This Christmas I decided to read a classic Christmas mystery.
I started with a 1930s snowbound mystery featuring a train bound for Christmas in Manchester. Onboard were a group of mismatched travelers who had to make a decision when their locomotive becomes stuck in an impenetrable snowdrift. Should they stay on the train or risk trudging their way through the countryside for help? Deciding on the latter, in various stages groups of them arrive at a stately home to find the door open, the lights on and the kettle boiling. But there’s no one home. No one at all……
Review
I began the book in wintery Hampshire and continued reading while visiting Christmas markets across Europe. While no snow, it added to the winter setting found within the book.
The story starts with a random group of strangers heading north for Christmas by train. Stranded by heavy snow they discuss whether to leave the relative safety of their carriage and hike across the countryside in search of another station or whether it would be best to stay put. in stages various people leave the train and end up at a deserted house.
the strange thing about the house is that there is a kettle boiling for tea and food prepared, as if a host were expecting visitors…..only the host is nowhere to be found.
An interesting read.
From the start, you are never quite sure of the characters motives. They way they speak to each other is often cryptic and often they are quite obtuse. Hints at danger abound and tension builds slowly as more people arrive at the house. And one particular “guest” keeps coming and going, despite the heavy snow.
One of the party, who puts himself in charge, suggests he knows more of what has occurred. However, he is only willing to share snippets of information and then not with everyone.
We learn that, in time, the police will be become involved and there will be four bodies but it takes a long time before their identities are discovered.
The story concluded well, with the actual denouement and the official one. The book ties all the strands of the plot together and the current and historic matters are explained. And, although they differ from the official version, everyone appears happy with how things are resolved.
Worth a read.
Mystery in White: A Christmas Crime Story is available from
The City Adventurers Solve The Murder
The Author
Mystery in White is a Christmas crime story by J. Jefferson Farjeon (1883 – 1955). He was the author of more than sixty crime and thriller novels. Highly acclaimed in his day, Dorothy L. Sayers wrote that ‘Jefferson Farjeon is quite unsurpassed for creepy skill in mysterious adventures’. Farjeon is also the author of Number Seventeen, a play that was adapted for the big screen by Alfred Hitchcock.
The Plot
‘The horror on the train, great though it may turn out to be, will not compare with the horror that exists here, in this house.’
On Christmas Eve, heavy snowfall brings a train to a halt near the village of Hemmersby. Several passengers take shelter in a deserted country house, where the fire has been lit and the table laid for tea – but no one is at home. Trapped together for Christmas, the passengers are seeking to unravel the secrets of the empty house when a murderer strikes in their midst.
Mystery in White: A Christmas Crime Story is available from Amazon and available from City Adventurers Solve The Murder
The City Adventurers love reading about mystery, so we’ve started our own book club.