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    The Santa Klaus Murder
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    The Santa Klaus Murder
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    The Santa Klaus Murder
    Ebook270 pages4 hours

    The Santa Klaus Murder

    By Mavis Hay

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder

    "Despite its title, this British Library Crime Classics reissue of a 1936 novel isn't just an entertaining Christmas read. It's a fine example of the old-time country-house murder mystery, with loads of suspects, lots of period atmosphere, and much caustic wit." —Booklist

    Aunt Mildred declared that no good could come of the Melbury family Christmas gatherings at their country residence Flaxmere. So when Sir Osmond Melbury, the family patriarch, is discovered—by a guest dressed as Santa Klaus—with a bullet in his head on Christmas Day, the festivities are plunged into chaos. Nearly every member of the party stands to reap some sort of benefit from Sir Osmond's death, but Santa Klaus, the one person who seems to have every opportunity to fire the shot, has no apparent motive. Various members of the family have their private suspicions about the identity of the murderer, and the Chief Constable of Haulmshire, who begins his investigations by saying that he knows the family too well and that is his difficulty, wishes before long that he understood them better. In the midst of mistrust, suspicion and hatred, it emerges that there was not one Santa Klaus, but two.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSourcebooks
    Release dateOct 6, 2015
    ISBN9781464204968
    Author

    Mavis Hay

    MAVIS DORIEL HAY (1894-1979) was a novelist of the golden age of British crime fiction. Her three detective novels were published in the 1930s and have now been reintroduced to modern readers by the British Library.

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    Reviews for The Santa Klaus Murder

    3.5/5

    115 ratings15 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this classic murder mystery very much and will also check out the other titles by the author. A great idea to introduce the different characters by having each person give account to one day leading up to the murder,
    • 4/5
      Mavis Hay wrote only three murder mysteries, which is a shame based on this book.I chose this because it’s in a favorite category for me: the Country House Christmas Murder. Here we have a large and rather unwieldy family coming together for the holiday at the behest of the patriarch—the one with all the money.The children are all grown and doing more or less well. Father is of course a petty tyrant who tries to control their marriages and careers through the use of his fortune. Not as hateful as some, Sir Osmond nevertheless manages to be more than annoying, and it’s no shock when he’s done in. Suspects abound: the neglected bossy sister, the son, several daughters, and the pretty secretary. All these characters are well-developed, with motives aplenty. Our detective is Colonel Halstock, the Chief Constable of the county. The colonel is a smart, careful man who knows the family and feels a bit awkward at the circumstances. This doesn’t prevent him from doing his duty, and he pursues various threads even if he feels uncomfortable. This is a very pleasant Golden Age British murder mystery. The only drawback that I could see is the rather thin denouement. A good three-star story, and I’ll be looking at her two other books.
    • 3/5
      I actually read this a little while ago, delighted to find an unknown-to-me Golden Age mystery writer. Now, having read and moderately enjoyed it a second time thanks to Netgalley, I don't know whether it's my fault or the book's that I honestly can't remember whodunnit…. It could just be my brain. I do have the memory of a goldfish.

      The murder of a crotchety patriarch on Christmas Day, when the entire family is gathered as well as a few extras, leads to an interesting investigation. It's a country house murder with a Yuletide twist. In the classic approved style, everyone – Sir Osmond Melbury's children, in-laws, sister, and guests – has at least some motive to kill him, and equally strong reasons why they would not, and alibis flex and stretch and snap. And one thing that drove me a little crazy about the investigation – though I suppose things were handled very different in the 30's – was that it seemed to take days for anyone to get around to questioning the children in the house. It just seemed nonsensical that the police stalled out over who distributed the Christmas crackers to the children – and yet no one seemed to ever ask said children about it. It never seemed to occur to anyone.

      The investigation on the whole was (I hope!) far from realistic. It took, again, days for the police to search the grounds and outbuildings, and when they did it was a half-as- -er -baked job of it. And while it's normal in any mystery novel (or tv show or film) for people to neglect or outright refuse to tell the police certain things, here it was taken to a kind of silly level.

      "When you sent for me yesterday afternoon," Caundle explained; "I came up here through the village and by the back drive—much quicker for me than going round by the main gate—and just before I turned into the drive a car came out of it, turned into the road and passed me. Now that's a bit odd?" I inquired why the dickens he didn't tell me yesterday. "It didn't strike me at the moment as odd".

      A car leaving the estate immediately after a man was shot? And you didn't think it was odd? Really?

      And part of the investigative technique in this – put in motion by a layman, to whom I'll come back – was to have several of the people who were on the scene write up part of their point of view on what happened. This is how the book begins, though then it settles into just one first-person angle. The thinking behind having people write a report is "they would be partly off their guard when they sat down to write" … but … that makes no sense. In a real live interview, an interrogator can surprise a witness, spark memories, pull out unintentional confession and whatnot. But for someone to sit down with a pen or a typewriter and put down in print their take on a situation – well, they're going to be editing themselves. The recipient of the report will never see the "oops, didn't mean to say that" and "wait, that gives away more than I wanted" first drafts crumpled up in people's waste baskets or crumbling to ash in their fireplaces.

      Meanwhile, a layman inserts himself into the investigation in a manner which I would think would ping the radar of modern investigators. "Now I want you to ask Miss Melbury and Miss Portisham to do the same for Tuesday and Christmas Day. I don't know them well enough to ask them and I don't want to approach them as your emissary." Is there anything else you'd like? "By persisting in the assumption that you're agreeing with everything he suggests, he hypnotises you into doing so. That's the only way I can explain why I trusted him as I did in this case, although I met him with a feeling of suspicion which I didn't shake off for a long time." Wait, Sir Osmond received a letter on Christmas morning? Why did no one mention this to the police? Oh – didn't think it was important. Well, like a car driving away from the scene of the crime, why would it be?

      I wanted to like the characters, but there wasn't a whole lot to them, and for some – like the youngest daughter – what there was could be rather annoying. Actually, I kept mixing up Sir Osmond's youngest daughter with his oldest granddaughter. There sometimes wasn't much to choose between them. One of the other daughters was married to a man suffering from shell shock, who took advantage of the holiday to reconnect with an old beau. She is lauded at one point for standing by her erratic husband: it "was really a very honourable determination to stand by her husband and give him what help she could" … it was not, however, quite so hono(u)rable for her to keep leading the old flame on and on. Not pretty.

      There was a somewhat annoying red herring, an obnoxious precocious child (who finally was questioned), a pair of Santas, and lots of forgetfulness and covering up before it's all concluded. And no, I still can't remember how it ended…
    • 4/5
      This book was written during the Golden Age of crime writing. It was published in the 30's and the time frame of the book is that time too. Ms. Hays has written three novels that have been all re-released like this one was. The setting or the book is an English country manor and includes a family with its share of disagreements and distrust. All family members are gathered at the familial home for Christmas. And of course things don't go well and a murder is committed. All of the family have equally viable motives because there is a lot of money involved and of course they all want to ensure that the master's young secretary doesn't get any. The book is clever because of the way Ms. Hay has the clues unfold. She uses different points of view from each of the family members to help lay out how it all happened. This is a wonderful little Christmas mystery that I enjoyed reading, especially at this time of year. I love the Golden Age style of writing and the book didn't disappoint.
    • 5/5
      Loved "The Santa Klaus Murder" by Mavis Doriel Hay. This is a British country house mystery first published in 1936 that is being re-released.The language of this novel is very formal, but very excellent in its descriptions of the characters at the country house, Flaxmere. I highly suggest this work for anyone looking for an excellent Christmas mystery to read during the up-coming holidays.I received this from the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press.
    • 4/5
      Sir Osmond Melbury has gathered his family at his country home for the annual Christmas celebration complete with a Santa and snap crackers to amuse the kids – both of these play an important part in the mystery. When Sir Osmond is found dead in his study, it soon becomes clear to the police that every member of the family had a motive.The tale is told by various members of the family in the form of depositions as well as by Colonel Halstock, the man in charge of the investigation. Like most classic cozies what little action there is takes place in a closed space, among a large number of suspects among the gentry and servants. Also, like most golden age British cozies, this is more a puzzle than a thriller. There are clues and red herrings dispersed throughout the book that tend to point to the killer in very subtle ways but, given that the pool of suspects is limited to those inside the house, at least one of them must be lying – the task of the police and the reader is to suss out who. The Santa Klaus Murders by author Mavis Doriel Hay is a classic British cozy with a Christmas theme. Written in 1936 and long out of print, it is being released as part of the British Library’s Crime Classics series. It is an intelligent, well-written mystery with plenty of suspects to keep the reader guessing but plenty of clues to point the way. At times, I found it a bit draggy and, at others, confusing, but over all a nice mystery just in time for the holidays.
    • 5/5
      This is a great classic murder mystery. Sir Osmond Melbury is celebrating Christmas with sixteen members of his family, some servants and a few guests at their country residence Flaxmere. Things get dicey when a guest, dressed as Santa Klaus, discovers Sir Osmond’s dead body with a bullet in his head. The story revolves around this death and who the murderer is. Just about everyone, except the Santa Klaus, who has no real motive for the murder, stands to gain from sir Osmond’s death. Chief Constable, a longtime friend of the family, arrives to investigate and discovers that everyone has a motive to murder, and distrust and a desire that the young secretary not benefit from the death are rampant. The story uses differing points of view from family members to uncover clues about what exactly happened. The mystery is well written and a fascinating read. I found it interesting to follow the Chief Constable’s investigation from start to finish, exploring and following his thought process, as he culled together each family member’s recollections of days before the murder along with his own observations. The author has plotted a crime mystery that will keep the reader guessing as he/she plows through a cleverly developed storyline where clues and red herrings abound in every twist and turn. I think every good mystery buff will enjoy this one. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.
    • 3/5
      A vintage Christmas country-house murder is just my thing. But my heart always sinks when I pick up a book where the novelist feels the need to list the characters. This was followed by a very slow start where all the characters were introduced, and then tedious chapters of who was in what room, when, like a game of Cluedo but played in very slow motion.The blurb on the back describes this golden age whodunnit as 'long neglected'. But with negligible character development, and the large cast simply treated as chess pieces, I would say it was neglected with good reason.
    • 4/5
      A family Christmas with everyone gathering at the country house - then shock and horror when the not so nice patriarch is murdered. Every member of this family has something to gain by this death. Step back in time - not that long ago in years but a world away in attitudes and values. The book is slow paced which is eminently suitable for something written in more genteel times. Each chapter is written from a different character's viewpoint. Another thoroughly enjoyable book!
    • 4/5
      A variant on a closed room murder mystery, the story is told from the point of view of a number of characters, but principally from that of the Chief Constable, a friend of the family, who seems determined to leave no investigative stone unturned. The result is a rather pedantic and plodding tale where this reader at least kept wondering when it was all going to finish. I'd come to my conclusion long before the Colonel had come to his, but his was no intuitive leap. He wanted every i dotted and every t crossed. He wasn't helped by the fact that very few of the family in residence for Christmas actually told the truth.
    • 3/5
      Written in 1936, this reads like a classic murder mystery. A murder occurs during a Christmas celebration at an English country manor. The crime is first told by the family, then the police take over the narrative and finish it. It was a good story and kept me changing my mind about the conclusion.
    • 3/5
      "Aunt Mildred declared that no good could come of the Melbury family Christmas gatherings at their country residence Flaxmere. So when Sir Osmond Melbury, the family patriarch, is discovered -- by a guest dressed as Santa Klaus -- with a bullet in his head on Christmas Day, the festivities are plunged into chaos. Nearly every member of the party stands to reap some sort of benefit from Sir Osmond's death, but Santa Klaus, the one person who seems to have every opportunity to fire the shot, has no apparent motive. The Chief Constable of Holmshire, who begins his investigations by saying that he knows the family too well, wishes before long that he understood them better. In the midst of mistrust, suspicion and hatred, it emerges that there was not one Santa Klaus, but two."~~back coverAh yes, the traditional manor house mystery augmented by the traditional family gathering where the patriarch is killed just before he can finalize changes to his will, and a semi-locked room. It was a very lively romp: each family member being scrutinized without anyone glaringly obvious, at least not at first. The clues were subtle (meaning I missed them out completely) but the ending was quite satisfactory.
    • 4/5
      Originally published in 1936, The Santa Klaus Murder by Mavis Doriel Hay is a very clever country-house murder mystery set at Christmas. With it’s great setting, a murdered aristocrat and plenty of suspects, the only thing I found slightly lacking was some humor. It is all told very seriously with a lot of clues strewn about the narrative, a few red herrings and twists to make this a classic Christmas mystery.I found this novel dragged a little as each character at some point was suspected by the police and then had to be exonerated. The chapters were narrated by the various characters with the bulk of the investigation being told by Colonel Halstock, the Chief Constable, as he slowly puts the pieces together. I felt these multiple points of view helped to define the characters and gave them each their own identity.The Santa Klaus Murder is a selection from the British Library Classics and although this is not destined to be a favourite of mine, I do appreciate that we have been given a chance to sample some of these lesser known authors from the golden age of mysteries.
    • 4/5
      This is the British Library Crime Classics edition of a classic "locked room" murder mystery. The setting is the English countryside near Bristol in the 1930's. The Melbury family is gathering for Christmas at the family's country estate 'Flaxmere', more or lesson on the orders of the family patriarch, Sir Osmond Melbury. It's a tense household right from the beginning of the story, made more sinister when Sir Osmond is shot midway through the Christmas day proceedings. The local Chief Constable Colonel Halstock happens to be a neighbour of the Melbury estate and quickly assumes control of the police investigation. He ultimately solves the mystery with assistance from Inspector Rousdon and an amateur sleuth, Kenneth Stour. They have a large pool of suspects from which to choose, most of which avoid telling the truth in order to protect one another.The story checks all the boxes for a Golden Age murder mystery: country house, large pool of suspects, quirky characters, and so on. It's a complicated story which revolves around the characters' activity on Christmas Day: who was where when . the murder occurred. It's not strictly necessary to follow the intricacies of the activity in order to grasp the storyline, but it can leave a reader with a sense of unease trying to figure it out. Most of the narrative is from the point of view of Colonel Halstock, after some introductory chapters written by several of the leading characters. The dialogue is inclined toward being overly chatty. At times there's just too much of it. It is an enjoyable read despite being a tad overlong. Regrettably there's no Introduction by Martin Edwards, as is the case in many of the British Library Crime Classics.
    • 4/5
      Quite good holiday murder mystery. Hay made me suspect several people at various times but I didn't guess the solution! I did find the cast of characters a bit hard to sort out at first but after the first 30 pages or so, I had gotten them straight in my mind.