The Santa Klaus Murder (British Library Crime Classics) - Softcover

Mavis Doriel Hay

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0712356304 ISBN 13: 9780712356305

Publisher: The British Library Publishing Division, 2015

Synopsis

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. The Santa Klaus Murder is a classic country-house mystery that is now being made available to readers for the first time since its original publication in 1936.

About this title

Review:

Hurrah to British Library Crime Classics for rediscovering some of the forgotten gems of the Golden Age of British crime writing. This extremely clever country-house murder mystery by Mavis Doriel Hay is the perfect holiday gift for the avid cozy-crime fan. It has an aristocratic setting, a dead earl, and a major suspect. The man who could have done it is Santa Klaus but what motive could he have for putting a bullet in Sir Osmond Melbury's noggin? There are loads of clues, red herrings, and twists in a truly classic Christmas mystery with all the Golden Age patina. --Globe and Mail

It is packed with plot twists, a whole host of unreliable and secretive suspects plus has all the domestic drama that comes in a novel where familial inheritance and gain is key... It was just the escapism that I needed from all the Christmas madness going on in the real world. --Savidge Reads

The Santa Klaus Murder is a re-issue of a forgotten British cozy that warrants attention as both a classic British mystery novel and as a holiday read.... Othe story finds its footing, it moves stealthily toward an intriguing and not altogether predictable conclusion. --Shelf Awareness

About the Author:

M. Doriel Hay (1894-1979) was a novelist of the golden age of British crime fiction. Her three detective novels were published in the 1930s and are now rare and highly collectable books. She was an expert on rural handicraft and wrote several books on the subject.

About this edition

• Publisher: The British Library Publishing Division
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0712356304
• ISBN 13: 9780712356305
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288