THE MOUSSE WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR
Oxford Tearoom Mystery # 10
H.Y. Hanna
Wisheart Press
December 1, 2019
I don't know how one of my favorite complete escape reads fell through the cracks, but I think it was partially a bit of a reading slump I have been in. It can also be attributed to the pandemic that we all have been dealing with. I've been glued to the news and lacking in concentration for anything else. When I was paging through the back-up of unread books on my kindle, I was excited to find it.
Any Agatha Christie (or Golden Age mystery) fan is aware of the country house mystery, the one where a motley group of people is marooned in the house by some natural disaster. This time it's an unusual Christmas snow in Oxford. Gemma Rose has agreed to cater a Christmas party for local children in a stately home. The prodigal son, who has been missing for years and thought to be dead, is murdered. The Mousse Wonderful Time of The Year has all the stock characters of the genre; the overbearing peer, the downtrodden daughter of the house, her disagreeable husband, and the obnoxious murder victim himself. Added to the mix are intrepid sleuth, Gemma, her mischievous cat, Muesli, the incompetent policeman, and the four "Old Biddies" from the tearoom. All the family has more than sufficient reason to wish the prodigal dead.
This is an excellent entry in the long-running Oxford Tearoom Mysteries, and I look forward to the next one.
RATING-4 Stars
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