A Standalone 1920s Christmas Mystery
Lord Edgington Investigates series Book 4
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book is part of a series ( Lord Edgington Investigates and this is installment #4) but was written by the author as a standalone and I was happy with the choice of the "English mysteries" group because I love "whodunits" set at Christmas.
The writer has a smooth and funny writing style and I loved the protagonist, a young 17-year-old, nephew of Lord Edgington, who still doesn't have a clear path in life, he doesn't know what his best qualities are but he doesn't hold back in front of nothing (even if he often would like it)
___ THE PLOT ___ England, 1925. When Lord Edgington receives an invitation to spend the Christmas holiday with an old colleague from the police, he expects fine food, good conversation and the warmth of a roaring fire. But on arriving at Mistletoe Hall with his family, they discover the house deserted and no explanation for where their host or his servants could be. After a while they found a body in the garden and as more guests appear, the master detective begins to question what could connect the disparate group of newcomers and if the culprit could be among them.
The narrator is the young nephew of Lord Edgington, while the second protagonist, the one in charge of the investigation is the eccentric Lord, who, receiving the invitation to his friend's estate, brought with him his daughter, the 2 grandchildren, the faithful driver, the cook and the waiter.
___ MY OPINION ___ I only gave 3 stars because there were aspects that I liked in this book, while for others I couldn't wait to move on to the next book.
__WHAT I LIKED ___ I liked all the main characters (therefore Lord Edgington's family and his nephew's friends), except Lord Edgington himself. I liked in particular the young nephew, who, ironically about himself and sometimes about his family, in a kindly manner obviously, frequently tears laughter at the reader.
The Christmas atmosphere is very present in the book thanks to the descriptions of decorations, songs, festive dishes, the search for the tree and the emotional warmth that is perceived among family members.
It may seem obvious, but not all mysteries set at Christmas are truly Christmassy and when they aren't, it disturbs me greatly, I perceive it a bit as a rip-off.
__ WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE __ I hadn't read, in the plot presented by Gooodreads, that the book was a bit like "And there were none" by A. Christie, a book that many love but which I didn't like at all ! (I love all of A. Christie's mysteries except 3, and that is one of the 3 that I didn't like).
The main reason is that there is a claustrophobic atmosphere, and while in Christie's book, the characters are stuck in a house on an island, here they are stuck in a house full of horrible extravagance, surrounded by so much snow that it is impossible to leave. The killer is there and everyone is in danger.
THIS MAY BE FASCINATING IN A "WHODUNIT" TO MANY PEOPLE, so don't be put off by my impressions.
The other book which, in my opinion, inspired this book is "Mystery in White" (1937) by Jefferson Farjeon (the plot is similar in many ways, I also liked this in many respects, but the sense of claustrophobia disturbed me ).
---> The second thing I didn't like is more serious: in my opinion the mystery wasn't exactly well constructed. It makes little sense.
____WARNING SPOILER ___ [ the culprit, the policeman, wants revenge on his former superiors for having framed his father, who was actually guilty of murder, many years ago.
So far so good... it doesn't make sense, however, that he would invite other people to the estate and kill them just because they had delinquent fathers and were ashamed of it... I find this motive really weak ]__SPOILER END ___ .
---> Furthermore, among all the guests there is a female character who is never actually suspected, although it is clear that she lies about her acquaintance with the host. And yet even at the end it isn't really made clear what his connections with that person sound like.
---> Lord Edgington then suspects someone who claims to know the dead man well, citing the fact that the dead man had never mentioned that boy in his life.
Well in the end it turns out that the boy is telling the truth and therefore all Lord Edgington's logic loses sense... that is: if your friend never told you about someone, it doesn't mean that someone didn't know your friend well.
In this case I found Lord Edgington a little presumptuous and a little too convinced of his own ideas.
---> Detective Lord Edgington also makes me nervous with his way of speaking, he talks, talks, talks and in fact never says anything concrete...even his nephew tells him several times to stop talking through riddles...because that way nothing is understandable.
___IN CONCLUSION___ the book isn't bad for me, but I've read better. However, I advise you to try reading it, because overall, if the sense of clautrophobia doesn't bother you, you might like it.
I will definitely give this author another chance, because his sparkling writing style captured me!
(last note: sorry for my English, it's not my language and I wrote the review quicker than usual, before going to work...sorry for any errors in my text)
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