Death On A Winter’s Day by Verity Bright
Christmas at the castle with holly, handmade gifts, snowflakes and… is that a body under the tree? Someone call Lady Swift!
Winter, 1921. Lady Eleanor Swift, amateur sleuth and reluctant lady of the manor, has been invited to spend Christmas in Scotland, at the beautiful castle of her dear friends Baron and Baroness Ashley. Even her favourite companion, master of mischief Gladstone the bulldog, is coming along to share a slice of turkey. As snow begins to fall outside, the rather mismatched group are cozy by the roaring fire, sharing a tipple over a plate of Mrs Trotman’s famous mince pies.
But after what was supposed to be a fun party game, Mr Eugene Randall is found dead at the feast. A somewhat unpopular business associate of the Baron’s from across the pond, it seems Mr Randall has certainly upset somebody. Was it what he said about Scottish whisky?
The killer must be in the castle… and when the Baron is arrested, Baroness Ashley begs Eleanor to investigate. Determined not to let her friend down, Eleanor sets about questioning the remaining partygoers.
All too swiftly, someone else is found dead, having apparently fallen from a high balcony. As if one murder wasn’t enough to put a twist in the tinsel! Eleanor knows she’s skating on thin ice now. And when she discovers a hidden document that points the finger of suspicion at the unlikeliest of suspects, she realises there’s more to the story. Can Eleanor catch the killer before it’s time for Christmas dinner?
The perfect cozy mystery to curl up with this winter! Fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss are in for a festive treat.
About the authors
Verity Bright is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing partnership that has spanned a quarter of a century. Starting out writing high-end travel articles and books, they published everything from self-improvement to humour, before embarking on their first historical mystery. They are the authors of the fabulous Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series, set in the 1920s.
https://twitter.com/BrightVerity
Buy Link:
Amazon: https://bit.ly/3qOZpoS
Audio Links:
UK: zpr.io/fTeJ8rAQjLGR
US: zpr.io/8R94J4qaVH6U
Listen to a sample here:
https://soundcloud.com/bookouture/death-on-a-winters-day-by-verity-bright-narrated-by-karen-cass
Review
‘Death On A Winter’s Day’ is a festive, joyous cosy crime story that just makes me feel all fuzzy. Yes, it's about crime but it's the main characters we have grown to love that makes this series. Although, I have to say I loved that the setting moved to Scotland! This is the 8th book in the Lady Swift series but you can pick this up as a standalone very easily. I do urge you to read the whole series as they are a complete riot! They have that balance of dark and light balanced to perfection - murder and humour with great characterisation!
I adored this book - such a shocker that I am going to wax lyrical about this series again! I lucked out by reading this when I was on holiday in Appin last week and it felt as if I had actually stepped into the locus of this book!
I could actually see this view from my window! How appropriate is that? Although Verity might not have taken inspiration from this location it felt so authentic to me.
In this outing, Eleanor and the gang find themselves in Scotland for Christmas. But alas, the host's staff have refused to work Christmas day as they are Presbyterian’s and think that celebrating it is a sin. So Eleanor offers her staff’s services and off they all trot to the back of beyond. Whilst playing the after-dinner game of ‘wink’ one of the guests is murdered and it's up to Eleanor and Clifford to work out who the murderer was as the local police staff are useless! Where is Hugh when you need him?!
The one bit of this book I was jumping up and down with joy is the ending! Let's just say many fans are going to be very happy. As usual, the character’s were great and I liked the addition of Lizzie.
I really hope you pick this one up as it's a great series!
