Murder Goes Mumming

By Charlotte MacLeod

In the frigid Canadian north, Madoc and Janet try to keep warm and stay alive.

Though he may not look the part, Madoc Rhys is a Mountie -- and his keen sense of detection tells him it's time to ask Janet Wadman to marry him. They have just gotten engaged when Christmas rolls around, and Janet's boss invites them to his family estate for a last holiday fling before Janet leaves her job. After a long helicopter ride, they are at Graylings, ancestral home of the Condryckes, a family so strange that Canada's shortest Mountie fits right in.

There is a psychic old woman, an erudite butler, and a family patriarch who is the spitting image of an English country squire. And when the elderly Mrs. Condrycke is found murdered, Janet will be glad she brought Madoc along. Though civilization is far away, when there is a Mountie in the house, justice is close at hand.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784086992

Charlotte MacLeod

Charlotte MacLeod (1922–2005) was an international bestselling author of cozy mysteries. Born in Canada, she moved to Boston as a child and lived in New England most of her life. After graduating from college, she made a career in advertising, writing copy for the Stop & Shop Supermarket Company before moving on to Boston firm N. H. Miller & Co., where she rose to the rank of vice president. In her spare time, MacLeod wrote short stories, and in 1964 published her first novel, a children’s book called Mystery of the White Knight. In Rest You Merry (1978), MacLeod introduced Professor Peter Shandy, a horticulturist and amateur sleuth whose adventures she would chronicle for two decades. The Family Vault (1979) marked the first appearance of her other best-known characters: the husband and wife sleuthing team Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn, whom she followed until her last novel, The Balloon Man, in 1998.

Reviews for Murder Goes Mumming

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a quick and satisfying read. I got a little tired of "Jenny" being so beautiful and virtuous and modest but the other characters were much more interesting. This is the second in the Madoc and Janet Rhys series by this author (a pseudonym for Charlotte Macleod). They get engaged at the start of the book and married at the end. While they are celebrating their engagement with Madoc's mother, a Fredericton arts connoisseur (and Janet's employer) comes over to the table to greet Lady Rhys. It is only a few days before Christmas and when he learns that Madoc and Janet are going to be alone for the holidays he invites them to the family home, Graylings, in the north of New Brunswick. Graylings is a large and unmodernized house with all the requisite secret passages and doorways for a murder mystery. The family includes the Squire, his mother-in-law, four grown children of the Squire, three grandchildren and a maiden aunt. There is also a faithful retainer, cook and other assorted help in residence. On the night Janet and Madoc arrive the mother-in-law dies and Madoc, an RCMP detective, is sure she was smothered. A huge snowstorm means that he can expect no help for some time so he, with Janet's help, must discover the murderer without falling prey themselves. Another death occurs before they can do so but, of course, the mountie gets his wo/man. There is lots of local colour and what could be more Canadian than having a Mountie as the investigator? This certainly qualifies for the challenge.

[susankrzywicki · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Audiobook narrator was unpleasant - his female voices were almost intolerable. I wish male authors would not try to "imitate" women's voices.

[raizel_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

OK, but not great. And the detective, who solves the case, has the advantage of knowing things that we, the reader, don't.

[bjace_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Entertaining fluff. Detective Inspector Madoc Rhys and his fiancee are members of a Christmas houseparty when murder outs him and he is forced to find out who killed the two old ladies.

[jjmcgaffey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Eh. The mystery is a bit neat, but most of the characters (well-drawn, and thus not ignorable) are quite unpleasant. One of the victims is one of the few people who seem to be nice, in that crowd. Most of the others are some form of nasty, stupid, or both. There are amusing bits - the two scenes with Ludovic, several of Madoc and Janet's interactions, the scenes with Madoc's mother - but overall the story is mildly unpleasant to read. Well-done but not enjoyable.