Christmas Mysteries

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Over Thanksgiving, I read a fantastic mystery book (with some spy elements) set in 1950s England. A Man of Some Repute by Elizabeth Edmondson is the first in a series of books known as "A Very English Mystery"--and seriously, who could pass up a series with such a title. Sadly the series will be limited to three books because the author unexpectedly passed away just before finishing the third book. Her son, who happens to be an author himself, was able to finish that book, but has made clear that will be the last in the series. 

Reading A Man of Some Repute put me in my happy place. There is nothing I love better than an British murder mystery set in the English countryside. Throw in some snow or perhaps a blizzard that keeps all the suspects trapped together in a run down estate and I'm oh so very happy. It gave me an idea. What if I spent December reading British murder mysteries set at Christmas. I embraced the idea and had  a thoroughly enjoyable murder mystery December.

One of the first books I read was Charles Finch's Gone Before Christmas, which is a short novel in his Charles Lenox series. I thoroughly enjoy the Charles Lenox series, which is set in Victorian England and follows a gentleman detective who dabbles in politics. In Gone Before Christmas, Lenox must find out what happened to a soldier who mysteriously disappears from a railway station cloakroom. It is a charming read and leaves the reader in a joyful Christmas spirit. 

The next book I read was A Highland Christmas by M.C. Beaton, which is a part of the Hamish Macbeth series. The quirky Hamish Macbeth books are always a humorous read. In this book, Hamish must deal with a grumpy old lady whose cat has gone missing as well as a family who won't let their daughter celebrate Christmas. All of this turns into Hamish bringing Christmas cheer to everyone, including the young teacher who is disappointed in her crush on Hamish. 

My  Google research on Christmas mysteries led me to another great read: Cyril Hare's An English Murder. I loved this book. It is a classic country house murder mystery in which all the suspects are snowed in together. The murder victim is a very unlikable man and absolutely everyone has a motive for murder. The detective is not a detective at all, but rather is placed at the country house merely as police protection for the Chancellor of the Exchequer who happens to be a member of the family. This is a great book with all the classic elements of a British murder mystery and the cover art in the edition I read (pictured below) captures that perfectly. 

I next read a book I found in a pile of paperbacks my mom had given me. The Body in the Transept by Jeanne Dams took the genre in a slightly different direction. The investigating character is an American widow who has recently settled in an English village. I enjoyed the setting of this book, with the body being found in an old Cathedral and the main character living in an authentic English cottage. I suspect it is the American ideal of a British village. 

I was very excited to move onto my next book, which was the Dorothy Sayers' classic The Nine Tailors. What a fantastic treat this book is. Lord Peter Wimsey finds himself snowbound in a vicarage after a car accident on New Year's Eve. He is soon drafted into joining the bell ringers for a New Year's nine hour bell peal. Soon a body is discovered and a mystery unfolds. It takes until the following Christmas for Lord Peter to solve this mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed this classic's exploration into the unique use of bells in Britain for spreading news to villagers as well as their complicated, mathematical peals. Lord Peter is always a delight and in this book I also enjoyed the charming characters of the book-smart vicar who lacks commonsense and his very practical wife. 

I read the next book on Christmas Eve and Christmas. Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas will forever hold a special place in my heart for getting me through my family's Christmas stomach virus. On the night on December 23, Meg started vomiting. She was followed by my husband and then Clare. Anne never came down with the virus in its full force, but she was also suffering from stomach problems and sleeping long hours. I was the only healthy person in our house. While I disinfected the house, reassured sick children and started Christmas dinner (not having any idea whether anyone would eat it), I would occasionally sneak to the living room by the Christmas tree and read Hercule Poirot's Christmas with Christmas music playing on the classical music radio station in the background. It was incredibly pleasantly amidst a lot of unpleasantness. There's nothing I love more than an Agatha Christie book and this one did not disappoint. 

Appropriately my final Christmas mystery read was the second book in the "A Very English Mystery" series by Elizabeth Edmondson: A Question of Inheritance. When I read the first book over Thanksgiving and it inspired this Christmas mystery read-a-thon, I had no idea that the second book in the series took place at Christmas. I enjoyed this book as much as the first in the series. This book brought together elements of a country house mystery with Nazi art thieves and cold war era spies. Quite a few questions were left open with in this book, so I am very glad that Ms. Edmondson's son finished her third book and hopefully answered those questions. 

In addition to the books above, I also listened to several Christmas mystery audio books, which I will detail in another post. I found the audio book option quite useful while I was folding clothes and wrapping Christmas presents. I am so glad I went on this Christmas mystery book journey and I hope to repeat in years to come. Perhaps not every December, but at least every few years.