Welcome to Litsy!

This became available Dec 27th just as I wanted something light to read.

It's wartime England and the Redpath's invited their elderly, eccentric rich uncle to spend the holiday in their village, hoping he'll enjoy himself and favor them in his will. Instead he turns up dead the morning after their party. Most of the plot is a mess of confusion as the police try to determine how he died and every Redpath's story is contradictory.

It was fine.

The tagged conveniently became available just now a week or so after Christmas...

Hopefully I'll read at least some of the books pictured for #Bookspinbingo.

I started this one this morning. I love Sundays. 🩷

The somber cover does not match this somewhat madcap and irreverent mystery. It is entertaining, but rather convoluted in the end, with lots of characters, all keeping secrets and scheming.

I have a few of these British Library Crime Classics in my Kindle library that I purchase when they are on sale. This one was such fun that I think I need to get a hard copy of it! It‘s funny throughout, and I‘m still not quite sure exactly what happened, but I will definitely be reading it again next year. I wish this author had an opportunity to write more - I‘d have read them all!
I‘m so glad this was my #bookspin book this month!

First read of 2024! Surprising twist ending and lots of quirky characters! The author was very fond of the word “slither” using it 7 times. 🐍 ☃️ 🍫

Thanks for the gift! @JamieArc
#LitsyLove

This book is unexpectedly funny! 😂

#Jolabokaflodswap #Jolabokaflodswap2023

Thank you so much @Christine for this perfect book and amazing amount of chocolate, bookmarks and stickers! My husband has already claimed some chocolate so it will be shared! Happy Jolabokafod to you! I could not wait for “ eve” so I opened it at 11:15 this morning! I was too excited!!!!

Thanks so much for organizing this swap!!!! @MaleficentBookDragon

Jamie 💗 Thank you for this sweet holiday gift! I truly enjoy these classic Christmas murder mysteries. I‘m fully addicted to the Michigan mint chocolates you always send. And cinnamon sugar toast is one of my favorite late night snacks!!!!! I‘m very excited to try the fancy Penzys blend! Thank you! Wishing you a merry holiday 😘🥰 #LitsyLove

Really enjoying this one. So funny and clever. #tistheseason #seasonsreadings

The start of this book was confusing, as was the middle the end and every page in-between. In fact, as the book went on the more confusing it became. I'm still not really certain if I understood the final outcome. It all hinged on the times that a man and his wife had died. If the man was murdered or not? There were some moments of enlightenment and fun but most, if not all of the story was dull. The period writing is unusual which some may like.

Last week I wrapped up my annual Christmas reread of Envious Casca and moved on to my (now) annual reread of Murder After Christmas. As this is just the second time around, I‘m only slightly less lost than the first time. 😂 The humor is delightfully irreverent!

....we were really rather frightened, weren't we, Frank?"
"When we heard the result of the autopsy, yes," corroborated Frank. "But we weren't really surprised, and hoped all that would blow over in a day or two... So when I found Margery reading a book called Murder After Christmas I thought I'd better hide it for a bit; then Aunt Paulina found it, so I-"
"So you burnt it," said John.
"No, I took it back to the library and changed it, that's all."

...while everyone wondered, perhaps if they had been over-acting...

🤣🤣

Uncle Willie is dead but can it be murder when there is no motive? And why is it bad luck to eat mince pies before Christmas? This is more romp than mystery, and a fun one at that. All the characters are odd (and suspicious) in the best kind of way. I chuckled throughout. A very fun read! And definitely cinematic! Imagine the cast! Thanks for the buddy read @quietjenn @batsy And thus #cloakanddaggerchristmas2023 comes to a close. 💀 🗡️🎄

Ho ho ho?

This was a fun, madcap festive mystery for #CloakAndDaggerChristmas. I enjoyed the writing, which is sharp & witty, & appreciated the over-the-top zaniness of the cast of characters. The only thing is that it does get pretty convoluted, & now that I've finished I'm still not entirely sure what happened? 😂 I do agree with @quietjenn ; because it's so layered it's worth revisiting & I enjoyed how it gently but gleefully lampoons the mystery plot.

I very much enjoyed this vintage mystery buddy read for #cloakanddaggerchristmas. It was quite witty and twisty, with wonderfully drawn characters. I definitely didn't figure things out entirely before the end! And I agree with others who have said it's a very cinematic tale. I also feel like it's one that would reward revisiting.

@merelybookish @batsy

This is where you‘ll find me for the rest of the day (and to be honest, for the rest of my holiday break LOL) 🥰❄️🌨️ Loving my current read, “Murder After Christmas” by Rupert Latimer. It was first published in 1944 and I‘ve got to say, it‘s funnier than I was expecting. I‘ve laughed out loud several times and could totally see this as a movie a la “Knives Out” 🔎🎁🎄 I hope everyone is staying safe and snuggly today!

Starting this one. Join me when you can @batsy @quietjenn
#cloakanddaggerchristmas

Books tentatively planned for #CloakAndDaggerChristmas 🎄🗡️

Alliterative: The Chocolate Cobweb, Charlotte Armstrong
Buddy read: Tagged, with @merelybookish and @quietjenn 🎉
Translated: Murder in the Crooked House, Soji Shimada
Foil cover: Unsure, might skip?
Wild card: The Hours Before Dawn, Celia Fremlin
Nobility: A Gilded Grave, Shelley Freydont
Listen: Not so great with audio books, will likely skip 🙃

Please join in for a murder-y Xmas! 😅

Picked up some book club/buddy read books at Indigo today.
#cloakandaggerchristmas @batsy @quietjenn

A gem of a mystery with an intricate plot. Red herrings and misdirection abound. A delightful cast of characters is filled with unusual, eccentric individuals who are quite appealing and highly amusing. with it‘s madcap tone and lively tongue-in-cheek dialogue, there is a decided lightness to the tale which kept me very much engaged and wanting to keep reading. A gem of a read! #NetGalley #PoisonedPenPress

1/4 of the way through. Quirky, funny, loving it!! #netgalley #arc #britishlibrarycrimeclassics

Reminds me of a mash-up between a British classic cozy and vaudeville. Miss Marple meets the Marx Brothers? Mystery and misdirection

Quite fun! Knowing the plot and resolution, I plan to reread next Christmas to see how that changes my perception of events. (And how much I remember in 10 months! 😆)

Why yes, I am still celebrating the holidays 🎄

A Christmas gift (to myself), perfectly suited to enjoy “after Christmas” 😄

These British Library Crime Classics vary tremendously.

Murder After Christmas was a lively mystery with lots of Golden Age elements thrown in (and delightfully subverted.)

The only problem (and the reason why it's only a ⭐⭐⭐ 3 star read, for me) is that it all felt very long winded.

Also, I couldn't tell if the characters were MEANT to be behaving weirdly.

A decent festive mystery, regardless.

This one started out fun but almost overstayed its welcome for me -- it was just so convoluted and the quirky characterisation just got silly. I was glad it finally wrapped up when it did.

This is one of the books I got for Christmas, and I figured if I don't want to wait a year to read it, I'd better tuck in. I'm a bit befuddled by the tone -- it's so light and the narration sort of... bounces along, and it all feels not entirely serious... but it's also not trying too hard to make you laugh or anything, so it's not entirely a comedy either. I think I like it a lot better than a book that tries really hard for laughs.

Started the festive Murder After Christmas from the British Crime Library Collection.

Some of these editions have been gems and some have been *ahem* rubbish.. So far it seems lively enough (& charmingly old fashioned).

Thought I'd also share some of the "decorations" that we have on our tree... that's Mummy fairy at the top, then we've got what looks like a sparkly Xmas onion, a festive tuba and some stuff I made when I was about three ??

How are my fellow #cloakanddaggerchristmas friends doing?! 🎄🗡 Last night I completed my 4th prompt... I'm going for 6, I think... but which to pick next??

Golden Age: Murder after xmas/ Poirot/ mystery mile
Set between 1920-1945: Eight Detectives
Set in a village: Snow blind
Translated / another country: Snow blind / death in Aug / crooked house
Bilingual detective: Poirot

I'm spoilt for choice.. think I might go with a festive or snowy one!

It‘s been a crazy month!! End of the semester - papers, projects and finals all last week. This weekend was the first chance I‘ve had all month to do something for myself. So it‘s a slow day today, with some of my favourites. A beautiful snowy mountain view at a cozy café, a new BLCC Christmas mystery and a piping hot latte, with festive latte art (can you see the Christmas tree and star ? on top?)