Classics series, and well worth reading by fans of the genre.
Fortunately, the authors provides a list of characters in the front of the book.At the conclusion, all of the clues that led the police to identify the suspect, are provided at the end. This is a technique I haven't seen done quite so extensively at the end of a crime novel but it worked. This is a part of the new British Library Crime Classics series, and well worth reading by fans of the genre.
mysterious
slow-paced
mysterious
medium-paced
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
A cozy manor house murder with a complicated set of characters and an enjoyable mystery.
I enjoyed this. Guessed the solution but that is always nice and reaffirming that your brain works.
I knocked a star off because there was an epilogue with details of what happened to people afterwards but it missed two people off. What happened to Miss Portisham? I mean, her fiance was a murderer, that had to have been a bit of a shock. It would have been nice to have had a sentence that explained how she was getting on a few years later. And Ashmore? He was destitute and suicidal with an ill wife when we last saw him. So, if like me, you want to know, I made this up:
"Miss Portisham took the reassurance of her £1000 inheritance and resigned from her position at Flaxmere before George could let her go, which made for a comfortable pretence of amicability when she left. She couldn't quite bear to watch Bingham be hanged, but went to the seaside to lick her wounds for a while. After the dreaded event, Miss Portisham decided a life of moping would do her no good at all, and set out search for a new position.
She found one working as secretary for a young writer named Arnold Rolfe who was reeling from the alarming circumstance of having written a very successful first novel. It had been suggested by his father that he take on a secretary before the chaos of success pulled him under. Miss Portisham took up the role and Mr Rolfe discovered that Gustave Flaubert's adage, "Be regular and methodical in your life, so you may be violent and original in your work" was pretty accurate and produced that little-heard-of thing, a second very successful novel to follow the first. After two years he plucked up the courage to ask Miss Portisham to become Mrs Rolfe and considers her a Pre-Raphaelite muse with the ability to manage a house and business affairs with only half her brain. Mrs Rolfe adores him and the whole Rolfe family are delighted that he chose what they always knew he needed - a sensible wife."
"George discovered that finding a new driver when the predecessor has been hanged for the murder of your father is difficult work. Both in their lack of desire to apply, and one's own suspicion at their motives. Eventually the easiest decision was to give way to Hilda's gentle suggestion that Ashmore may not be quite as past it as they believed, and he was installed in his old position but with the keys to the sunbeam, enabling him to sell off the old car and set up a savings account. George was not to know that this retained many of the other servants, who saw Ashmore's return as a sign of stability in the new master."
I knocked a star off because there was an epilogue with details of what happened to people afterwards but it missed two people off. What happened to Miss Portisham? I mean, her fiance was a murderer, that had to have been a bit of a shock. It would have been nice to have had a sentence that explained how she was getting on a few years later. And Ashmore? He was destitute and suicidal with an ill wife when we last saw him. So, if like me, you want to know, I made this up:
"Miss Portisham took the reassurance of her £1000 inheritance and resigned from her position at Flaxmere before George could let her go, which made for a comfortable pretence of amicability when she left. She couldn't quite bear to watch Bingham be hanged, but went to the seaside to lick her wounds for a while. After the dreaded event, Miss Portisham decided a life of moping would do her no good at all, and set out search for a new position.
She found one working as secretary for a young writer named Arnold Rolfe who was reeling from the alarming circumstance of having written a very successful first novel. It had been suggested by his father that he take on a secretary before the chaos of success pulled him under. Miss Portisham took up the role and Mr Rolfe discovered that Gustave Flaubert's adage, "Be regular and methodical in your life, so you may be violent and original in your work" was pretty accurate and produced that little-heard-of thing, a second very successful novel to follow the first. After two years he plucked up the courage to ask Miss Portisham to become Mrs Rolfe and considers her a Pre-Raphaelite muse with the ability to manage a house and business affairs with only half her brain. Mrs Rolfe adores him and the whole Rolfe family are delighted that he chose what they always knew he needed - a sensible wife."
"George discovered that finding a new driver when the predecessor has been hanged for the murder of your father is difficult work. Both in their lack of desire to apply, and one's own suspicion at their motives. Eventually the easiest decision was to give way to Hilda's gentle suggestion that Ashmore may not be quite as past it as they believed, and he was installed in his old position but with the keys to the sunbeam, enabling him to sell off the old car and set up a savings account. George was not to know that this retained many of the other servants, who saw Ashmore's return as a sign of stability in the new master."
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
mysterious
fast-paced