Given to me by a family member for Bookcrossing purposes.

A little seasonal mystery. I haven't read it, but I hope you enjoy it.
Happy Christmas!

Thank you so much Deltic for this lovely Xmas surprise. It looks like perfect reading for this time of year & I'm sure I'll be able to squeeze it into December's reading theme ;o)

Wishing you & Mrs Deltic a very merry Christmas & a happy New Year.

An enjoyable read in the traditional murder mystery style – to set the scene there’s a blizzard, a group of strangers forced together to weather the storm & of course a murder.

The “detective” in this tale is Dilys. Having found herself stuck in the Yorkshire countryside in a snow storm, she’s rescued by Inigo & taken to his uncle’s house. On arrival, his uncle’s new wife, Theresa (who, of course, is young & beautiful), is reluctant to let Inigo see his uncle. The bad weather brings more stranded visitors who are put up for the night. In the morning Inigo’s uncle is found dead. Dilys believes it’s not the natural death that Theresa claims & proceeds to do her own investigating.

This is by no means an action packed tale but it moves on at a steady enough pace. Even so I found it a struggle to keep track of who everybody was, (Raddle, Snell, Ledgrove etc tended to get muddled together for me) Also, one or two points in the story didn’t seem to follow on logically.

The characters were just what you’d expect (I could “see” them as clearly as if I was watching an old black & white film) & I found Dilys to be an engaging heroine. Two of the characters, however, seemed a bit irrelevant with little point to them other than creating two other possible suspects for the role of murderer. While the murderer was obvious to me from the start, I was certainly caught out by some of the revelations as the story came to its conclusion – not what I was expecting at all, so it was very nice to be surprised!

This tale was written in the 1940’s & the manner & some of the actions of the characters are very much routed in the past – the assumption that as Dilys is female it’s up to her to cater for the men is one that comes to mind! The language comes over as dated at times but for me that only added to the story’s charm. Though once or twice it had me foxed! One character is discovered to be a police inspector (I won’t say whom) & I couldn’t fathom how the others had known ‘til I flicked back a few pages & someone had said of this character ”He’s a split. I frisked him, so I know” So is a “split” a copper? Guess I’ll have to ask google…
Another phrase that had me baffled was Dilys saying”There are two kind of women, those who crouch & those that don’t. Your aunt crouches” Nope....no idea as to what that means!

Overall I thought it an entertaining story, although maybe just a wintry murder rather than a Christmassy one, as Christmas comes after the end of the tale! That’s explained by the fact it was originally published as ”Another Little Murder”& it would seem Christmas has been added to the 2016 re-issue. A little mis-leading some may say but if it means it reaches a wider audience I don’t blame them.

On it's way to someone who entered my CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY draw. Hope it gets there before Christmas...

Released as part of the CHRISTMAS IN JULY Challenge (#7)

I won Plum-crazy's Christmas Comes Early Draw! What a lovely surprise!

An interesting, light read. I too found it tricky to keep track of all the characters, though they were all colourful and intriguing. One thing that dates the book is all the cigarette smoking! I don't think a page goes by without someone lighting up and passing them around. This little mystery keeps you guessing to the end and then packs unexpected surprises.

This book is part of a trade with a bookcrosser friend in Richmond. Hope you like it!

Thanks for bringing me this book and the others. You always have interesting books.

A fun diversion. Yes, it is clear from quite early on who will be murdered and who is responsible, but the reveal is still fun and brings some unexpected twists.

Congratulations on winning Abi-Gibby's Christmas sweepstakes. This is going by surface mail and will most likely miss Christmas. Wishing you a great 2022 and happy bookcrossing!

wow, what a lovely surprise :) thanks so much for the book and all the lovely treats you sent with it. So nice to get a parcel like this in January which is usually such a dark and dull month.

Really enjoyed this book, I agree with those above me that it was sometimes a struggle to keep up with all the characters. Thought there would be something about Christmas in the book because of the title but that was not the case.

will give this book to kirjakko when I will meet her in next month :)

This one if for kirjakko, will give it to her in person today :)

I met The Icelandic Bookcrosser Björg today, but I didn't realize I will get to say hello to so many familiar faces at the same time! Hello, hello, hello! I definately recommend Iceland for those of you who can't decide where to travel, the natives are so friendly - they give you a bagful of books and some chocolate to keep your energies up to carry the heavy load back to your hotel.
Having a whale of a time on my Pub crawl, releasing all those books I brought which Björg didn't take...

Began reading this already, so that it will be ready to travel before X-mas. Should have known that a book put into circulation by Deltic would take me to Glorious Yorkshire! Swaledale was Herriot-country and he said the best invention in his veterinary career was the snow-plough, so that tells a bit what roads could be like up there.

Pic: My snow gear outside our wee clinic in January 2021.

Dilys's merchandise sound like something out of a Herriot book as well (see pic from the Herriot Museum).

Finally finished. There were some unexpected twists and turns towards the end, a bit like on my trip to Iceland...
The book is on Soozreader's wishlist and her birthday is coming up soon.

Pic: There is a Christmas shop in Reykjavik. And what do you know, this book ended up in Santa's boot!

Happy Birthday! I travelled all the way to Iceland to get you a present from your wishlist!

Thank you very much for this wishlist book and for the travelling! :D