YA - Early '80s murder mystery, murder weapon was an icicle

I read a terrific young adult novel, a murder mystery, in 4th grade, about 1984. I suspect the book was no more than a few years old at that point, so probably written in the early 1980s or possibly the late '70s. I can't recall author or title, just that read it in a trade paperback edition.

What I can recall of the plot:

A large family with both parents and a number of children either rented a home in a fairly isolated area or became caretakers of a lighthouse or some other creaky old structure. They were away for a while and when they came back inside, someone had been murdered inside the home, possibly in the kitchen. There was no apparent cause of death except for a a puddle on the floor. It should be no surprise that the person had been murdered with an icicle broken off from the house's eaves (this was a great and clever revelation to me at the time, but then again I was about 10-11 years old). The author managed to evoke a suspenseful tone throughout, with great characterization and dialogue (as I recall), without being gory.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

That sounds SO familiar, but I have no idea what book it is. I'll think on it.

I thought Lynn Hall, A Killing Freeze but it was published 1988, and the plot does not match.

Fuzzi, thanks for thinking about it. Glad to hear that I'm probably not the only one to run across this book.

Bookel, I've read some synopses and reviews of that Lynn Hall book, and while it sounds like a fun one, I agree with you, that's not it. Thanks though.

Is it The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin?

Macon: Thanks for that suggestion. I haven't read The Westing Game yet and while some of the summary elements I've read about sound familiar, some of what I'm seeing described is at odds with my memories (but memories are funny things). I seemed to recall the story being set in some place more isolated than an apartment building. Plus, how many of the protagonists are children? I seem to remember most of them being siblings.

Guess there's only one way to find out -- I need to read The Westing Game (which sounds like a really good book in any case)!

Yes, the Westing Game is a very good book, but it is almost certainly not the book you are looking for (unless your original description was way off).

Searching the web, I found this:

"the mystery short story "The Tea Leaf" by Edgar Jepson & Robert Eustace (1925) had an icicle as the murder weapon -- in a steam room, no less"

I can't verify it, though. There was also mention of a documentary with David Niven and Scotland Yard called "Black Museum" and something about ice in "Die Hard 2."

Probably no help at all!

It's interesting that so many stories contain similar elements, especially the icicle as murder weapon. I had forgotten about that scene in Die Hard 2.