I started reading Richard Coles first murder mystery (Murder Before Evensong) in proof form just before it first came out, but only read the first few chapters before getting distracted by other books. Since then he had joined the list of things people keep telling me I would love to the point that I stubbornly refuse to read them. Yesterday I got a copy of 'Murder Under the Mistletoe' read it in a sitting and have to concede that everybody who told me I'd love him was on the money.
This is the beauty of a short book (around 140 pages in this instance with an excellent recipe for bread sauce thrown in). It's not a big thing to invest the time in it, and as 'Murder Under the Mistletoe' charmed on a number of levels I will be going back and starting from the beginning.
I liked it as a murder mystery, it's clever with a great ending which I can't discuss without spoilers but I thought it was satisfyingly nuanced. I like the Clements, Canon Daniel Clement is thoughtful, human, clever, and compassionate - there's a satisfying scene where he immediately stops some mild bullying. His mother Audrey is a splendid creation and so is brother Theo. The de Floures family from the big house are well drawn too, and Mrs March is a masterpiece.
I really liked the attention to food and drink, and the obvious knowledge behind it - I wonder if the Reverend would appreciate that I'm writing this with an excellent glass of 2011 Côte-Rôtie to hand (I'm certainly appreciating it) or that he inspired me to cook venison tonight...
More than anything though I love how this reminds me of E M Delafield's Provincial Lady. Coles has set his books in the late 1980s - a nice touch. For anyone middle aged now it's long enough go for a touch of nostalgia, but not so far back as to need much explaining, I dated it from David and Ruth Archer's wedding. It's another smart touch from a smart writer. Mobile phones and the the internet are not conducive to convincing cosy crime, the 80s still feel familiar to many of us, there's no need to over-explain anything but there are a few plot details that wouldn't work in a contemporary setting, including perhaps some of the social nuance.
The Clements are solidly middle class, Audrey, Daniels mothers, attempts to impress the local gentry are treated with humour and sympathy - there's a lovely passage where Daniel worries if the de Floures, who have invited themselves for Christmas dinner will be stilton scoop or knife people. I do not like stilton, but I do have a scoop, and have given a few as presents*. The nuance is continued through wine choices - German Sekt rather than Champagne - not as popular as it was, croft original sherry, a white Burgandy bought as a gift from the big house that will be nice, but isn't the best, at a time when the best was more affordable. There are dozens of moments like this and they're as sharp and delightful as I could hope for.
*A benefit of living in the home county of Stilton is that if you do like it and are sensible enough to go to the market here you get excellent Stilton for about a third of the price of supermarkets or cheesemongers. Having a whole wheel of it on the table is a question of having enough people to eat it, not needing a bank loan to buy it and scooping os very much an option.
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