Murder Most Festive

Situated in Christmas of 1938, we join a group of high-class characters in the luxurious Westbury Manor with Lord and Lady Westbury hosting this extravagant celebration. But, on Christmas morning, Lord Westbury’s oldest friend, David Campbell-Scott is discovered with crimson tarnishing the fresh-winter snow. They all know that something is amiss with the circumstances surrounding his demise, but can they discover the truth before all depart from their hosts home?This had me sold just from the time-setting. I just love reading of this era in our history and imagining the absolute luxe that came with high-status.The writing style was excellent, using the language that was very reminiscent of the time and the social interactions between each of the characters. Ada Moncrieff didn’t shy away from the obvious divide between men and women and the sexism that very much happened throughout our history and the changes that began to occur after the first world-war.The plot had a air of similarity to Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan-Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and can’t deny that throughout reading it I pictured the estate and characters of Downton Abbey… Need I say, I wasn’t mad about it! It added more adoration of this tale for me.Throughout the book, we are from a third-person perspective, giving insight into all the key-players thoughts and characteristics. It lent itself to a real feel of detective work where you are, just as much as the characters, trying to unravel the mystery. At the books climax, I was also in disbelief at the reveal and found myself eagerly reading on to find out why and how!For Ada Moncrieff’s debut novel, she really did an amazing job. Having a setting during Christmas, as we know, leads to countless cheesy movies being played on Channel 4 from the end of November, and some very typical ‘Christmas Miracle’ tales… But this had none of that. It had enough festivity for it to feel like it was the big day but it didn’t take away anything of the drama and intrigue.Needless to say, I’ll be keeping my eyes open for more publications by this author.

Bought on a 99p whim as I wanted something Christmassy but not too heavy. The writing and dialogue is however wooden and forced, there are no redeeming positive aspects to any of the characters, and the frequent 'hearty' posh colloquialisms add irritation rather than colour. Some sentences are almost impossible to decode due to the excessive use of authorial parenthetic asides. Don't waste your time, and if you want a classy light-hearted read try 'The Windsor Knot' instead, bought and read after the reviewed item.

I got a sample to read and found that the sample consisted of the front cover and the contents pages. Gambling on the descriptive blurb I bought the book. Three pages told me it was badly written drivel. This is simply not good enough.

I was very disappointed in this book. It seemed to me that the author had swallowed the English Dictionary for breakfast using words that I have never heard of (good education)! and had to continually look up words in the dictionary which I have never heard of !! Even the great Agatha Christie wouldn't have used words like this in her work !!! It was absolute nonsense !! This is ok for books like "War and Peace" but for a run of the mill murder/mystery it was very off-puting indeed. The plot was annoying from the very beginning as the whole family in the novel spent all their time arguing continually with each other which went on for most of the book and was very tedious ! I am finishing the book under suffrance and hope that it gets better towards the end, even although I am 3/4 of the way through it. Never been so disappointed in a murder/mystery, and I certainly will not be buying more the author's work !!

I'm amazed at the 4 and 5 star reviews if this. I read it thinking it was a joke. Every part of this book strives to be Agatha Christie and fails. Characters over emote, the writing is portentous and prerentious and apparently this is not an ironic parody. It would have to be funny for that. Major disappointment.