Murder at Melrose Court: A Country House Christmas Murder (Heathcliff Lennox Series, Book 1)

This feels a bit like turning in a late book report. I bought this book when it first came out and have re-read it twice more. I blame Kindle. It's nearly impossible to write a review on a Kindle, so you have to make a special effort. And I'm thrilled to see that so many others have done so.OK, the book. Who do you love more, Major Lennox or Mr Fogg? Such engaging characters that you will finish this book and immediately buy the rest of the series! Then you will join the rest of us in misery waiting impatiently for next.Original. Clean. I already mentioned engaging. Witty. Friendly.To be honest, when this world gets me down I escape into Lennox's like slipping into a gentleman's library with warm fire to welcome me.To be honest, it's time for you to join us. You'll be so glad that you did. But remember, don't call him Heathcliff!

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. A typical British whodunnit. A good rainy day read. What will befall our intrepid sleuth next?

First thing I want to say is that I have been reading mysteries for over 50 years and this mystery has the most unique and funny last sentence of any mystery I have ever read. I cannot quote it because it would be a spoiler. It also starts in an amusing way in the first chapter when Lennox's butler and ex-batman, Gregg, find a very large dead body of a man, a total stranger, on his doorstep and Lennox is accused by the inept local police of killing this stranger based on no evidence at all except that the body is on his doorstep.Major Lennox (don't call him Heathcliff, he hates his first name) and his spaniel Mr. Fogg reluctantly go to visit his uncle at Melrose Court for Christmas and New Years. Upon arriving, he finds out his elderly Uncle Charles is engaged to marry a White Russian Countess, Sophia, who escaped from the Bolsheviks. Her niece, Natasha, another White Russian who escaped, is engaged to marry his cousin Edgar. And his two least favorite relatives are there, Sir Peregrine Kingsley and his unpleasant son, Adam Kingsley, along with Adam's wife Gertrude who is a bit strange and a kleptomaniac.Right from the start, it is clear this is not going to be a jolly Christmas celebration. The Countess Sophia is a greedy woman (she has ousted Major Lennox from his traditional rooms when he stays at Melrose Court) and Sophia also forces his uncle to disinherit both Lennox and Edgar, his heirs, in a new will, prior to even being married to Uncle Charles (quite strange) and something is going on between Sir Peregrine and Natasha, despite her being engaged to Edgar.Someone uses one of Major Lennox's guns and his dog Fogg to frame the Major for murdering the Countess. Everyone assumes he did it, because he and Fogg found the body and the weapon was one of his guns and, lastly, that he is just a bluff not too bright country man. It is up to Major Lennox to prove he is innocent of murder, how and why the murder was done and how a subsequent murder was done, so he can escape being hanged from murder and return to his own home. He also proves that he is more than a bluff countryman, smarter than he seems (certainly smarter than all his relatives), and a logical thinker.All is well by the end. All dead bodies accounted for. Major Lennox and Fogg the dog can return to their own home with no more police accusing him of murdering dead bodies he finds lying about.Any errors in this review are the fault of autocorrect which I detest. Autocorrect is the bane of my infrequent writing on digital devices: it inserts more errors than it corrects. A very flawed feature of digital life.

Major Heathcliff Lennox (his mother loved literature) finds a dead body on his front steps. It is quite inconvenient because he is on his way to his Uncle Melrose’s for Christmas. After the police have gone and things are cleared away, Lennox and his dog leave for a family Christmas. Lennox and his dog are very close.Things never go the way we expect.His uncle is engaged to a countess. And it turns out Lennox is familiar with this particular countess. Also in the house party are two distant relatives, a woman who steals things in her spare time and the countess’ Russian niece who is engaged to Edgar, Lennox’s cousin and best friend.When there is a murder, Lennox is found standing over the body holding the murder weapon. This Christmas is not going well at all.Ms Menuhin is a new to me author and I am so glad I found her.Lennox is a terrific guy. It took me a time to warm up to his apparent distance from people in general. He was a pilot in the great war and he now keeps himself isolated because he still is dealing with what he faced in his past. His family’s wealth has been frittered away and now he is dealing with unpaid bills and no evident way to pay them.When he realizes that if he is not to be hung for a murder he did not commit, he recognizes that he must find the actual murderer. I loved the methodical way he began to detect. The Major is not a detail kind of guy. But, he becomes someone who not only sees the details, but analyzes what he sees.Lennox is a good leading character. He loves his uncle and his cousin. He has no time for fools and charlatans. And he is much more observant than either he or others realize. His emotions sometimes get the better of him and he shouts. He loves his dog and he is stunned when he learns that not everyone wants the dog in the house.The secondary characters are well defined and add a great deal to the story. Each of them present a possible suspect. But, most of all they provide a texture to the story. His Uncle’s servants try to deal with whatever is happening. What is a dead body among friends? And whether or not there is a dead body, or police milling about, tea will be served in the study.This story has humor as well as mystery. It is a lovely book.The mystery is not too difficult to solve, but the journey to a solution is wonderful.I look forward to reading the next 3 books in this series.

Great story but a little easy to guess. No real twists. My favorite thing was the ending though with the dog.

What a great who done it! Looking forward to the next book in the series. She truly takes you to Melrose Court in very detail.

Easy read. Perfect for the beach.

Bought this, on the basis of reviews, for my wife's Christmas stocking. Unexpected last minute circumstances caused us to be home alone this Christmas. After Christmas lunch etc we lit the fire, settled in front of the Christmas tree, made a cup of tea, selected a champagne truffle and my wife offered to read the first chapter aloud. Then we had another truffle, another log on the fire, then anonther cup of tea, discussion of the chapter (plot line, authenticity of period and lifestyle, relationships between protagnoists etc) and then we read another chapter aloud, another truffle, another cup of tea and so on. And there started a series of 4 evenings of the same formula - delightful. This fairly short book has a carefully worked plot that evolves at a steady pace, with humorous asides (not as zany as Bertie Wooster but not wholly inconsistent with asides I have heard at country house gatherings in the past). This book absolutely hit the mark as a Christmas-tide whodunnit. It was probably greatly improved by being read aloud as this slowed up the narrative and one maybe noticed and savoured details that might otherwise have been overlooked. It would be a good cozy crime read at any time, but at Christmas, and with scope for slow reading in smallish segments it excelled. If I really had to identify any weakness I would probably observe that one or two items of evidence for the final identification of the culprit were only revealed a little time after they were known to the first-person 'detective'. This is quibbling: although strictly outside the tests for perfect cozy crime writing, the details did not affect the insights, dedutions and actions of the 'detective' and only became known to him shortly before the final 'reveal', confirming rather than guiding the conclusions (with one exception which relates to a tiny plot loose end, more humorous than structural and, who knows, it may get tidied up in the next story about Major Heathcliff Lennox). Many, many cozy crime authors transgress this rule and generally in more flagrant ways. It did not diminish the pleasure of the narrative or the validity of the conclusion. Thank you KBM for helping to make our Christmas: I shall read your other 2 books and hope there may be more if they are anything like this first one.

I really enjoyed reading this.Major Lennox is one of those landed gentry toffs, the hunting/shooting type. No discernible income, bills to pay, house in need of renovation, maybe not the brightest apple in the barrel, but he can be.A man is found dead on Lennox’s doorstep. He doesn’t know who he is or why he is there. Luckily, he is off to visit his aged uncle for Christmas where his few relatives and sundry hangers-on are gathered.Sadly for our hero he can’t get out to shoot or to fish as it begins to snow and then there is another death and he is now under suspicion of murder.He is encouraged to try and discover the truth, I donkt think anyone feels he’ll manage but there is more to Heathcliffe Lennox than a love of eating, drinking and not thinking too much.This is a great yarn and Lennox is so childlike in his pursuit of the truth, I really took to him. The house servants like Cooper and Cartwright were also well drawn.It’s really quite funny in parts and had me laughing (well, sniggering really) out loud.Can’t wait to see where Lennox and his dog, Mr Fogg, end up next.

Here we have what is a well-crafted whodunit, set in that most popular of settings, a country house. Narrated by Major Heathcliff Lennox, ex-RFC, so we have here an amateur sleuth, but one who is prepared to go to the limits to solve a case, which in this particular instance is murder.Starting off with an unknown man being found at the front door of Lennox’s house so he then makes his way the next day to his uncle’s home where Lennox himself stands to be the heir to the family nest. But with his uncle engaged to a Russian aristocrat so things could be about to all change, especially as this woman has most definite views on how everything is going to be in the future. Thus we are all set up to read of deceptions and secrets between house guests and servants as the Christmas festivities are about to get under way.With more than one murder and other crimes coming to light so this is well plotted and enjoyable to read and should do well with those who love a good whodunit. There are enough things thrown in our way to make us puzzle over who the murderer is, although as this is all done logically (as it should be) you may perhaps know who the killer is before Lennox unveils his conclusions at the end. In all then this is something that is certainly worth reading.

Having read a large number of often very good christmas /snowed in /country house /amateurs etc etc crime books ,I did approach this modern book with a strong degree of trepidation. Most of the modern " pastiche" crime books are dire . However once one gets over the rather obviously placed props ( cars /servants/incompetent local police/snow on cue ) there is a good mystery book here. The dead bodies crop up at just the right time and I liked the somewhat unusual marriage potential.There is a degree of wit and some good nods to classical GADetection books of the period. I didn't like the pilot/narrator at all but that didn't stop me giving 4 stars for quite an enjoyable read.

This is the first in a mystery series, set in 1920. Major Heathcliff Lennox lives in his country house with his dog, Mr Fogg. One morning, his butler, and old batman, Greggs, informs him that there is a large, overweight, corpse on the doorstep. Before he really has time to get to grips with this unforeseen event, Lennox, and Mr Fogg, set off for Christmas with Uncle Charles, at Melrose Court.Although this is a Christmas, country house, mystery, there are traces of modernity in this novel. Lennox is in debt, as are many of the other characters, and the old ways are changing. Certainly, life at Melrose Court is changing. Elderly Uncle Charles has just become engaged to Countess Sophia, a Russian émigré, while her niece, Natasha, is engaged to cousin Edgar. Also at the house party are Sir Peregrine Kingsley, the lawyer for Uncle Charles, his son, Adam and his wife, Gertrude – a woman who has strange, religious, notions and a tendency to pilfer the silver…With the imperious Countess Sofia turning Melrose Court upside down, it is not long before there is a murder and Lennox is implicated. With the police considering him the main suspect, Lennox begins to investigate the crime and uncover the real culprit. This is a pleasant enough crime novel, although Lennox is not particularly interesting as a character. Still, a fun read, with a country house setting.