When it comes to Christmas stories, one typically thinks of those that embody the spirit of the season, such as O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” and Charles Dickens’s 'A Christmas Carol'. The Yuletide-themed murder mystery is not usually the first thing that comes to mind. But in 1936, Mavis Doriel Hay wrote 'The Santa Klaus Murder', one of three detective novels she published in the 1930s. A classic country-house murder mystery, 'The Santa Klaus Murder' begins with Aunt Mildred declaring that no good could come of the Melbury family Christmas gathering at their country residence Flaxmere. So when Sir Osmond Melbury, the family patriarch, is discovered — by a guest dressed as Santa Klaus —with a bullet in his head on Christmas Day, the festivities are plunged into chaos. Nearly every member of the party stands to reap some sort of benefit from Sir Osmond’s death, but Santa Klaus, the one person who seems to have every opportunity to fire the shot, has no apparent motive.
Mavis Doriel Hay Books
Mavis Doriel Hay was a novelist who briefly illuminated the golden age of British crime fiction. Her three notable works are distinguished by intricate plotting and atmosphere. Beyond her fictional endeavors, Hay was also an accomplished expert on rural handicraft, authoring several influential books on the subject.
British Library Crime Classics: Death on the Cherwell
- 286 pages
- 11 hours of reading
For Miss Cordell, principal of Persephone College, there are two great evils to be feared: unladylike behaviour among her students, and bad publicity for the college. So her prim and cosy world is turned upside down when the drowned body of the college bursar is found floating in her canoe.
Murder Underground
- 288 pages
- 11 hours of reading
A classic mystery novel set in and around the Northern Line of the London Underground. It is now republished for the first time since the 1930s.