Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer is a reprint of a crime mystery originally published in 1944. As usual with these British Library reprints the cover is beautiful and the book looks great.
This is a country house mystery where everyone is gathered to celebrate Christmas under the eagle eye of the patriarch of the family, Uncle Willie. Willie is rich and argumentative and all the family are trying to keep on his good side because they want to be remembered in his will. On Boxing Day his body is found outside, dressed in a Santa Claus suit. It appears that he has been poisoned by Christmas chocolates. The police must discover which of his relatives wanted Uncle Willie to die and how they did it.
The problem with this book, for me, was that there were way too many characters. I found it difficult to remember which person was with which partner, what their place was in the family, and what their motive might have been. The number of suspects makes the mystery very complex but, unfortunately, it didn’t make the book any easier to follow. The author throws in lots of red herrings and there are plenty of motives and opportunities to enliven the story – the law of intestacy becomes a very important part of the puzzle. In the end, the solution is completely unbelievable but, to be fair, this is not a particularly realistic story.
This book should have been more fun to read than it was for me. I found it hard work to keep track of things and suspects. On the other hand, it was an interesting mystery and maybe another reader will be better able to follow proceedings.
Anne Is Reading 