From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Murder for Christmas (Mordecai Tremaine Mystery Book 1)

Francis Duncan

Start date: December 1, 2018

Finish date: December 31, 2018

Discussion: Group reads

Why we're reading this: A festive mystery - the winner of the poll for our December group read
[close] A festive mystery - the winner of the poll for our December group read

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Group reads

* November 2025 group read - Winner!
By Judy · 20 posts · 31 views

last updated Sep 17, 2025 08:43AM

* Sept 25: Lonesome Road (#3 Miss Silver Mysteries) by Patricia Wentworth
By Susan · 16 posts · 16 views

last updated Sep 19, 2025 01:03PM

What Members Thought

Dec 14, 2021 Anissa rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: series, british-fiction-uk-ireland, cozy-mystery, 2021, christmas-and-winter-mysteries

I can't believe this was just okay for me. It had all the things. The country house. Snow. Christmas tree and trimmings. An assortment of characters that wish to be elsewhere and with others to varying degrees. The perfect ingredients for strife and murder with plenty of suspects. And finally, an amateur sleuths.

And yet.

The murder finally takes place in the eighth chapter. Not the halfway mark but there are only eighteen chapters so, way to long to get to on with it. And all that preceded it was ...more

33 likes · Like · see review

Dec 13, 2017 BrokenTune rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, christmas

NO one could have foretold how it was going to end.
Not even the murderer.

Well, that's not quite true... I had the murderer picked out @41% and even had a hunch about the motive ... because the setup of this story reminded me of a Graham Greene story.

The downside of all this was that the following 59% of the book were pure tedium.

It is a shame because the Preview of the book, where we get a snap shot of the discovery of the victim before the story has even been set up, made for fun reading. Unfor ...more

27 likes · Like · see review

Nov 23, 2018 Susan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Having enjoyed, “Murder for Motive,” I was interested to read the second mystery featuring Mordecai Tremaine.

Mordecai Tremaine has been invited to spend Christmas at the country house of Benedict Grame. He is surprised at the invitation, as, although he met Grame, and his companion and secretary, Nicholas Blaise, he does not know them well. However, he is intrigued by a postscript to the invitation, by the secretary, asking for his help and he decides to go.

Christmas Eve brings snow, and a col ...more

13 likes · Like · see review

Sep 12, 2021 ShanDizzy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

“No,” he said. “But I’m curious. I’m wondering just why you’ve been talking to me as you have.”
“What do you mean?” she said quickly, but the telltale color was in her cheeks. Mordecai Tremaine thought that it made her look very lovely. He said, “I don’t think our conversation has been altogether casual. After all, I’m a stranger, and yet you’ve been ready to tell me all sorts of things I hardly imagine you usually tell to strangers. And I can’t help wondering why.”
For an instant or two she faced “No,” he said. “But I’m curious. I’m wondering just why you’ve been talking to me as you have.”
“What do you mean?” she said quickly, but the telltale color was in her cheeks. Mordecai Tremaine thought that it made her look very lovely. He said, “I don’t think our conversation has been altogether casual. After all, I’m a stranger, and yet you’ve been ready to tell me all sorts of things I hardly imagine you usually tell to strangers. And I can’t help wondering why.”
For an instant or two she faced him, the flush in her cheeks. “All right,” she finally said. “You win. What do you want me to tell you?”
“Only why you’re troubled. And only if you want to tell me.”
“I do want to tell you,” she returned slowly. “And yet I don’t know what there is to tell. I know that sounds stupid,” she added hastily, seeing his look of surprise, “but there isn’t any other way to express it.”
“You feel,” said Mordecai Tremaine, “that something is going to happen, but you can’t give that something a name or do anything to stop it, and you feel restless and frustrated.”
“That’s it,” she said eagerly. “That’s just the way I feel. Why is it? What is it that frightens me?”
“I’m a stranger,” he told her. “All I can see is a rather jolly house party getting ready to enjoy Christmas in a really old-fashioned way.”
“Perhaps it is like that."

With the dead man’s shadow lying oppressively over this Christmas night party, there was something of the macabre in Grame’s apparent lightheartedness, something that gave him the air of a painted clown frolicking in a graveyard.

There was a sense of oppression in his soul. All the deep love of sentiment that was a part of him was stirring in helpless revolt. It was all wrong that greed and hatred, fear and violence should find their way into the lovely places of the earth. It was all wrong that the cold winter beauty upon which he was gazing should be marred by man’s inability to live in charity with his neighbors and that murder should lie like an evil smudge across perfection. He liked to feel that the sun shone always upon lovers. He liked to feel that God was in His Heaven and that all was right with a world in which there was no false note. Perhaps it was a sign of weakness in him. Perhaps it was a shrinking from reality, a refusal to face the bitter truths of existence. But it was an integral part of him, and he could not change it. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 19, 2017 John Frankham rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-detective

Good fun in this golden age whodunit. If a Father Christmas is murdered, is it the man intended? And perhaps more than one house guest was dressed as him and seen out in the house and garden that Xmas eve!

The GR blurb:

'A festive mystery for the holiday season: mulled wine, mince pies... and murder

When Mordecai Tremaine arrives at the country retreat of one Benedict Grame on Christmas Eve, he discovers that the revelries are in full swing in the sleepy village of Sherbroome--but so too are tensio ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 26, 2022 Ellen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fuddy-room

3.5 rounded up. There was no more dangerous place to spend Christmas in the first half of the 20th century than an English Country House!

2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 18, 2021 Lynnie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: christmas, read-in-2021, post-war

What a gem! I absolutely loved this book, adored the writing style and the mystery was very intriguing. A wonderful Christmas mystery!

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 27, 2017 Laura Hannaway rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was a well written and entertaining mystery with plenty of twists and turns, a few red herrings and a well thought out ending.
My one issue was that I really struggled to get into the story. That may be more a reflection of my state of mind than the quality of the story, however it still made my progress pretty slow and, unfortunately, affected my enjoyment.

*ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review*

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Nov 27, 2018 Jill rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: duncan-francis

A fun read for Christmas . Usual type mystery for the time, that is party where someone is murdered. I did have my suspicions about the murderer, but that didn't detract from the story. I can't help liking Mordecai Tremaine, but I would love to buy him a pair of glasses that actually fitted him.
I don't think this was as good as the first in the series, but will definitely read more. ...more

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