A satisfying murder mystery which feels deeply classic but also oddly modern. Classic, because it is set in a snowed-in country house over a 36-hour period, with the suspects restricted to our main cast - everyone of them noble on the surface but deeply shabby within - and a bunch of unseen servants, of course. Modern, because this is a novel in which a socialist Chancellor and a neo-Fascist make up two members of the family, whose guests include a variety of upper-class types realising their day is nearly done, lower-class types on the make, and a refugee from Hitler's Europe who sees through all of this nonsense. (More than once, I had to remind myself this was an authentic novel of the 1950s, and not an Anthony Horowitz pastiche.)

Like most crime fiction novels, the second half is less exciting than the setup, although the plot holds together quite well. I would like to adapt this for the screen, I think. It could make an enjoyable - and timely - TV film. ( )

I never try to figure out the solutions to murder mysteries anyhow, and I wouldn't have been able to in this. For me, it's the quality of the journey with Cyril Hare. And he does, in the very end, tell you why these murders are peculiarly English. ( )

Very english. :) A nice classic british locked-room mystery (of the isolated group variety, not a literal locked room). ( )

Very enjoyable country house mystery set at Christmas time during a snowstorm. However, if you are looking for a holiday book, this might not be a good choice as Christmas really plays no part in the story except as a reason for the people to have gathered together (and become stranded) at this country house.

Despite the presence of a Scotland Yard man, this is actually a cozy mystery since the solution of the mystery (and much of the detecting) is done by one of the guests, a visiting historian who is doing research using the family archives. He also happens to be a survivor of Auschwitz which lends an interesting edge to the way he perceives the murders, the suspects, and the police. ( )

Dr. Wencelaus Bottwink is an historian who has been invited to Warbeck Hall by the current Lord of that Hall to research papers that have been housed there for centuries; as an Eastern (or perhaps Central) European Jew, he would prefer to remain out of the family’s way during the upcoming Christmas holiday, but Lord Warbeck will have none of it. Instead, he invites the professor to join a small group at the Hall for the holidays: Sir Julius Warbeck, a cousin of the current Lord who is also currently the Chancellor of the Exchequer; the Lord’s son and heir, Robert, a fascist who heads the League of Liberty and Justice; Lady Camilla, young daughter of an Earl and keen on Robert despite his politics; and Mrs. Carstairs, the wife of Alan Carstairs who is widely presumed to be Sir Julius’s eventual successor. Rounding out the household are the butler Briggs and his sullen daughter, and Sergeant Rogers of Scotland Yard’s Special Branch, whose duty it is to protect Sir Julius at all times. When Robert dies suddenly of cyanide poisoning just as midnight rings in Christmas Day, in the midst of a snowstorm that has cut off the Hall from the rest of the world, it seems that a very English murder indeed has just taken place….This is from 1951 and is a fine example of the classic detective story - isolated place, limited suspects, no end of motives - although I was quite surprised to see a (small) mention of the Holocaust, which I thought was generally not spoken of during this period. The characters are all just slightly satirised, and the mystery is fairly clued; it’s also quite short, taking only a few hours to read. My major quibble is the format: the e-book from Kindle has the entire text underlined (with no way to remove that), there are constant subscripts that refer to random page numbers, and very often several words are run together - this latter, I think, where a dash or ellipses would be in the original text. There is no copyright page, making me assume that it’s out of copyright, but surely the Kindle powers that be could have found a cleaner text to use. If you can put up with the formatting, though, this is quite an entertaining little tale and well worth reading; recommended. ( )