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Classic Literature. Fiction. Mystery. Historical Fiction. HTML: Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder "Despite its title, this British Library Crime Classics reissue of a 1936 novel isn't just an entertaining Christmas read. It's a fine example of the old-time country-house murder mystery, with loads of suspects, lots of period atmosphere, and much caustic wit." -Booklist Aunt Mildred declared that no good could come of the Melbury family Christmas gatherings at their country residence Flaxmere. So when Sir Osmond Melbury, the family patriarch, is discovered-by a guest dressed as Santa Klaus-with a bullet in his head on Christmas Day, the festivities are plunged into chaos. Nearly every member of the party stands to reap some sort of benefit from Sir Osmond's death, but Santa Klaus, the one person who seems to have every opportunity to fire the shot, has no apparent motive. Various members of the family have their private suspicions about the identity of the murderer, and the Chief Constable of Haulmshire, who begins his investigations by saying that he knows the family too well and that is his difficulty, wishes before long that he understood them better. In the midst of mistrust, suspicion and hatred, it emerges that there was not one Santa Klaus, but two..… (more)
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The murder of a crotchety patriarch on Christmas Day, when the entire family is gathered as well as a few extras, leads to an interesting investigation. It's a country house murder with a Yuletide twist. In the classic approved style, everyone – Sir Osmond Melbury's children, in-laws, sister, and guests – has at least some motive to kill him, and equally strong reasons why they would not, and alibis flex and stretch and snap. And one thing that drove me a little crazy about the investigation – though I suppose things were handled very different in the 30's – was that it seemed to take days for anyone to get around to questioning the children in the house. It just seemed nonsensical that the police stalled out over who distributed the Christmas crackers to the children – and yet no one seemed to ever ask said children about it. It never seemed to occur to anyone.
The investigation on the whole was (I hope!) far from realistic. It took, again, days for the police to search the grounds and outbuildings, and when they did it was a half-as- -er -baked job of it. And while it's normal in any mystery novel (or tv show or film) for people to neglect or outright refuse to tell the police certain things, here it was taken to a kind of silly level.
"When you sent for me yesterday afternoon," Caundle explained; "I came up here through the village and by the back drive—much quicker for me than going round by the main gate—and just before I turned into the drive a car came out of it, turned into the road and passed me. Now that's a bit odd?" I inquired why the dickens he didn't tell me yesterday. "It didn't strike me at the moment as odd".
A car leaving the estate immediately after a man was shot? And you didn't think it was odd? Really?
And part of the investigative technique in this – put in motion by a layman, to whom I'll come back – was to have several of the people who were on the scene write up part of their point of view on what happened. This is how the book begins, though then it settles into just one first-person angle. The thinking behind having people write a report is "they would be partly off their guard when they sat down to write" … but … that makes no sense. In a real live interview, an interrogator can surprise a witness, spark memories, pull out unintentional confession and whatnot. But for someone to sit down with a pen or a typewriter and put down in print their take on a situation – well, they're going to be editing themselves. The recipient of the report will never see the "oops, didn't mean to say that" and "wait, that gives away more than I wanted" first drafts crumpled up in people's waste baskets or crumbling to ash in their fireplaces.
Meanwhile, a layman inserts himself into the investigation in a manner which I would think would ping the radar of modern investigators. "Now I want you to ask Miss Melbury and Miss Portisham to do the same for Tuesday and Christmas Day. I don't know them well enough to ask them and I don't want to approach them as your emissary." Is there anything else you'd like? "By persisting in the assumption that you're agreeing with everything he suggests, he hypnotises you into doing so. That's the only way I can explain why I trusted him as I did in this case, although I met him with a feeling of suspicion which I didn't shake off for a long time." Wait, Sir Osmond received a letter on Christmas morning? Why did no one mention this to the police? Oh – didn't think it was important. Well, like a car driving away from the scene of the crime, why would it be?
I wanted to like the characters, but there wasn't a whole lot to them, and for some – like the youngest daughter – what there was could be rather annoying. Actually, I kept mixing up Sir Osmond's youngest daughter with his oldest granddaughter. There sometimes wasn't much to choose between them. One of the other daughters was married to a man suffering from shell shock, who took advantage of the holiday to reconnect with an old beau. She is lauded at one point for standing by her erratic husband: it "was really a very honourable determination to stand by her husband and give him what help she could" … it was not, however, quite so hono(u)rable for her to keep leading the old flame on and on. Not pretty.
There was a somewhat annoying red herring, an obnoxious precocious child (who finally was questioned), a pair of Santas, and lots of forgetfulness and covering up before it's all concluded. And no, I still can't remember how it ended…
The tale is told by various members of the family in the form of depositions as well as by Colonel Halstock, the man in charge of the investigation. Like most classic cozies what little action there is takes place in a closed space, among a large number of suspects among the gentry and servants. Also, like most golden age British cozies, this is more a puzzle than a thriller. There are clues and red herrings dispersed throughout the book that tend to point to the killer in very subtle ways but, given that the pool of suspects is limited to those inside the house, at least one of them must be lying – the task of the police and the reader is to suss out who.
The Santa Klaus Murders by author Mavis Doriel Hay is a classic British cozy with a Christmas theme. Written in 1936 and long out of print, it is being released as part of the British Library’s Crime Classics series. It is an intelligent, well-written mystery with plenty of suspects to keep the reader guessing but plenty of clues to point the way. At times, I found it a bit draggy and, at others, confusing, but over all a nice mystery just in time for the holidays.
A great idea to introduce the different characters by having each person give account to one day leading up to the murder,
The language of this novel is very formal, but very excellent in its descriptions of the characters at the country house, Flaxmere. I highly suggest this
I received this from the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press.
The blurb on the back describes this golden age whodunnit as 'long neglected'. But with negligible character development, and the large cast simply treated as chess pieces, I would say it was neglected with good reason.
~~back cover
Ah yes, the traditional manor house mystery augmented by the traditional family gathering where the patriarch is killed just before he can finalize changes to his will, and a semi-locked room. It was a very lively romp: each family member being scrutinized without anyone glaringly obvious, at least not at first. The clues were subtle (meaning I missed them out completely) but the ending was quite satisfactory.
I found this novel dragged a little as each character at some point was suspected by the police and then had to be exonerated. The chapters were narrated by the various characters with the bulk of the investigation being told by Colonel Halstock, the Chief Constable, as he slowly puts the pieces together. I felt these multiple points of view helped to define the characters and gave them each their own identity.
The Santa Klaus Murder is a selection from the British Library Classics and although this is not destined to be a favourite of mine, I do appreciate that we have been given a chance to sample some of these lesser known authors from the golden age of mysteries.
The story checks all the boxes for a Golden Age murder mystery: country house, large pool of suspects, quirky characters, and so on. It's a complicated story which revolves around the characters' activity on Christmas Day: who was where when . the murder occurred. It's not strictly necessary to follow the intricacies of the activity in order to grasp the storyline, but it can leave a reader with a sense of unease trying to figure it out. Most of the narrative is from the point of view of Colonel Halstock, after some introductory chapters written by several of the leading characters. The dialogue is inclined toward being overly chatty. At times there's just too much of it.
It is an enjoyable read despite being a tad overlong. Regrettably there's no Introduction by Martin Edwards, as is the case in many of the British Library Crime Classics.
The Santa Klaus Murder is another installment of the British Library Crime Classics series that focuses on works by
The Santa Klaus Murder is set in a typical mystery setting: a country house, a family gathering for the holidays, a murder that was impossible to take place, and a lot of red herrings.
The story had all the markings of a perfectly cozy read, except....there were some darker themes that meandered through the book that gave this mystery an air of interest beyond the pure fun of solving the puzzle.
For example, one of the characters is suffering from PTSD, or shell-shock, and one of the interesting aspects of the novel was how his family cope with his altered self.
However, the topic was not given as much depth as for example Sayer's allocated to it in the Lord Peter Wimsey novels. Altogether, The Santa Klaus Murder remained a diversion, a light read.
As for the mystery, ... it dragged a bit and thanks to the incompetence of the investigators, some of the conclusions seemed a bit far-fetched. I would rather have all the facts and try and piece them together than be presented with new evidence just as the case is wrapped up. It always seems to be too convenient to the author (rather than the characters) when a conclusion is rushed.
One other note, tho, I loved the language that is used in this book. I could not decide whether it was just quaint or actually funny. The passing of time since its original publication in 1936 may have a lot to do with it, but some of the expressions that were used really made me smile.
Once Jenny reached the door she was so quick that I couldn’t help see her rush at him and throw herself incontinently into his arms.
I chose this because it’s in a favorite category for me: the Country House Christmas Murder. Here we have a large and rather unwieldy family coming together for the holiday at the behest of the patriarch—the one
The children are all grown and doing more or less well. Father is of course a petty tyrant who tries to control their marriages and careers through the use of his fortune. Not as hateful as some, Sir Osmond nevertheless manages to be more than annoying, and it’s no shock when he’s done in.
Suspects abound: the neglected bossy sister, the son, several daughters, and the pretty secretary. All these characters are well-developed, with motives aplenty. Our detective is Colonel Halstock, the Chief Constable of the county. The colonel is a smart, careful man who knows the family and feels a bit awkward at the circumstances. This doesn’t prevent him from doing his duty, and he pursues various threads even if he feels uncomfortable.
This is a very pleasant Golden Age British murder mystery. The only drawback that I could see is the rather thin denouement. A good three-star story, and I’ll be looking at her two other books.
This is a classic locked-room mystery. There are plenty of suspects, not only family members, but two male guests (both apparently interested in marrying Sir Osmond’s youngest daughter), as well as his private secretary and other staff members. The investigation is hampered by the number of “little lies” (some not so little) that various people Halstock, in an effort to conceal or divert attention from one or more parties.
Hay was part of the group of novelists of the “golden age of British crime fiction.” This work was first published in 1936. Her works have recently been rediscovered and reissued. It moves a bit slowly by today’s standards for the genre, but I was engaged and interested throughout.