286 pages

4 stars

Oligarch Alexander Volkov purchases a manor in Surrey and begins to remodel. The noise and rudeness of his employees and his son upset everyone in the village.

He invited a thousand people over for a Christmas party and at the stroke of midnight fireworks are set off. Concurrently, gunshots are heard. Three people, including Alexander are dead.

DCI Craig Gillard and his team catches the Christmas call. It becomes a very complicated case very quickly. A locked room mystery. The police follow several leads, many that go nowhere. There is much going on in this novel on several levels. The reader must pay close attention. The are several suspects – almost all of them unlikable. (A thousand guests. I should guess so...)

Mr. Louth writes a very good story. I liked the head of security fellow. I found him rather endearing and I am a sucker for Russian accents. I found myself not liking this story as much as his previous books. I am unsure why. Perhaps it was a little too confusing – too much going on.

I want to thank NetGalley and Canelo for forwarding to me a copy of this good book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions are my own.

Alexander Volkov has moved into a sleepy Surrey village - taking over the local manor, and bringing with him a huge fossil that he plans to display in his library. His presence has been angering the local community, as the construction of the library has taken over the village for months, as well as the fact that his staff have blocked off all the local footpaths. When PC Zoe Butterfield is asked to investigate a confrontation between a local resident and Alexander's son Oleg, she meets Alexander's Head of Security who strikes up a friendship with her and invites her in during Alexander's Christmas party. At the stroke of midnight, fireworks go off - as do gunshots, and Alexander is found shot dead in the library, as are his friend and bodyguard. Who shot them? How did they manage to leave no trace? And is everyone really telling the truth?

This is a very suspenseful book, with numerous suspects - all of whom seem to have cast-iron alibis, but seem very plausible culprits! From about 20% of the way through the book, I was convinced of the perpetrator and was proven right until about 95% of the way there. The reveal of the killer as a result is quite rushed, and doesn't feel as satisfying as it could have been given the evidence in the rest of the book.

A locked room mystery set in a luxurious setting, this ambitious mystery sprawls across several countries, hosts a wide range of characters—both police and suspects—and boasts both a clever solution, some great twists, and a little kink. A fun and compelling read!