Escaping the city doesn’t mean escaping the criminals…
1916, Midwinter Manor: Desperate for a Christmas weekend break from war-torn London, Hannah Merrill and her Aunt Violet take Bartleby the cat and themselves off to visit Hannah’s sister, in her beautiful country estate, deep in the English countryside.
The huge house is full of relatives, friends and merrymakers, and everyone’s excited to have a Christmas to remember.
But then, when a fellow-guest’s body is found in the library – apparently bludgeoned to death – and a precious ruby is stolen from another guest, it appears that it’s going to be memorable for all the
wrong reasons.
With the house snowed in, and the rural police force completely incapable of finding a single credible suspect, Hannah and Aunt Violet realise that once again it’s going to be down to them to get to the
bottom of it.
Because whoever’s behind the crimes must be at Midwinter Manor… And if they’re not found, who knows what their next ‘gift’ will be?
A totally unforgettable Golden Age, country house, cozy crime novel, perfect for fans of Helena Dixon, Verity Bright, and Agatha Christie.
Anita Davison is the author of the successful Flora Maguire historical mystery series.
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My thoughts: I am not a huge fan of the extended family Christmas, and for good reason. There’s nothing worse than being stuck in close proximity to your relatives, including the ones you wouldn’t choose to be with, so when Hannah Merrill and her Aunt Violet head to Midwinter Manor, home to Hannah’s sister Iris, her husband and children for the festive season, even before anyone gets murdered, things are tense.
Iris’s deeply annoying sister-in-law is obsessed with the ruby her family gave her when she got married. She’s handed it to her eldest daughter, who is getting married soon. It’s a big, ugly lump of red and no one except Norah is keen on it.
When one of the guests is found bludgeoned to death in the study, his death seems completely random. He wasn’t the nicest man, but he wasn’t the worst either. Then the ruby is missing, and perhaps he was killed by a thief? The local detective thinks so, and pins it all on a footman. Luckily Hannah and Aunt Violet are on hand to untangle things and solve the crime.
There’s a car chase through the snowy woods, a soldier with shell shock, an annoying neighbour, various other hijinks ensue and Christmas isn’t quite the holiday Iris wanted it to be. But Hannah has some news that might just save the festivities too.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 