A murderous family Christmas!

If you’re a newspaper mogul with a diamond-draped new wife, the expensively renovated Bishopstone Manor on the Isle of Wight would seem just the place for your extended family Christmas. Enveloped in bracing sea air and offering a dizzying array of fine food and wine what could possibly go wrong there?

With Susan he local amateur sleuth helping out her friend who is organising the celebrations, and a family obviously riven by quarrels and nastiness, we know a lot will go wrong. No time is lost. Next morning Duncan , the deeply unpleasant mogul already on medication, is dead and the police are satisfied he has died from natural causes.

Of course Susan won’t accept that and of course she’s right, but it’s the intricacies of strained relationships between these Christmas revellers which keep us guessing. Who would trust slippery Antoine, the editor of Duncan’s newspaper? What is the terrible secret surrounding the death of Duncan’s first wife and mother of his impossibly fey and damaged daughter and his apparently duplicitous son? Who is trying to silence Susan as her investigations inch further towards finding the truth. (Isle of Wight readers might not want to take part in the Boxing Day swim after this!)….

As in Mary Grand’s previous murder mysteries in this series, the island setting gives the story a magical edge. The ferries have ground to a halt in the bad weather and whilst the party is trapped, Susan’s dogs celebrate their freedom on the beach and downs.

Karen Cass is a good narrator, injecting just the right amount of energy and suspense into her voice.

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