It starts with a chance meeting on a train, shortly before Christmas. Christopher Prentiss is returning home from visiting friends at Oxford. He discovers he’s sharing a first-class compartment with only one other person, a beautiful young woman dressed in green who is crying. Over the course of only a few minutes, she explains her tears: someone in her family is trying to kill her grandfather. She leaves the train shortly after; all Christopher knows is her first name, Holly, and that her grandfather is a lord.
Christopher, somewhat smitten, tells his grandfather, Lord Edgington and the retired superintendent of Scotland Yard, when he arrives home. Independently, they work out who the girl’s grandfather is. And on Christmas Eve, Christopher, his grandfather, Christopher’s parent, Daisy the dog, and a flock of servants pile into cars and make their way to the girl’s home.
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| Benedict Brown |
The girl’s grandfather is thrilled to death to see them; he knows who Lord Edgington is, and he wants him to find out who is trying to murder him. And just about everyone in the family has a motive, just like everyone in the family has a motive in keeping certain things to themselves.
A murder does indeed happen on Christmas Eve, followed by a second murder. And nothing and no one will be what they appears to be, including the girl Christopher met on the train.
The Christmas Bell Mystery is the 12th Lord Edgington mystery by British author Benedict Bell. Set in the 1920s (No. 12 being set in 1927), the well-researched series includes considerable detail and background bout the period. The Lord Edgington stories may be more aimed at a teen audience, but it’s equally enjoyable for adults.
Brown has also developed the character of Christopher over the series. From a schoolboy to now a young man, he is learning how to solve crimes under the tutelage of his grandfather. And with each story, he’s contributing more and more to the solution.
Related:
Murder at the Spring Ball by Benedict Brown.
A Body at a Boarding School by Benedict Brown.
The Mystery of Mistletoe Hall by Benedict Brown.
Death on a Summer’s Day by Benedict Brown.
The Tangled Treasure Trail by Benedict Brown.
The Curious Case of the Templeton-Swifts by Benedict Brown.
The Crimes of Clearwell Castle by Benedict Brown.
The Snows of Weston Moor by Benedict Brown.
What the Vicar Saw by Benedict Brown.
Blood on the Banisters by Benedict Brown.
A Killer in the Wings by Benedict Brown.
Some Thursday Readings
Burdekin’s London Nights – Spitalfields Life.
Poet Laura: The Gifts That Darkness Brings – Michelle Rinaldi Ortega at Tweetspeak Poetry.
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