A fabulous country house English style murder mystery reminiscent of Agatha Christie. The prose and the use of Christmas as a backdrop are a marvelous combination in this entertaining old style mystery.

First sentence from the prologue: No one could have foretold how it was going to end. Not even the murderer. It is not to say that the crime was hastily conceived and clumsily executed.

Premise/plot: The book opens on Christmas Eve. Father Christmas, or I should say, a man dressed as Father Christmas is murdered at the foot of the Christmas Tree. The setting is a country house party. One of the guests is a murderer...and one guest happens to be an amateur detective. Coincidence?! Perhaps.

My thoughts: I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this atmospheric mystery. I believe it is my first time to read Francis Duncan, and my first time to meet Mordecai Tremaine. I want MORE, MORE, MORE....now, now, now. I hope I can track down the rest of the books in this classic series.

I thought the writing was well done. It has a literary feel to it almost. But literary or not--it is definitely suspenseful!

“The landscape was a Christmas card in three dimensions. There would have been no incongruity if a sleigh drawn by reindeer had come sweeping over the brow of the downs. It did not, in fact, seem fantastic that the red-robed figure of Father Christmas was outlined in the moonlight, moving quickly along the terrace of the big house. It was, after all, Christmas Eve, when such things—particularly in such a setting—were to be expected. But if one watched carefully, it was sometimes possible, especially when the moon was obscured, to see a faint glow behind the windows of the ground floor. It was a glow that changed its position, as though it owed its origin to a flashlight carried by someone who moved stealthily within the house. And outside in the snow and the shadows there were muffled, hidden figures. Concealed from the house and from each other, they watched intently—and waited upon opportunity. The atmosphere was brooding, tense with foreboding. Fantasy and mystery, violence and death were abroad. It seemed that time was moving reluctantly and with an ever more tightly coiled dread toward some terrible climax. And at last the climax came. It came when the bell had stopped. It came when the moonlight, searching again through the clouds, swept softly across the white lawns, revealing the ragged line of footprints. It came when the cold light flooded up to the half-open french doors and, tracing the moisture on the polished floor, came to rest upon the red thing of horror that was Father Christmas, stark and sprawled upon its face in front of the despoiled Christmas tree. It came with a woman’s scream—desperate, high-pitched, and raw with terror.”

I enjoyed the characterization. In mysteries of this sort, it is important that readers really get to know all the suspects and the detective. No complaints here! Duncan did a fantastic job!!!

I almost want to reread this one now that I know who did it to see it again through new eyes.

I enjoyed this classic novel even though it took me much longer to read than I'd expected, due to its style. It's very atmospheric and I didn't guess the murderer. The cover is very striking and enticing as well.

"The first book in a classic Golden Age mystery series perfect for fans of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.

When Mordecai Tremaine arrives at the country retreat of one Benedict Grame on Christmas Eve, he discovers that the revelries are in full swing in the sleepy village of Sherbroome―but so too are tensions amongst the assortment of guests.

When midnight strikes, the partygoers discover that presents aren't the only things nestled under the tree...there's a dead body too. A dead body that bears a striking resemblance to Father Christmas. With the snow falling and suspicions flying, it's up to Mordecai to sniff out the culprit―and prevent anyone else from getting murder for Christmas.

Murder for Christmas is a festive mystery for the holiday season: mulled wine, mince pies... and murder."

The holidays and murder just go together so well...

I’m a sucker for a good cozy Christmas book. This one did not disappoint. A good mystery with the spirit of Christmas. I loved every minute of it.

If murder can be fun then this counts. I enjoyed this cozy and Christmasy tale of murder and mystery. It was atmospheric and seasonal and engaging.

Mordecai Tremaine is an amateur detective and he has been invited by Benedict Grame to his estate in the country for a Christmas house party. As often seems to happen to amateur detectives, murder seems to follow in Tremaine’s wake. The house party is shocked to discover one of its members murdered at the foot of the Christmas tree dressed as Father Christmas. Knowing a murdered is amongst their midst, the party is on edge and Mordecai Tremaine is on the case.

I enjoyed this mystery and it was my book for Christmas day reading this year. I LOVED the setting, a 1930’s English Christmas house party. Mordecai Tremaine is an eccentric detective and it reminded me of one of my other favorite eccentric detectives Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie. I loved all of the side characters and how Tremaine unraveled their histories and hidden secrets. It was an intriguing mystery.

I was also intrigued about the author Francis Duncan. I read in the back of the book that he published more than twenty crime novels between 1937 and 1959. I really enjoyed his writing style. He has beautiful almost lyrical passages. I would love to read more of his work. I also found this interesting article about the mystery of who exactly Francis Duncan is online. I think it is interesting that this book became a bestseller in England last year, sixty-six years after its publication. I hope that means more of his work will be published!

Favorite Quotes:

“But no human plan, however devilish its ingenuity, can be depended upon to follow in practice the exact lines of its own theory.”

“He was romantic enough to believe firmly in the sanctity of marriage.”

“It was as though Tremaine was not looking out upon a real scene but gazing at a Christmas picture in a shop window, a picture that possessed a stereoscopic quality that gave it the illusion of life, but which must remain eternally unchanged.”

“Of course! Without power, what purpose is there in life? Fame? Money? Of what real value are they except for the power they bring with them? It’s the sense of mastery that lifts a man and makes him forget that he came from dust!”

“It was all wrong that the cold winter beauty upon which he was gazing should be marred by man’s inability to live in charity with his neighbors and that murder should lie like an evil smudge across perfection.”

Overall, Murder for Christmas was an intriguing mystery with fascinating characters and setting.

Book Source: Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!

This was a hard pass for me but, I think, it's not really a bad book but rather an book that's not to my taste AT ALL. I'm thoroughly done with men flaring their nostrils over the frail, crying shoulders of birdlike women and clenching their fists over not being able to marry them. Does this even have a murder? I mean, I guess, and all the trappings of a country house detective story, but it was so thoroughly annoying I couldn't get past the first few chapters.

This is the second book in this series but you don’t need to read the first book to enjoy this one. Mordecai Tremaine is invited to a Christmas house party. He shows up and then there is murder. There are many twists and turns within this story. I received a copy of this book from PBpublicity for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

I do love a mystery
I love a village mystery and a Christmas setting is the icing on the cake? This book was not a difficult read (perfect for the season,) it had the right balance of murder and characterisation. Highly recommend

I thought that this was a charming cozy mystery perfect for the holiday season. I'm glad that the publisher has decided to resurrect Mordecai Tremaine, and I look forward to reading more of Francis Duncan's work.

The setting of this book is very Christmas cozy, with snow, a mansion, a Christmas tree and carolers. The book absolutely got me in a Christmas mood, and the murder was fitted very well in the story. This book felt like a classic murder mystery set in December. It wasn't hard to read and didn't have an extremely difficult plot. A nice murder mystery to relax with. 

The murder plot was fun and not too easy. I didn't feel like I knew the murderer and story from the beginning. Every character had enough motive to be the murderer and I personally didn't guess who the murderer was until the end and was even put on the wrong path. The clues were good and were really connectable to all the guests. I was a bit worried that the amount of characters would confuse me but I remembered everyone pretty well, being given a good image of every person. It can happen that you lose the oversight when too many characters are involved in the book. The author handled that very well.

WHY’D I PICK THIS BOOK TO READ?
Murder For Christmas by Francis Duncan basically interested me because it’s a vintage Christmas mystery. I loved the cover. Vintage things do sort of interest me. Also, I just really love reading books about Christmas. I thought this would be a nice break from all of the Christmas romances that I tend to binge on. Maybe old school mysteries are just not in my wheelhouse unless they are written by Agatha Christie.

WHAT’S THE STORY HERE?
I guess Murder For Christmas is a story that follows this older gentleman detective named Mordecai Tremaine. So the book opens and there’s a scream. Then it shifts to some woman who is meeting up with her lover only her adoptive dad doesn’t seem to like him. Also she has an uncle from what I remember? Then we go into Mordecai Tremaine driving into the little town and getting lost. Eventually he finds out where he is and goes to the house where he is staying which is owned by the girl’s uncle and he’s at this dinner party. And well, there is supposed to be a murder happening at some point I guess, maybe during that opening scene?

HOW LONG DID I LAST?
19%

WHY DID I DNF?
Okay SO I ended up DNFing this book because it was boring. It felt like in the almost 20% of the book I read, nothing happened. Don’t get me wrong I do not mind a slow build. This was just a little too slow to me. Also while it’s cool that Mordecai Tremaine enjoys romantic novels and sentimentality, he kind of squicked me out a little. I mean all of the female characters are reduced to how appealing they are in his gaze. I just can’t get behind that or into that. When it comes to these sorts of books I like when women are fully fleshed out and interesting. I suppose that could happen later on but I could not be bothered to read further.

IS THERE ANYONE MURDER FOR CHRISTMAS WOULD APPEAL TO?
I think that this book could potentially appeal to people who don’t mind books with an old timey feel and can get past the parts where it seems like Tremaine is just there to oogle women and decide how likely they are to go for him. Meh.

Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan
Is a classic Christmas read that will watm the cockles of your

Available here
heart Full of mistletoe and wine and roaring fires... and of course MURDER! This is a fantastic nostalgic read for a lovely traditional Christmas.
Amateur sleuth Mordecai Tremaine, arrives in a sleepy village on Christmas Eve all set for a relaxing, enjoyable festive season. However, in the midst of a Christmas Eve party a body is found deposited under the Christmas tree among the presents ... a body that looks very like old Santa Claus.
Mordecai must discover who has killed the spirit of Christmas in this old fashioned gentle, yet murderous read. Get the mulled wine on, you'll need a steady supply so as not to be disturbed when reading this

Excellent mystery from 1950, the golden age of mysteries. Set in the cliched country manor covered in snow, with a thwarted romantic couple, a middle-aged spinster, an earnest assistant, and all the necessary ingredients for a classic mystery.

Extremely well written. Fast paced (the book takes place over just a couple of days), but with superb, taut descriptions of all the suspects and secondary characters. Atmospheric, with a setting that was perfectly depicted and played its part in the mystery.

If I had to quibble, the constant reference to the main character by his full name was irritating, but I loved the rest of the book so much, I'm willing to overlook this.

Clever vintage mystery about the expected traditional Christmas stay and the unexpected murder.

Amateur sleuth Mordecai Tremaine was invited to the Sherbroome house for a traditional Christmas - with a special notice in the invitation asking for his help. And yes, the guests seem not to be in the right festive mood! And then - the screams in the night. And a dead man in the costume of Father Christmas.
And everybody seems to hide something.
Fortunately, Mordecai Tremaine has a keen eye and even keener mind.

Oldie is goldie! This is real Golden Age mystery, written in 1949. And if I was to shake things a little, I would say that if Christie's Hercule Poirot had a secret lovechild with a sentimental woman, it might be Mordecai Tremaine. He is not THAT bright as famous Belgian detective (but who would be, except Sherlock?) and the author is not such a keen expect of psychology and atmosphere as Agatha Christie, but the intelligence of the plot is undeniable and twists are many, smart and believable.
And the British wit! Many are trying to imitate the unique way the British think, speak, behave and joke, but only the original is the real thing (even if it is a bit repetitive from time to time).

OK, I knew who the murderer was. But it didn't stop me reading this delightful mystery, as there are multiple other motives and the enjoyable writing. So even if you realize who the murderer is, just enjoy the ride as you still are in for a treat.

Miss Bates launches her annual Christmas romance reviewing month with … a Christmas-set murder mystery, a “not-a-romance” review of Francis Duncan’s 1949 Murder For Christmas. (Duncan’s work was recently reissued, revived, and thank the Good Lord for that, because it’s glorious.) And yet, Murder For Christmas contains a vein of commentary about Miss Bates’s most beloved and oft-read genre in the voice of Duncan’s romance-reading, old-bachelor, amateur sleuth, Mordecai Tremaine, an engaging, loveable, and despite his appearance seventy years ago (with Duncan’s first Tremaine mystery, Murder Has A Motive) fresh-feeling main character. Duncan’s Murder For Christmas has that old-fashioned Agatha-Christie closed-room, country-estate premise with elegant prose, adept plotting and pacing, and a great voice in Mordecai Tremaine. Miss Bates would venture to say there is something cleaner, more sophisticated in Duncan that Christie lacks (*runs away in fear from Christie fans*).

Upon starting Duncan’s mystery, Miss Bates was struck by the, as she said above, elegant prose, Tremaine’s meditative musings, and beautifully-rendered moody setting. In retrospect, having turned the last page, Miss Bate is equally in awe of Duncan’s plotting, for the mystery’s unravelling is all right there, within the first few pages, its tragedy and difficulty and sadness. But there be no spoilers in this review, only admiration and the hope that Miss Bates’s readers will pick up and enjoy Murder For Christmas this holiday season and come to share their thoughts with her.

Duncan’s mystery novel is, at least on the surface, a typical closed-room mystery. At Benedict Grame’s annual invitation, specific guests gather at Sherbroome House, his West Country estate, to celebrate Christmas season. Duncan peoples his mystery with figures familiar from black-and-white ’40s mystery films: lovers Denys Arden and Roger Wynton being foiled by Deny’s guardian, Jeremy Rainier, and the host’s, Benedict’s best friend; a tippling “Uncle”, Gerald Beechley; Benedict’s mousy sister, Charlotte; Benedict’s right-hand-man, Nicholas “Nick” Blaise; two beautiful, desired women, Rosalind Marsh and Lucia Tristam; a harried politician, Austin Delamere; a furtive, nervous couple, the Napiers; a dour academician, Professor Ernest Lorring; and, new-to-the-guest-list this year, sexagenarian Mordecai Tremaine, made famous for working with Scotland Yard to solve the Dalmering murders “down in Sussex last summer”. They gather to join in Benedict’s carefully orchestrated festivities in an estate that hearkens back to Elizabeth I. Christmas permeates everything about Duncan’s mystery: the mood, setting, and, especially, the murder … when the victim is found dead, dressed as Father Christmas, underneath the Christmas tree, “Father Christmas” echoes the narrative voice, “had been murdered”.

P.D. James’s Scotland Yard detective, Adam Dalgliesh, once said that the motive behind any murder is “love, lust, or lucre.” Duncan’s mystery runs true to form: in motivation, premise, and resolution. What made it stand out was Tremaine’s character, his wonderful internal dialogue about the tension between the mystery and romance genres, and polished prose. We are introduced to Tremaine as a romance reader, an old, seemingly benign bachelor with a penchant and talent for solving crime, whose heart belongs to Mills and Boon:

Mordecai Tremaine was a steadfast reader of that innocent but undoubtedly treacle-laden magazine Romantic Stories. He followed its serials thirstily, suffering and triumphing with their virtuous heroines. But although he read it so avidly, he was still a little shamefaced whenever he was caught doing so, and would make furtive attempts to smuggle it out of sight.

We’ve come far since the days when romance was hidden and a secret shame, but have we? Miss Bates was utterly charmed by Tremaine’s reading, and especially when Duncan used it to compare to the nasty that can accompany the darkest reaches of the human heart.

Duncan never dismisses, or derides Tremaine’s reading habits, rather he makes of them a way to stave off the darkness, to believe in good, and be hopeful. Duncan writes his detecting bachelor with a yearning for love and romance, a wistful regret that he never found his true love, or became a father. He makes Tremaine’s detecting mind partner with his “sentimental soul”:

His gloom had vanished. The strange depression that had overwhelmed him earlier in the day had slunk away in defeat. He was a child again, snatching at a belief in fairies and in a Santa Claus who came down chimneys and filled a million stockings in one amazing night. Sentiment was in control, and for Mordecai Tremaine, this was a moment that would help to sustain him when the time came for him to feel again the knowledge that bitterness and terror and dark despair had their being in the hearts of men.

Like the vision of plenty and love that is Santa Claus, Tremaine is sustained by the belief in two people falling in love, pledging love and commitment, and living in harmony and affection: “romantic stories provided him with the chief means of satisfying his emotions” and “He was romantic enough to believe firmly in the sanctity of marriage”. Though Duncan writes seventy years ago, the same holds true of the romance genre, to help us feel, with Tremaine, “that all was well in the best of worlds.”

What kept Miss Bates reading Murder For Christmas and why she lauds it now is Tremaine’s intelligent attachment to, and understanding of, the gift that is the romance genre:

It was a night when joyous magic was abroad, the kind of magic for which mankind had so great a need and in which there is no fear. Why should he be so heavy with foreboding, so laden down with a dread he could not name? He switched on the reading lamp at the side of his bed and settled back against the pillows with Romantic Stories in his hand. Here was the anodyne. Here he would find balm for his soul. As literature, it might be the subject of scorn by the critics, but at least it was mellow and kindly. It offered love and romance and the humour and humanity that formed the mainspring of the world.

Tremaine understands that the romance narrative contains the “what ought to be” and “what can be”: he is no fool when it comes to the world’s realities of anger, enmity, hatred, jealousy, and revenge. But Tremaine recognizes that that need not be the whole story:

It was all wrong that the cold winter beauty upon which he was gazing should be marred by man’s inability to live in charity with his neighbours and that murder should lie like an evil smudge across perfection. He liked to feel that the sun shone always upon lovers. He liked to feel that God was in His Heaven and that all was right with a world in which there was no false note. Perhaps it was a shrinking from reality, a refusal to face the bitter truths of existence. But it was an integral part of him, and he could not change it.

In the end, Tremaine may be an amateur, shrewd sleuth extraordinaire, but his most endearing quality, the one that won him over for Miss Bates, is his belief in the importance of a myth of reconciliation, love, peace, and justice.

Miss Bates admits that the “treacle-laden” nature of our main character did not endear him to Miss Austen. But, Miss Bates, as would her fictional counterpart, stands ready to defend Mordecai Tremaine’s creator, who may as readily stand with Betty Neels as Agatha Christie: serving both love and justice. There are no wrong notes here and Francis Duncan’s Murder For Christmas is proof “there is no charm equal to tenderness of heart,” Emma.

Francis Duncan’s Murder For Christmas was originally published by John Long in 1949. It was reissued by Vintage Books in 2015 and, in North America, by Sourcebooks Landmark on October 1st of this year. Miss Bates received an e-ARC from Sourcebooks Landmark, via Netgalley.

It’s probably no surprise that I enjoyed Murder for Christmas. It ticks off all the boxes:

√ Vintage murder mystery
√ English manor house
√ Eccentric set of characters
√ Christmas celebrations
√ Amateur detective with a romantic streak

Benedict Grame always throws a large house party for Christmas and this year is not exception. It’s an interesting collection of people. There’s the usual household, Grame and his assistant Nicholas Blaise, his old friend Jeremy Rainer and Rainer’s ward, a lovely young woman and her suitor. Grame also has a spinster sister who lives with them and another relative he assists, a gambler with a penchant for practical jokes. There’s also a visiting scientist, a politician, a glamorous woman who both Grame and Rainer are attracted too, a couple from the village, and of course Mordecai Tremaine, our amateur detective who has been specially invited. It should be a fun, traditional Christmas.

Of course the merriment is interrupted by murder – Father Christmas dead under the decorated tree. The mystery itself was well-done, plenty of clues, a few red herrings, more than enough secrets to dig up.
Mordecai Tremaine is an interesting detective, very unassuming, non-confrontational. He observes, notices, talks to people. He also is a bit of a romantic who would like to believe in people’s goodness, who wants to see love triumph. I liked him. He’s not the aloof, overly analytical detective or the jaded who has lost his faith in the system. He’s a good, sweet guy, which is rare enough.

Murder for Christmas manages to be both festive and menacing, which makes it a perfect Christmas mystery.

The well described opening chapters of this book are a perfect mix of picturesque Dickensian Country Christmas and doom and gloom waiting-for-the -inevitable suspense of the beloved movie Clue.
An odd assortment of characters gathers in the village's Big House. Most of the guests have been there many times before. The host, Benedict Grame, is known for his love of the holiday but also for eccentric behavior, as are the recurring guests.
We meet a young woman, a sort of ward of the estate, who seems prepared to get married but who can not get the approval of her guardian. It is hinted that when she gets married there is a diamond necklace of great value to be presented. Is that a clue or a red herring? There are red herrings aplenty, all skillfully placed.

This wonderul holiday read will appeal to lovers of British mysteries, especially those set in a more genteel time and place. Classic mystery lovers will delight in revisiting this version.

Amateur detective Mordecai Tremaine has been invited to spend the Christmas holidays at the home of Benedict Grame. Although this is Tremaine’s first invitation to this annual party, most of the guests are regular visitors. Along with his invitation, he had received a note from Grame’s secretary, Nicholas Blaise, who is worried that something may be wrong with Grame. Tremaine may be an amateur but he is determined to keep an eye on everyone. And it turns out that Blaine had reason to worry. Every year, Grame would dress up as Santa to attach presents to the tree. On Christmas Eve, the household is awakened by a scream. A body in a Santa suit is found under the tree and the gifts as well as a valuable necklace have gone missing.

Murder for Christmas in an intelligent cozy mystery full of twists and turns and with interesting characters and setting. It was first published in 1949 by author Francis Duncan (his real name a mystery itself until recently). Although written after the Golden Age of mysteries, it shares many of the qualities that make those books so addicting. Set in a manor house in rural England, it is more a puzzle than an active thriller or police procedural. Most of the action happens off the page including the murder itself. The answer lies more in the words of the suspects, of which there are many, rather than in their actions, at least until the end. Tremaine is a very likable protagonist, gentlemanly right to the tip of his pince-nez wearing nose but very good at sussing out secrets even while dancing with many of the suspects and often despite their reluctance to talk. For anyone who enjoys Golden Age or Christmas cozies, Murder for Christmas is a fun read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review