Soundings – Carol's Notebook

The White Priory Murders by Carter Dickson

December 30, 2023December 30, 2023 by Carol3 Comments

James Bennett, nephew of our semi-amateur sleuth Sir Henry Merrivale, has been invited to a house party in the White Priory, home to the brothers, John and Maurice Bohun. The star guest is Marcia Tait, a glamorous actress who has just walked out of a Hollywood contract so she can act in a play written by Maurice. Of course, Marcia ends up dead and everyone in the house is a suspect. It's almost a locked room mystery. With the building surrounded by snow, the killer's footprints should have been clear, but the only prints are those left by John Bohun, who discovered the body. I do love a good house party in the snow murder but the characters in this one are just not quite as interesting as the blurb promises. And we only see Sir Henry at the beginning and near the end. He does solve the puzzle but I didn't get much of a feel for him. It was maybe...

The Christmas Egg by Mary Kelly

December 9, 2019December 9, 2019 by Carol4 Comments

Three days before Christmas, Inspector Nightingale is called to the scene of a suspicious death. An elderly woman has been found dead in her bed. It may have been natural cause, but she has been robbed. Nightingale discovers she was a Russian princess who had fled to Britain during the Revolution, bringing with her jewelry and valuable pieces of art. There has been a recent spate of burglaries and Nightingale suspects this is another by the same group. We know from the beginning that the princess's grandson is probably involved and there's never really any doubt that it's connected to the other thefts. The bulk of the book follows Nightingale and his sergeant as they identify and catch the thieves. While the story takes place around Christmas, it's not very Christmassy. There are no interrupted celebrations, no warm feelings. There is a bit of present buying, but even that turns out questionable, and traipsing through the snow can be deadly....

Lord James Harrington and the Christmas Mystery by Lynn Florkiewicz

December 3, 2019December 3, 2019 by Carol4 Comments

The Christmas Mystery is the first of the Harrington series I've read. James and his wife Beth live in the small village of Cavendish and have converted the Harrington manor house into a hotel catering to the well-to-do. It's Christmas time and the Harrington's are hosting their annual Christmas dinner and participating in events around the village. Then one of their guests is killed, poisoned, and James, along with I assume are the regulars, decide to investigate. After all, they can't have people worry about ending up dead if the stay or eat at the hotel. This was fine. I enjoyed the Christmas in a small town setting. The solution to the mystery reached back to the Great War. A lot of folk in town either fought themselves or had relatives who did. It looks at PTSD and acknowledges that not everyone who was on the right side was a hero. Overall though, it was just fine. It works as a...

Portrait of a Murderer by Anne Meredith

December 7, 2018December 4, 2018 by Carol3 Comments

Adrian Gray and his six adult children, along with a few spouses, are gathered at his country home for Christmas. I want to say "to celebrate Christmas," but I don't think they were ever really going to celebrate. They are not a nice group of people. Adrian is not a nice man himself. Then we have Richard, a politician who desperately wants a title, and his wife who may in face hate him. Olivia is married to Eustace (cue the anti-Semitism of the 1930s), a shady financier, his whole reputation is on the line if he doesn't manage to raise a substantial sum of money urgently. Brand ran off when he was young to be an artist, but is he's now working as a low-paid clerk and wants money so he can take off back to Paris to try to revive his career as a painter. His wife isn't at the house party, but she is a crass woman whose children are...

The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay

December 16, 2016 by Carol4 Comments

The Santa Klaus Murder is a vintage mystery, set in a country home where the family, and a couple of others, are together to celebrate Christmas. Add in a murder and it should be a perfect read for me. Unfortunately, I found it rather lackluster. It starts off slow, with members of the household telling their version of the events leading up to the murder. Sir Osmond was not a nice father, overbearing and holding the children's inheritance over their heads so that they would marry someone he deemed appropriate. Everyone had their own reasons for not liking the man. I was listening to the audio version and it got a little confusing as to who was who. It definitely picked up once Colonel Halstock takes charge of the investigation, but it's still has a few too many problems for me to really recommend it. - Just too many characters. Maybe it was because I was listening to the audio, but between the family,...