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The Christmas Alibi: A Christmas Murder Mystery
Snowed in for the holidays with a killer? It’s the most wonderful time of the year…
December 1938. As storm clouds gather over Europe, a group of bright young things are spending a festive weekend at Hexham Hall, the grand Northumberland estate of the genial Colonel ‘Monty’ Talbot. Hexham Hall has all the right ingredients for a perfect roaring fires, flowing brandy, a glittering cast of guests, and a relentless blizzard cutting them off from the world. What could possibly go wrong?
Plenty...
There’s the Colonel’s dazzling niece, Vanessa, whose past romantic entanglements are coming back to haunt her—along with most of the men in the drawing room. Her sensible cousin Maggie just wants a peaceful Christmas with her new husband but finds herself playing nurse to a house full of secrets. Add a handsome war hero, a slippery MP, his elegant wife, a journalist with a hidden agenda, and a mysterious stranger who arrives on the doorstep out of the snow, and you have a recipe for disaster.
When one of the guests turns up dead after a ghost story, not from fright, but from a decidedly un-festive dose of cyanide, it becomes clear this won’t be a silent night. Trapped by the snow and with the telephones dead, the festive cheer evaporates faster than the sherry.
In the snow-locked hall, old flames, political betrayals, and financial ruin simmer beneath the surface as they investigate the poisoning. Every guest is a potential killer and an amateur sleuth. The line between uncovering a murderer or a murder victim is terrifyingly thin. This is not the merry Christmas anyone anticipated.
Containing a ghost short story-with-a-story, you’ll find this a gripping, atmospheric murder mystery to enjoy on a cold, Christmas night…
December 1938. As storm clouds gather over Europe, a group of bright young things are spending a festive weekend at Hexham Hall, the grand Northumberland estate of the genial Colonel ‘Monty’ Talbot. Hexham Hall has all the right ingredients for a perfect roaring fires, flowing brandy, a glittering cast of guests, and a relentless blizzard cutting them off from the world. What could possibly go wrong?
Plenty...
There’s the Colonel’s dazzling niece, Vanessa, whose past romantic entanglements are coming back to haunt her—along with most of the men in the drawing room. Her sensible cousin Maggie just wants a peaceful Christmas with her new husband but finds herself playing nurse to a house full of secrets. Add a handsome war hero, a slippery MP, his elegant wife, a journalist with a hidden agenda, and a mysterious stranger who arrives on the doorstep out of the snow, and you have a recipe for disaster.
When one of the guests turns up dead after a ghost story, not from fright, but from a decidedly un-festive dose of cyanide, it becomes clear this won’t be a silent night. Trapped by the snow and with the telephones dead, the festive cheer evaporates faster than the sherry.
In the snow-locked hall, old flames, political betrayals, and financial ruin simmer beneath the surface as they investigate the poisoning. Every guest is a potential killer and an amateur sleuth. The line between uncovering a murderer or a murder victim is terrifyingly thin. This is not the merry Christmas anyone anticipated.
Containing a ghost short story-with-a-story, you’ll find this a gripping, atmospheric murder mystery to enjoy on a cold, Christmas night…
256 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 23, 2025
21 people are currently reading
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 6, 2026
I really enjoyed this, even though the scene-setting seemed to take a while before the 'mystery' occurred. The reasons for these back-stories became clearer as the book progressed, and left me wanting to know more about what, at first, seemed very one-dimensional characters. It's well-plotted and well-written in the golden age country house mystery style. A feeling of unease and then menace grow, not least because of the chilling backdrop of the Spanish civil war and impending evils of WW2 to come ... and building as part of the story. Very pertinent given the state of the world today. I look forward to reading more from the author.
December 20, 2025
A story with a reasonably interesting plot, with potential to be good, regrettably spoiled by a total lack of editing and proofreading.
December 29, 2025
It's 1938 and a Christmas house party is assembling near Hexham. The host is a retired colonel, Monty and among the guests are his niece along with several men she has been entangled with and their wives. Among the men are a newspaper journalist, an MP and a man injured fighting against the Fascists in Spain. At the end of a ghost story, one of the guests is dead and as they are snowed in, the house party set about investigating whether it was suicide or if there is a murderer on the loose. This is a newly written book, but with a cover designed to make you think that it is in fact a classic mystery* and it felt a bit like the author was throwing every 1930s history event that they could think of at it. It's pretty readable as you're going along, but I didn't think it stuck the landing on the ending - probably because of all the plot that was going on. Definitely one where you get to the end and realise you had more problems with it than you thought! Could have used a bit more work.
January 7, 2026
RA
This story was riddled with mistakes: snooker played in the "billiard room", a one armed man told to put his hands up, as well as his "eye patch adjusting to the light." Not so much clunky, as like the music room piano falling down the stairs, especially as the music room itself migrated between upper and lower floors. Despite the first very very rough draft quality of the book, there was a half decent story struggling to get out, sometimes well written: the truth hiding behind the impossible; the killer not acting personally, but a weapon in other's hands. And exposition on Nazi Appeasement policy and the Spanish Civil War were well done. Not a literary achievement, but worth reading. The claim by one of the characters to achieve an aspiration of Agatha Christie in the plot was a pearl amongst pigs in blankets.
This story was riddled with mistakes: snooker played in the "billiard room", a one armed man told to put his hands up, as well as his "eye patch adjusting to the light." Not so much clunky, as like the music room piano falling down the stairs, especially as the music room itself migrated between upper and lower floors. Despite the first very very rough draft quality of the book, there was a half decent story struggling to get out, sometimes well written: the truth hiding behind the impossible; the killer not acting personally, but a weapon in other's hands. And exposition on Nazi Appeasement policy and the Spanish Civil War were well done. Not a literary achievement, but worth reading. The claim by one of the characters to achieve an aspiration of Agatha Christie in the plot was a pearl amongst pigs in blankets.
January 9, 2026
Untouched by editor or proof-reader
I don't know why, but I actually read to the end. And the plot turned out to be generally ok - but it was the only thing that was. There were an incredible number of mistakes and inconsistencies, as though this was the author's very first draft, before they had worked out the details of the storyline, and without bothering if the sentences they had written down actually made sense. Then, without rereading it, or asking anyone else to check it, they just sent it straight to the printer. And then accepted the copy they were given without checking for errors. The result is a complete mess, but with work, it could be the basis of a decent little novella.
I don't know why, but I actually read to the end. And the plot turned out to be generally ok - but it was the only thing that was. There were an incredible number of mistakes and inconsistencies, as though this was the author's very first draft, before they had worked out the details of the storyline, and without bothering if the sentences they had written down actually made sense. Then, without rereading it, or asking anyone else to check it, they just sent it straight to the printer. And then accepted the copy they were given without checking for errors. The result is a complete mess, but with work, it could be the basis of a decent little novella.
January 4, 2026
What an awful way to start the year! A confused, drawn-out not much of a story. Bad editing is the least of it. The overpowering heat of the Baque Country in April, where, in reality, temperatures are very similar to the south of Britain and with plenty of rain to boot,;ex-soldiers who mistake piled up curtains for burned, dead bodies; an experienced Republican fighter who suddenly disappears from the story at the key moment. I could go on, but I won't. Just woeful. I never DNF but this came close. Time is short...find a better book to read. I'm only grateful that it was on kindleunlimited and cost me nothing.
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January 4, 2026A really good mystery
I really enjoyed this book kept me on the edge of my seat. Never knowing what was happening. You think you know what is going on just to find out you are wrong. I recommend reading this book, if you like to be kept guessing
I really enjoyed this book kept me on the edge of my seat. Never knowing what was happening. You think you know what is going on just to find out you are wrong. I recommend reading this book, if you like to be kept guessing
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews