The name John Fremont (1813-1890) evokes images of Manifest Destiny, exploration of the western United States, the first Republican candidate for President (18560, and the separation of California from Mexico. Less well-known is his very brief role in the American Civil War.
It’s 1929, and Lord Edgington, retired Scotland Yard superintendent, is taking his grandson Christopher Prentiss on the grand tour of Europe. But like their experiences in England over the years, murder seems to follow.
The two are in Milan; Christmas is near, and they’re both surreptitiously trying to buy presents for each other. But mysterious and anonymous letters appear in their room; they’re asked to come to Switzerland to prevent one and perhaps more murders. They’re soon on their way, with Lord Edgington’s staff in tow.
It’s an Alpine hotel in Switzerland at Christmas, and a snowstorm is due that will cut all communications off. No soon do they arrive when Christopher saves a guest from being crushed under a family chandelier. Another guest on her way to the hotel is found dead on one of the last trains before the expected snowstorm.
Benedict Brown
What they soon discover is that all the guests, including Lord Edgington himself, are tied to the theft of a tiara owned by the Princess Royale some 20 years earlier. And someone among the guests is planning to kill each of the others to eliminate any possibility of discovery.
The Alpine Christmas Mystery is the third novel in the Lord Edginton Abroad series by British author Benedict Brown. The series is something of an offshoot of the original series which was set entirely in England. It has all the trademarks of both Lord Edgington series – crimes largely among the upper class, Christopher getting himself in funny predicaments (this one has him skiing when he’s never learned), a little levity to lighten the serious crimes and investigations, and well-researched historical settings.
In addition to the Lord Edgington stories, Brown has written eight Izzy Palmer mystery novels three novellas, and five Marius Quin mysteries. A native of south London, he lives with his family in Spain. The Lord Edgington mysteries are likely aimed at both the general reader as well as the young adult audience. And they’re well-researched stories, full of information about the mid-to-late 1920s.
We were living in Houston in June of 1976, when we heard the news – terrorists had hijacked an Air France plane traveling from Tel Aviv to Paris and forced the pilot to land at Entebbe airport in Uganda. Upon arrival, the terrorists were warmly greeted by Uganda’s dictator, Idi Amin. Jews and non-Jews were separated, and non-Jews flown to Paris. The captain and crew, all non-Jews, chose to remain with their Jewish passengers. What happened next made worldwide headlines and history.
It is my daily disconnect. I receive all kinds of promotional stories about visiting the wonders of historic Britain, and then I watch the news and social media reports about crime in London, unrest all over England, farmers marching and protesting the Labour government, police arresting people for saying things that seem almost normal in countries that recognize free speech rights. It’s a disconnect, but I have to say that we’ve seen the signs during our numerous trips to London, even in the heavily touristed areas. And one of the most worrisome was spotlighted this week by The Critic Magazine: British cultural institutions are erasing Christianity.
While photography was becoming well-known at the time of the Civil War, newspapers and periodicals still relied upon artists for illustrations. And one of the best-known artists was Thomas Nast. Emerging Civil War describes his wartime Christmas art.
This week saw the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, and lots of people were writing lots of things about her, one even observing (correctly, I think) that she’s become a brand. One I found particularly interesting was, oddly enough, at The Gospel Coalition: “How a Christian Worldview Animates Jane Austen’s Fiction” by Deanna Rogers.
One of the best-known, and best-loved, works by Dylan Thomas is A Child’s Christmas in Wales. Jeffrey Street ay the English Republic of Letters writes about how much of Christmas, as exemplified in the Dylan story, is about memory.
Charles Dickens, his career faltering, went out on a limb and spent money he didn’t really have to spend on a short novel in 1843. Jason Clark at This Is the Day explains how the work not only sold out in four days and revitalized Dickens’s career, but also transformed our understanding of Christmas.
Anthony Esolen at Word & Song has been explaining the origin and background of various Christmas hymns. This week, he looks at “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” by Edmund Sears.
