Welcome to Litsy!

I enjoyed the Christie and Duncan novels - but this one......not so much. Moving on -

Make a great day everyone 😊

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs
Thanks for the tags @dabbe @Deblovestoread

1. Tagged book is English countryside
2. Hogwarts and Hogsmeade (I've been to Universal - it might be as close as I get 😉)

Make a great day everyone 😊

Off to a good start #BookSpinBingo - thank you for hosting @TheAromaofBooks -

Make a great day everyone 🙂

Read (late as per usual) for @Mitch #goldenageofcrime buddy read in December. I think i needed to be a scholar of UK politics to even guess the killer, but i enjoyed the ride 🙃 somehow, the fact that politics was so divisive in the past as well as today is oddly... Comforting?
#52bookclub24 book cover w/o people on it
#popsugar24 set in the snow

A bit dry, but overall a satisfying cozy English mystery.
I flip flopped between reading the paperback and #audioknitting.
This was my January #bookspin selection.

I switched to the #audiobook version for a little #audioknitting before bed.
#lovenotesweater #knittersoflitsy

The first #bookspin and #doublespin picks are -
An English Murder and any mystery or thriller I own. I will probably choose A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie since that is one of the books I need to read for class this month.
@thearomaofbooks

#CloakandDaggerChristmas

I am an avid mystery reader so it is no surprise that I fulfilled 6/8 prompts. 7 & 8 I did not get to.
Thanks @Ruthiella - This was such a fun challenge!

This was, indeed, a very English murder. I really enjoyed this one, with its classic English country house setup, and a varied cast of characters snowed in for Christmas—where almost everyone has a motive for the murder. And the key to the solution was unexpected to me, and very satisfying!
#CloakandDaggerChristmas: Set at the Holidays
#192025: 1951

I really enjoyed this final selection of the #goldenagecrimeclub. The mystery was intriguing, the characters had depth and the commentary on English society and politics was especially interesting. I was also amused by the fact that it was a Christmas setting but everyone was absolutely miserable! @Mitch

#wintergames #snowangels #longdarknights @Emilymdxn
#DashingDecember @Andrew65

I had to stay up past my bedtime to finish this! A great mystery to bring in the Christmas weekend. Snow storms. Isolation. Members of the house party dying one by one. And, I loved Dr Bottwink, whose meticulous thoughts and observations were entertaining to read.

I‘ve enjoyed reading the #GoldenAgeCrimeClub books, @Mitch ! Thanks for hosting these!

#192025 #1951

I listened to this in 2019, enjoyed it, and promptly forgot about it. I liked it even more on the reread. There‘s something about stories of people being stranded because of weather, cut off from the rest of civilization while bodies start piling up that I just find delightful. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Toss in an English country estate, and I‘m almost guaranteed to love it. #goldenagecrimeclub

There were some great characters in this one - any favourites? Would you read more from Hare?

#goldenagecrimeclub

This book - whilst feeling like a classic golden age crime novel has really met the challenges of the 1950s head on - fascists, refugees, changes in social class and feelings around national identity all make an appearance in the drawing room! I wonder if it is some of these strands and there relevance to where we are in the world today that prompted it‘s reissue?

#goldenagecrimeclub

Dr Bottwink, the Czech history professor gave us a really great outsiders view of the madness of English society and customs ( & language!). What did you think of his character?

#goldenagecrimeclub

“ It‘s Christmas, let‘s gather together 8 people who‘ll hate each other and force them to make merry, it‘ll be fine!” How did this fair as a classic Christmas crime novel?

#goldenagecrimeclub

Cyril Hare is a pseudonym for Gordon Clark- an English county court judge born in 1900. His name was inspired by where he lived & worked (Hare Court & Cyril Mansions). I‘d you were in need of a pseudonym what would it be and why?

#goldenagecrimeclub

Our final #goldenagecrimeclub #buddyread. It‘s been a fab year of discovery thanks for joining me on the ride! So, our final book - let‘s kick off as usual with your initial impressions, relationship with the book / author.
( I‘m a bit earlier than advertised! Wanted to do this before the festivities at our house get too crazy!)

“I see. Like Sir Julius, you consider that everything is to be made right by a fresh pot of tea. Myself, I do not think so.”

Oh Dr Bottwink 😆 I liked his character. Very enjoyable country house mystery. Looking forward to our #GoldenAgeCrimeClub discussion!

I‘m hoping to get to a few more mysteries yet for #CloakandDaggerChristmas, but this one takes care of my last prompt: The Christmas Song - read a classic mystery.

#HyggeHourReadathon has begun!
#naturalitsy #midwintersolstice

This was a good closed room mystery. It's set at Christmas but there are no festivities, Christmas is simply the excuse to gather these people together. They are snowed in, with phone lines down, when people start dying. All the characters are reasonable suspects and getting to the answers is pretty entertaining. (As with all golden age books, there are some questionable attitudes.)

With all this talk about tea #sundaybuddyread I had to make some English breakfast tea with honey and lemon for my cold & an English murder, Ginger cookies, and Lots of warm light. ☕️🍪🕯️📚
#hygge #naturalitsy #midwintersolstice

#CurrentRead Happy Saturday! 😊

Just began this book. I am enjoying how cleverly the author is rolling out each main character, & in both subtle & overt ways, reveals each personality.
#goldeagecrimeclub #coffeeandbooks

It‘s a Christmas miracle that I‘ve read this month‘s #GoldenAgeCrimeClub pick weeks before the discussion. 😆 Luckily it also fits my #CloakandDaggerChristmas prompt to read a book set during the holidays.

This was a really satisfying closed room mystery which also addresses “traditional” English antisemitism, classism, and xenophobia. A snowed in manor house, phone lines are down, tensions are high, someone drops dead from poisoned champagne…

I found this on Goodreads for those of you reading this book for the #GoldenAgeCrimeClub and/or #CloakandDaggerChristmas in case you were curious like me. 😂

I enjoyed this post WW2 country manor house mystery that manages to be a good whodunit while also exploring English politics, history & national identity. (Hence the rather dull title.) The story does unfold over Dec 24-25, but to call it a Xmas mystery is a stretch. The characters gather for the holiday but there's nary a Xmas decoration or figgy pudding in sight. My pick for #cloakanddaggerchristmas prompt All I want For Christmas is You. 🎅

Thank you so much everyone for coming on this journey with me this year - reading one Golden age novel a month. Our final #goldenagecrimeclub buddy read is An English Murder By Cyril Hare - a classic golden age christmas mystery. Discussions open up on Saturday 23rd December.

The title tells it all: An English Murder. An illustrious Christmas dinner party gets snowed in, telephone lines are dead, one gets killed and the Who‘s dunnit keeps the rest of the party going. An easy read for Murder Mystery Lovers and everyone else as well.

Powerful English Ladies! 💪💪💪

The typical English murder! 🤣

@TheAromaofBooks Thank you so very much!!! Looks good!

I'd intended to read this as my classic Christmas mystery this year, but didn't get to it. Fortunately, it works just as well on a blustery, late January afternoon.

I read this in a single sitting. Didn‘t guess the solution, but it was a fun trip to get there!

I really enjoyed this short novel. Classic, old English manor, snow storm, no one can leave, cyanide and a murder (or two). Who did it? I only figured it out towards the end. That was book #2 of my holiday reading binge. I started an Agatha Christie during the night. That should be done soon. 🌲

Thanks to Litsy, I found the perfect book! An English manor, a murder and it all takes place during Christmas. Add a glass of wine and I am in Heaven🍷

A classic murder mystery about succession, inherited manor houses, parliament, the peerage, taxes, foreign-ness, and murder. As the title suggests, a very English murder, or at least what we consider English over here in the US. A great Agatha Christie readalike, although perhaps not particularly memorable. #audiobook #hoopla

This was a light, fun listen and a solid mystery. I really enjoyed the setting, the characters, and the plot twists at the end. Thanks to @batsy for reviewing this yesterday, thereby putting it on my radar, and @Sace for noting that the audio was in the Hoopla database.

An unexpected English country house murder mystery set during Christmas. It combines the elements of Golden Age detective fiction & merges it wonderfully with the political reality of the 1950s. The result is that it isn't too far removed from Brexit island c.2019 ? Hare's writing is clean & vivid & I like how he deftly exposes the prejudices & hypocrisies of upper crust English society via a Jewish "foreigner" who experienced fascism first hand.

My favourite English country house murder is an English country house murder at Christmas. 😆

#BookAdventCalendar
Day 8

Only a few decades late, this is one of my #crimefiction picks for 2019; https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/best-2019-crime-fiction

A very fun, cozy murder set in a snowed in English manor house, full of lords and ladies and the quintessential butler. Who killed the heir? Was he the heir? Who killed the scion of Warbeck hall- and where is the cyanide? All revolving around William Pitt the Younger! Cyril Hare has written a lovely 200 page Christmas murder!

I‘ve missed cosy murder mysteries since I finished reading everything by Agatha Christie. Nothing makes me feel the holiday spirit like a Little poisoning and murder. Cyril Hare really delivers on both accounts! Loved this book 😍

A diminutive foreign historian understands more about the English than they do themselves. And as he describes, this is a distinctly English murder mystery. Between a pick and so-so, because it‘s hard not to like the cozy settings in this genre. I think I would have liked it better had it been longer in order to more fully flesh out the characters and the background of the Warbeck family.

I had a jobs for Saturday and Monday which ended up being postponed so...a weekend for reading, munching, and napping with time to spend with my doggo! First up, so retro classic cosy English snowed in manor mystery. I love butlers! And it‘s telling that it takes a foreign visiting professor to point out the class wars and social deceptions affecting everyone and the crime itself.

My planned Xmas cozy murder mystery arrived! Woot! 🎄

And the award for best character name of the week goes to Cyril Hare...

This is a really good Golden Age English country house murder mystery. It is intelligently and crisply written, with a wintry setting that turns ominous and then spectacular. There is a description of a thaw that I will never forget. And everything makes sense in the end. (sigh)

(Looks like Yuki is destroying the evidence!)