Author: Mavis Doriel Hay
Page Count: 282
Date Finished: 8/1/23
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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.
Review
The Santa Klaus Murder was very similar in setup to Agatha Christies Hercule Poirot’s Christmas. A grown up, well off family who come together at Christmas time where there is talk of money and inheritance followed by murder then investigation. Although it was very similar to Agatha Christies it fell a little short of the mark and doesn’t stand up in comparison in my opinion.
That being said, it is still a very nice read with moments of interest and you do find yourself double checking details and trying to work out who did it. What else can you ask for in a crime novel?
Although I’ve only scored this as 4 stars I would still make this a traditional Christmas read along side other Christmas crime stories and would certainly recommend that other crime enthusiasts give this book a try.
Dunfermline Reads 