Status
Available
Call number
Publication
London: Michael Joseph, 1950
Description
A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY Rediscover Gladys Mitchell - one of the 'Big Three' female crime fiction writers alongside Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. Christmas in the Cotswolds brings with it the apparition of a country parson, a series of poison pen letters, and a woman's body frozen in the snow. The eminent psychoanalyst and superior sleuth Mrs Bradley has a theory about who's behind all three and sets about a plan to ensnare the unseasonal villain. Opinionated, unconventional, unafraid... If you like Poirot and Miss Marple, you'll love Mrs Bradley.
User reviews
LibraryThing member BrokenTune
‘There’s something horribly eerie about snow in the country. I’d never realized it before. It’s so silent. I’d rather have rain, and hear the sound of it.’
‘I miss the newspapers,’ said Jonathan. ‘The wireless is all right in its way, but—’
‘What did it say about the
‘Snow on high ground, spreading eastwards and south.’
‘Oh, dear! We may be cut off for days!’
There is much to like about Murder in the Snow (originally published as Groaning Spinney), most of all I loved the scene setting: Mrs Bradley visits her nephew and his new wife for the Christmas holidays in the Cotswolds and just as they settle in, the snow begins to fall. And keeps on falling, cutting off the village community from the outside world. As the snowfall stops and roads begin to clear, a body is discovered.
But this is not the only disturbance: a woman goes missing, and some poison letters make their rounds through the village. Yeah, it had a lot of similarities with Christie's The Moving Finger (published nearly ten years earlier):
‘Oh, Lord!’ said Jonathan. ‘I do hope this isn’t going to begin. Have you got one?’
‘One what?’ asked Deborah, opening some retarded Christmas cards.
‘An anonymous contribution to your knowledge of my morals and conceits. I’ve got a beauty about you!’
I loved Mrs Bradley and her family, but didn't manage to maintain an interest in the mystery. For all Mrs Bradley straight-laced attitude and witty snark, the story was a typical Mitchell construction - it lost momentum after the first third and only perked up occasionally from there on until the end.
But what an end!Mrs Bradley and her nephew literally try and hunt down the villain - on a fox hunt. Yes, it is dated. Very dated in parts, but some of the dialogue still makes me smile, even tho I have no idea how it progresses the plot. And let's face it, that plot needed progressing. Badly.
‘But what I think isn’t evidence.’
‘It probably will be,’ said the Chief Constable, who, beneath a curmudgeonly manner, cherished an affection for Mrs Bradley’s gifts and was rather put out of countenance at what seemed to be her negative results in this particular case.
‘Smack it about, my dear, and let’s get action. The papers are beginning to be shrill.’
‘If that that bears all things bears thee,’ quoted Mrs Bradley in solemn and sonorous Greek, ‘bear thou and be borne.’
‘That’s all very well. But fair words butter no parsnips.’
‘Do you like parsnips?’
‘Not particularly.’
‘Would you agree that it does not matter to you, therefore, whether parsnips are buttered or not?’
‘Oh, but look here—!’
‘I miss the newspapers,’ said Jonathan. ‘The wireless is all right in its way, but—’
‘What did it say about the
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weather?’‘Snow on high ground, spreading eastwards and south.’
‘Oh, dear! We may be cut off for days!’
There is much to like about Murder in the Snow (originally published as Groaning Spinney), most of all I loved the scene setting: Mrs Bradley visits her nephew and his new wife for the Christmas holidays in the Cotswolds and just as they settle in, the snow begins to fall. And keeps on falling, cutting off the village community from the outside world. As the snowfall stops and roads begin to clear, a body is discovered.
But this is not the only disturbance: a woman goes missing, and some poison letters make their rounds through the village. Yeah, it had a lot of similarities with Christie's The Moving Finger (published nearly ten years earlier):
‘Oh, Lord!’ said Jonathan. ‘I do hope this isn’t going to begin. Have you got one?’
‘One what?’ asked Deborah, opening some retarded Christmas cards.
‘An anonymous contribution to your knowledge of my morals and conceits. I’ve got a beauty about you!’
I loved Mrs Bradley and her family, but didn't manage to maintain an interest in the mystery. For all Mrs Bradley straight-laced attitude and witty snark, the story was a typical Mitchell construction - it lost momentum after the first third and only perked up occasionally from there on until the end.
But what an end!
‘But what I think isn’t evidence.’
‘It probably will be,’ said the Chief Constable, who, beneath a curmudgeonly manner, cherished an affection for Mrs Bradley’s gifts and was rather put out of countenance at what seemed to be her negative results in this particular case.
‘Smack it about, my dear, and let’s get action. The papers are beginning to be shrill.’
‘If that that bears all things bears thee,’ quoted Mrs Bradley in solemn and sonorous Greek, ‘bear thou and be borne.’
‘That’s all very well. But fair words butter no parsnips.’
‘Do you like parsnips?’
‘Not particularly.’
‘Would you agree that it does not matter to you, therefore, whether parsnips are buttered or not?’
‘Oh, but look here—!’
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LibraryThing member john257hopper
Gladys Mitchell was one of the most prolific female authors of whodunnits in the middle decades of the 20th century. In the 30s she was brigaded with Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, and once described by Philip Larkin as "The Great Gladys", but she is now almost forgotten. To be honest, after
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initial enthusiasm, I rather struggled to finish this novel and to me it is clear that she is no Agatha Christie. The sleuth in this and almost all her others is Mrs Beatrice Bradley, but she lacks the impact and distinct personality of Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot. The plot was rather intricate but seemed to me to lack the satisfactory resolution of a Christie novel, and I found the characters rather two dimensional and indistinguishable. I rather doubt I will try any of her other novels. Show Less
LibraryThing member EricaObey
Atmospheric and Mrs. Bradley is always good company. But the solving of the mystery isn't really there, and the denouement drags on long beyond its being interesting.
LibraryThing member ritaer
Vacationing with her nephew and his wife Mrs. Bradley is impelled to investigate a series of mysterious deaths and anonymous letters in the neighborhood. Somewhat complex and hard to follow plot. May not be one of her best.
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1950
Physical description
263 p.; 19 cm