I’m a big fan of the British Library/Poisoned Pen Press British Library. Crime Classics series. One reason I’m fond of this series is Martin Edwards’s wonderful Introductions that illuminate the authors of these vintage books.
Murder After Christmas was published in 1944 by an obscure writer. The author then died and Murder After Christmas remained out-of-print for over 75 years.
“Rupert Latimore” was the pseudonym of Algernon Victor Mills (1905-1953). According to Martin Edwards, Latimore and his family, while on a trip to France, ate tainted strawberries and contracted typhoid fever. Latimore survived, but his elder sister and their nurse both died. As a result of the typhoid, Latimore was lame and suffered from epilepsy for the rest of his life.
Latimore had success with Death in Real Life which resulted in his writing Murder After Christmas. But after that book was published, Litimore was diagnosed with a brain tumor and died in 1953.
Murder After Christmas centers around a young couple, Frank and Rhoda Redpath, who invite Rhoda’s stepfather, rich old Uncle Willie, to spend Christmas with them. Usually Uncle Willie spent his winters in Italy, but “the current European unpleasantness” (aka, World War II) made that impossible.
Uncle Willie is worth more to his family dead than alive so it comes as no surprise that soon after he arrives at the Redpath home, he is found dead. Superintendent Culley and Chief Constable, Major Smythe, spend the rest of Murder After Christmas trying to figure out what happened.
If you’re in the mood for a tradition English murder mystery, don’t miss Murder After Christmas with all its hijinks! GRADE: B
Sounds like another winner from the British Library Crime Classcis line. Your review makes me look forward to reading it, George.
A bit off topic: As much as I love strawberries (and I do), it’s unwise to eat tainted ones. (And Mills, with his hard luck, sounds like Al Capp’s Joe Btfspik character.)
Jerry, I know way too many people who have eaten tainted food and got food poisoning as a result. None of them died…but some were very sick.
Speaking of Martin Edwards, did anyone watch the “University Challenge Alumni” contest? (Not sure what network originally produced it, we watched it on YouTube,) Anyway, Martin Edwards was the captain of his team (which represented one of the Oxford colleges), and their team won the championship. Great fun—and, in addition to mystery novels, Martin really knows his cricket!
Deb, one of the highlights of recent BOUCHERCONs have been the panels Martin Edwards participated with. Edwards is very bright guy and extremely knowledgeable. These British Library Crime Classics volumes are greatly enhanced by Edwards’s insightful Introductions which provide information on obscure writers like “Rupert Latimer.”
Never heard of Rupert Latimer before so he’s another author I’ll be watching for.
His life sounds interesting enough to be a novel itself.
And I agree with you and Deb – Martin Edwards is a really smart, interesting guy.
Beth, Martin Edwards’s THE LIFE OF CRIME from 2022 was fabulous!
I’m pretty sure I picked this up (and sold it) in my bookselling days. I also bought (bout never read) Edwards’s early series about Liverpool lawyer Harry Devlin. I have read his Lake District series and all his non-fiction books on the genre, as well as his many anthologies of short stories that he edited.
Jeff, I don’t know when Martin Edwards sleeps! The guy is constantly publishing essays, Introductions, novels, and short stories!
And a busy blog, of course..
I love this cover, George. I read this in December, and enjoyed it. I felt like the story was too complex and repetitious, and the humor too much for me. But somehow it charmed me anyway.
Tracy, MURDER AFTER CHRISTMAS is one of those old-fashioned English mysteries with plenty of discursive writing and a wandering plot. But, if you’re in the mood for this kind of book, it can be a fun read!
I have it on the Kindle. This Christmas perhaps I will get around to reading it.
Neeru, I think I have over 300 books on my iPad with the Kindle app. I know I should read more of those books…but I generally end up reading a printed book.