Murder for Christmas: A British Holiday Murder Mystery (Mordecai Tremaine Mystery, 1)

As a lover of classic British mysteries, my chance discovery of this author from the mid-20th Century has been a real joy. Every page keeps my interest, which I cannot say about many mysteries I read by well-regarded authors. Duncan's books are also not guilty of that staple of modern mysteries that I am getting so weary of: a detective drowning in their personal angst, fighting emotional slings and arrows, and of course, a tragic love life, etc, which takes up so much of the bulk of his or her attention. Duncan's Miss Marple-like character Mordecai Tremaine is in many ways a very ordinary type of person, but he is able to blend in with quite different types of social groups; groups which fester with secrets, lies and a hidden murderer...until Tremaine untangles it all in his unassuming but brilliant way. He does it by observing people as much as by physical clues, which is similar to the Agatha Christie approach. This mystery, "Murder for Christmas" was not the typical "murder at a country house at Christmas" mystery which I thought it would be. It was quite surprising, startling, enthralling, and a joy to read.

Retired tobacconist Mordecai Tremaine is invited to a Christmas house party by a man he doesn't know well. He chooses to go, because of the intriguing postscript stating that "something was wrong" in the household. That something was most definitely wrong was proven when a dead Father Christmas was discovered under the tree on Christmas Eve. Mordecai uses his sharp eye and keen reasoning to investigate his fellow house guests to determine the motive and method of the crime.This was a delightful mystery, with an engaging protagonist and a well imagined cast of characters. The mystery itself was intelligent, believable, and nicely plotted. Duncan's writing wasn't perfect; there were repeated phrases and the occasional awkward sentence. Despite that, I would most definitely recommend this nearly forgotten Golden Age mystery. I will most certainly be reading more of Mordecai's adventures.

Actually, if one looks at the original copyrights of this book and "Murder has a motive" , it is clear this is the second book, not the first. In addition, the notoriety Mordecai Tremaine gained from the Dalmering case is mentioned in the text of this book.This book moves much more slowly than " Murder has a motive" and the secrets of the suspects are harder to figure out. I did notice the murderer's slip up during the murder discovery scene. The book ends abruptly and another character who is a psychopath apparently is going to get away without punishment of his despicable behavior that has been going on for a very long time. The plot is original in nature which is a plus.Because of the plot slowness (I trudged onward to the end) and the lack of justice for the psychopathic character, I had to remove a star for each.

I liked it. He is a good writer

I read about this novel right after Christmas, but I decided to order it anyway. It was not supposed to arrive until some time in February, so I was pleasantly surprised when I received it within a few days of my order. With the snow finally falling in the Chicago area, I knew this would be a good time to read this book.The book begins with a summary of the case with somewhat overwrought language. However, as it moves on to the characters, it becomes more successful. It is important to remember that the novel was written in the 1940s, which means that we have a world that is slower paced than the 21st century. Of course we are looking at a wealthier segment of society in rural England, but this pace allows us to study the scenery and the characters more carefully. This is a world with a mansion that can house a number of guests for Christmas with these guests being able to stay over a few days with a pleasant host.The characters are mostly forgettable with the major exception of Mordecai Tremaine as the amateur detective who helps solve the case. He is a character who is unforgettable. The ending is well plotted, and it leaves the taste of a delicious Christmas dinner in the mouth of the reader.The author, Francis Duncan, wrote in the 1930s and 1940s, and this is the first book of his to be republished. I can only hope that other books by this author will be republished as well and republished soon or at least in time for me to read them by next Christmas. Without knowing anything about his other books, it would be nice to think that I could have other seasonal stories waiting for me in the future. The ending still remains in my mind, even several weeks after I have read the book. It would be delicious to meet Mordecai Tremaine again.

I am an avid fan of vintage mysteries, and “English country house” mysteries are among my very favorites in that genre. I enjoyed this one very much and was pleased to see that there were two others available and a couple more being published. This book was my idea of a terrific cozy type mystery, and I enjoyed it very much. The Christmas setting added to its appeal.Mordecai Tremayne, the detective in this story is just eccentric enough to be interesting without being stereotyped. He observes people, and makes deductions based on these observations, along with his knowledge of human nature. In retrospect, he is almost a bit like male version of Miss Marple, although this did not strike me as a I read the book.This was a fun book to while away a few hours, and I look forward to reading others in this series. Highly recommended for fans of vintage mysteries, and cozies.

I had Francis Duncan on an old list of mine, culled from the Pretty Sinister blog, to try out if I came across him. This was the first book of his that I saw, but I found it disappointing.The book moved too slowly to really hold my interest. Mordechai Tremaine spends a lot of time reflecting on his position between the police and his fellow guests. Except for the young lovers, whose enthusiasm makes them appealing, most of the characters are one-dimensional and unpleasant.I kept thinking that Agatha Christie would have done a much better job on a book like this.

A country house party, lots of guests, each with a guilty secret in their past, several with a reason for wanting someone dead, and several others behaving suspiciously around the time of the murder, a genial amateur sleuth with a good relationship with the investigating policeman, and an unexpected twist just as you think you’ve pieced the mystery together.No cliffhanger suspense, no psychological torture or gruesome killings, no troubled detectives battling their own demons, broken relationships and irascible superiors, just a good old-fashioned, wholesome murder mystery with a logical buildup and a satisfying denouncement.

after reading this story i bought all the books written by this author. so you could guess i loved the story. i could only find 5 books by this author in total and am currently halfway through the last one. all books are great. if anybody could suggest more creations from this writer i would be grateful.

Es una novela de corte parecido a las de Agatha Christie. Situada en un pequeño pueblo con un grupo reducido de personajes cuyas relaciones claras y ocultas constituyen un microcosmos en el que la plácida vida de pueblo de la campiña inglesa se convierte una vez más en algo lejos de ser idílico. El detective es un aficionado, antiguo estanquero por más señas, que también parece despistado como la Srta. Marple, pero resuelve los misterios gracias a su capacidad de observación.

Dieses in den 30iger Jahren des vorherigen Jahrhunderts erschienene Roman knüpft an die Tradition der englischen Landhauskrimis an, also an die Situation, dass geladene Gäste auf dem Landsitz des Gastgebers versammelt sind und dort einige nette Tage miteinander verbringen wollen und dieses Zusammensein durch den Tod eines Teilnehmers, meist des Gastgebers, gestört wird.Der Held dieses Buches ist ein Pensionär, der schon einmal der Polizei mit seiner Beobachtungsgabe helfen konnte. Schon mit der Einladung wird ihm deutlich gemacht, dass dem Gastgeber Gefahr droht und man auf seine Hilfe hofft. Er kommt in eine Gruppe, die sich versammelt hat, um ein fröhliches Fest zu feiern, aber unserem Helden fällt sofort auf, dass die scheinbar gut gelaunte Gesellschaft irgendwie einen nicht realen Eindruck macht, als ob es merkwürdige, nicht erklärbare und nicht richtig erkennbare Konflikte gibt. Plötzlich wird einer der Gäste ermordet aufgefunden, sodass die Polizei eingeschaltet wird, mit der unser Amateurdetektiv dann zusammenarbeitet und deshalb von allen Teilnehmern der Gesellschaft mit großem Misstrauen betrachtet wird. Nach und nach findet unser Held aber sinnvolle Erklärungen für alle Ungereimtheiten und findet den Täter. Dabei werden am Schluss wirklich auch alle Clues erklärt, es bleiben keine Fragen offen und trotz der Tatsache, dass man alles gewusst hat, ist das Ende sehr überraschend, obwohl eigentlich zwingend.Das Buch ist so toll, dass ich sofort mehr über den Verfasser wissen und weitere Bücher von ihm lesen wollte. Dabei musste ich feststellen, dass über den Verfasser buchstäblich gar nichts bekannt ist, außer das es von ihm noch weitere Bücher gibt. Das Buch ist auch -wie sich aus der 1. Seite ergibt- veröffentlich worden, ohne dass der Verlag das copyright hatte. Er teilt mit, dass er den Rechteinhaber gesucht, aber nicht gefunden habe, und bereit sei, diesem die entsprechenden Zahlungen zu erbringen.Dieses Vorgehen des Verlages dürfte seinen Anwälten Bauchschmerzen machen; ich finde es absolut großartig, denn das Buch ist einfach toll und hat viele, viele Leser verdient. Ich werde künftig die Veröffentlichungen dieses Verlages (Vintage) mit großer Aufmerksamkeit verfolgen, denn ich hoffe dort auf weitere so schöne Bücher.