The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay

Well placed clues are easy to spot and lend themselves to a nicely done competition between the reader and Colonel Halstock, chief constable who serves as one of the several narrators. The reader will find himself referring to it frequently in order to understand the complex arrangement of where each suspect was at the time of the murder. The well drawn map of the first floor detailing the unusual architecture of the Melbury estate serves as the frontispiece. The book also includes such familiar components as a map of the crime scene and a list of characters and their relationships to one another. As with many mystery novels of the day seemingly airtight alibis may be completely fabricated as many of the suspects lie and collude in order to protect one another. The detection is top notch and there are multiple mysteries the police inspector must solve in addition to the baffling murder. The story has all the makings of an impossible crime for those who had real motives have perfect alibis at the time of the murder. Yet only one person – a guest dressed as Santa who also discovered the body – appears to have had the opportunity to have committed the crime. The suspects include his son and three daughters, their spouses and a handful of servants and houseguests. During the Christmas morning celebrations Sir Osmond is shot dead in what appears to be his locked and shuttered study.

Set in the home of Sir Osmond Melbury wealthy patriarch who is rumored to be writing a new will in favor of his very officious and very young secretary The Santa Klaus Murder is practically a textbook version of the English country house mystery novel. Fittingly, as we approach the holiday season, her third mystery The Santa Klaus Murder (1936) is the first to be released with others to follow in June 2014. But obscure or not and regardless of her brief output the British Library has decided to revive an interest in this forgotten woman by reprinting all three of her books. She wrote only three detective novels in her brief career and none of them were published outside her native England.

Chances are you have no idea who Mavis Doriel Hay is.

The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay