We’re into December, so it’s time for the annual Clothes
in Books trope of Christmas in Books – seasonal scenes from random
books, for no better reason than I like looking for the pictures, and I and
some readers find them cheery and Xmas-y (particularly, of course, those
featuring murders and other crimes). This one isparticularly recommended as a possible gift for the mystery-lover in your life
Many of the entries
- this year and in the past – were suggested by clever readers: so if
you have a favourite please do let me know and I will try to use it
Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife by Martin Edwards
published 2025
“I let out a strangled cry of dismay… Moments later, the wavering beam of my torch fell on someone a short distance away… the person was wearing a red Santa Claus costume, carrying a sack over the shoulder and holding a torch in one hand and an ice axe in the other…”
Is there no end to Martin Edwards' talents? This is not a Rachel
Savernake book, nor a magisterial work of non-fiction, nor a Lake District
mystery, and it does not feature Harry Devlin (though one main character is
called Harry and bears a certain resemblance…)
A new departure for everyone’s favourite mystery crime
expert: this is a contemporary mystery set in a snow-bound Yorkshire village.
Six guests have been invited to spend Christmas competing in a murder mystery
game – “En
route to the House-Party of Death” as I always like to call it
- and there are six people running the
event.
We see a lot of the action via Harry Crystal’s journal – he
is a failed crime writer – but also get a bird’s eye view of other people’s
thoughts and conversations. And every so often we are given a puzzle to solve
along with the guests, or a file of new information. Every opportunity to join in the sleuthing,
and that is the point of the book…
There is a death in the past that no-one wants to talk
about. There is the invented crime story that the guests are supposed to solve.
And, no surprise, there are people dying in real time. There’s only 12 people
on site: how many will survive before the snow clears….?
This book is tremendous fun, and will make a great
Christmas read, or a gift for the mystery lover in your life. That’s why I have
done this post early in my Christmas collection, to give you a chance to buy it
for Xmas…
Martin always plays fair, and indeed there is a Cluefinder
at the back of the book to prove it. This is a Golden Age trope that he is
reviving in his recent books – where he points out exactly where he gave you
the clues to solve the crime, with page numbers.
There are many, many references and tipoffs to classic
crime fiction, and it is most enjoyable to spot them. I did well at some aspect
of the books and the various puzzles, but one major revelation was a complete
surprise to me.
And – there is no character called Miss Winter, and no
library. You’ll have to read the book to find out where the title comes from.
Santa is a Finnish stamp from Wikimedia
Commons. The encounter described comes from very late in the book,
though I hardly feel it is a spoiler.
Black and white picture shows a Canadian house in the snow,
but I thought had a look of Midwinter Village.
Great stuff and as you say perfect for the mystery-lover in your life. I very much enjoyed it and will be reviewing it myself at some point. Chrissie
ReplyDeleteOh good, I'll look out for it. we were lucky weren't we....
DeleteThere's a short story collection called Campion at Christmas. I haven't read all four stories but one involves a house party!
ReplyDeleteIs that a continuation book, completed by a different author? I'm not always a big fan of that, but a Christmas houseparty is always tempting!
DeleteThey're all Allingham's work, I think, taken from other short-story collections. The Case of the Man With the Sack is the one I've read, about the Christmas house-party.
DeleteRight, there's two different books - one the collection you mention, exactly as you say, Campion at Christmas.
DeleteThere is another book called Mr Campion's Christmas, which was completed by Mike Ripley - so that's what I was thinking of!
So thanks for the suggestion and I will pursue...
I knew you'd like this one very much, Moira. And to answer your question: No, there is no limit to what Martin Edwards is capable of creating. He is one of my inspirations.
ReplyDeleteHe's a marvel isn't he? We're lucky to have him in our world
DeleteI don't know if there's snow involved, but Murder Goes Mumming by Alisa Craig (Charlotte MacLeod) is set in Canada at Christmas, so at least it would be cold! The series detective, a Mountie named Madoc Rhys, and his fiancee Janet visit an isolated estate occupied by some strange characters. This series is a little grittier than some of MacLeod's other mysteries, but I think it might still be called a cozy.
ReplyDeleteAnd I give you a post on it:
Deletehttps://clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2017/12/xmas-activities-and-mumming.html
in which I compare it, rather surprisingly, with Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.
LOL, I've read your post and can see the MP comparison! Although the couple in MGM is more smug IIRC!
DeleteOh I think it's a smugness draw!
DeleteI have to disagree there, but I won't get into a discussion of relative merits, or we'd be here forever!
Delete😀😀😀
DeleteBook that I haven't been able to locate online, but sounds intriguing--Another Little (Christmas) Murder by Lorna Nicholl Morgan. It's apparently set in December in Yorkshire but I'm not sure if it's really at Christmas, the title having been modified at some point. But the country house is named Wintry Wold!
ReplyDeleteI've read this - the main character is a travelling saleswoman who gets stranded at the country house when her car breaks down in a snowstorm. I don't remember much more about it, other than that it was fairly light-hearted and cosy, and I enjoyed it but not so much that I was tempted to buy a copy of my own.
DeleteSovay
I'd never heard of it, but it's one Kindle for 99p right now so I've downloaded it! Thanks, both
DeleteYes I read that a couple of years ago. Quite good fun
DeleteI will look forward to it...
DeleteMartin Edwards, like Elly Griffiths, is a good novelist with whose work I struggle to click (on the fiction side - I have two or three of his non-fiction books on crime-writing). But as I've recently enjoyed EG's latest, I shall cross my fingers and give this one a try too.
ReplyDeleteSovay
It's quite different from his other crime novels, and is very seasonal!
DeleteNot crime, but Elizabeth Jane Howard's The Beautiful Visit features a Christmas visit to a large house shortly before 1914 by the novel's nameless very young heroine. There's a lot about clothes, and the visit has tremendous consequences!
ReplyDeleteI read that probably 30 years ago, and don't remember a thing about it! I certainly wasn't looking for clothes then. I should revisit
DeleteAnd the rather weird Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer (poisoning, a largeish family, wartime setting). Latimer was actually Algernon Vernon Mills, who was also an actor who had many health problems and who died young. Very little info about his acting career, which I find intriguing.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's a very enthusiastic post on it here!
Deletehttps://clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2021/12/reprint-of-year-awards-murder-after.html
I found it very funny, and I used two of my favourite pics from my Christmas collection
I didn't realise you'd already covered it; you enjoyed it more than I did, but perhaps I should go back to it.
DeleteThis sounds like a good read - and I love the illustrations, especially the stamp. I shall keep my eye open for a copy.
ReplyDeleteIt's good fun, and very festive in a murderous kind of way!
DeleteWhere do comments go when you press publish - and everything vanishes!
ReplyDeleteThat was me. And the missing comment has mysteriously surfaced.
DeleteSorry, yes, Blogger has a midn of its own.
DeleteAnn Granger's Mitchell & Markby series has A Season For Murder, set in a Cotswold village over the Christmas/New Year period. There's an ongoing romance that's kind of in the Wimsey/Vane, or maybe Troy/Alleyn, style. Don't remember if there's snow, but there is fox-hunting (which characters argue about). Clothes aren't a big thing.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read that one, will look out for it. I'm collecting ideas for next year now!
DeleteIt's actually the second book in the series and I haven't found a free copy of the first to read--yes, cheapskate here--so I don't know the particulars of the lead characters' meeting apart from a murder being involved. It might be worth reading Say It With Poison before this one!
DeleteI've just checked my notes and I have read a few Ann Granger books, but not either of those. She wrote a lot, and most of them have interchangeable titles, sort of generic murder.
DeleteI'm more interested in Xmas content than following relationships (I have a faint memory of aspects of the 2 x characters) so have already downloaded the Xmas one....