Continuing our exploration of Christmas Manor House Mysteries, we’re looking at Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan, featuring aging amateur sleuth Mordecai Tremaine. Before we get into the details, let’s take a moment to admire the immaculate cover art for this one. It’s the perfect design to evoke a Manor House Christmas in the Golden Age – the tricolor print, the open gates, the white snow. Just chef’s kiss. I’m happy just to have this on my shelf.

Festive sleuthing that comes to an abrupt end

In Murder for Christmas, Mordecai Tremaine accepts a Christmas invitation from a former Businessman, Benedict Grame. While he doesn’t know Grame well, he’s intrigued by the invitation. Sensing holiday mischief, he turns down family and friends to visit Grame’s manor in the country.

Every year, Grame invites a small circle of friends for a Traditional Christmas Celebration, complete with heavily-decorated tree. He is so dedicated to the Christmas celebration that he hands out presents dressed up as Santa Claus each year. It should be a jolly Christmas – but Tremaine immediately notices that, for some reason, everyone seems tense. The vibes are off, and he decides to figure out why.

And then, late on Christmas Eve,a scream awakens the household. Under the Christmas tree, they find a body, replete in Santa Claus costume, under the tree. And it’s up to Tremaine to figure out why someone might want to commit murder on Christmas.

Duncan sets up an interesting psychological puzzle, complete with plenty of competing murder motives. The writing is clear and the actual mystery-solving is well-paced, with most of the clues being just the right side of fair. That said, the solution to the puzzle still felt a bit like a stretch, with each of the relevant clues being very well-hidden. If you’re reading to casually solve a mystery, this might not be the story for you.

My other gripe is actually more of a storytelling one. The story ended very abruptly, combining the chase scene with the “explainer”. Technically, this could be fine – but I think that the denouement scenes are just as important to the character of a murder mystery as the solution itself. Without that resolution, it’s hard to get a feel for the character of the sleuth – how they react, what they value, why they do what they do. It’s possible that, given the unique nature of the solution, Duncan found he’d written himself into a narrative corner. Still, without a final scene or two, the solve felt incomplete.

An unsettling Christmas extravaganza

Murder for Christmas takes place in almost the ideal Christmas setting, and Duncan takes great pains to describe the celebration. Most of the Christmas traditions I’m aware of (and many I wasn’t) are described in loving detail. Not only that, but the Christmas celebration itself is integral to the plot – not just the activities, but the reasons for Grame’s annual blowout. As Tremaine solves the case, he must understand what the Christmas celebration represents to each member of the household.

This is interesting, because it makes Christmas so much more integral to the plot than many other stories, which simply treat it as a setting. Unfortunately, the reasons Tremaine discovers can be quite bleak at times, and put a damper on my festive spirits. When combined with the abrupt ending, the overall plot left me feeling quite sad about the holiday season.

A good mystery – but a bad celebration

I have mixed feelings on this one. On the one hand, I loved Duncan’s writing style and descriptions, and I enjoyed Tremaine as a detective. But I really do wish there were just a bit more of a resolution – not just a solve and an abrupt ending. It left the story feeling a little bleak. This one is not for everybody – it’s a specific rec – but I’ll be excited to pick up another Mordecai Tremaine mystery next year!

Random reading notes:

• There’s a fun solved mystery about Francis Duncan’s real identity in the author notes at the end of the book. It turns out that Francis Duncan was a pseudonym, with the author’s true identity unknown for almost 90 years. WE only learned the truth when his daughter saw a reprint of the book and came forward with his life story (and, one assumes, proof). Gotta love a feel-good bonus mystery!
• Can anyone explain a Christmas tree bracket to me?
• Is it a thing that people decorate their trees like two days before Christmas? I’m so used to them being up for the whole month of December…

We’re getting to the end! Just two books left. Tomorrow we’re going a little darker and a little more political. Until then – stay cozy, and stay curious!