Death Comes at Christmas

A classic Christmas murder mystery

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Summary

The perfect classic crime story to cosy up with this winter as Amateur sleuth Mrs Bradley investigates a puzzling Christmas mystery.

'The equal of Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie' Independent

It is December and Mrs Bradley has left London behind for a relaxing visit to the Oxfordshire countryside.

Then, on Christmas Eve, a local solicitor is found dead by the river. Everyone believes that he suffered a heart attack - but Mrs Bradley is suspicious and is soon investigating a series of disturbing clues.

As the frost thaws and spring begins, the inimitable detective must work fast if she is to protect the people close to her from a resourceful killer...

First published in 1936 as Dead Men's Morris.

Reviews

Mrs Bradley is an amateur sleuth to rival Miss Marple… A cackling, leering, hooting delight… Added to the interest of the murder itself, we can delight in the picture of society that the novels afford, in the way that a photograph of a long-gone street can fascinate and charm… I just let it all wash over me, soak up the atmosphere, and revel in the character of the detective. I am delighted to have made Mrs Bradley’s acquaintance
Nicholas Lezard, Guardian

About the author

Gladys Mitchell

Gladys Maude Winifred Mitchell – or ‘The Great Gladys’ as Philip Larkin called her – was born in 1901, in Cowley in Oxfordshire. She graduated in history from University College London and in 1921 began her long career as a teacher. Her hobbies included architecture and writing poetry. She studied the works of Sigmund Freud and her interest in witchcraft was encouraged by her friend, the detective novelist Helen Simpson.

Her first novel, Speedy Death, was published in 1929 and introduced readers to Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley, the detective heroine of a further sixty six crime novels. She wrote at least one novel a year throughout her career and was an early member of the Detection Club, alongside Agatha Christie, G.K Chesterton and Dorothy Sayers. In 1961 she retired from teaching and, from her home in Dorset, continued to write, receiving the Crime Writers’ Association Silver Dagger in 1976. Gladys Mitchell died in 1983.

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