Murder Goes Mumming

I liked A Pint of Murder, the debut novel in this series featuring Detective Inspector Madoc Rhys of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and his lady love, Janet Wadman. But the winsome second entry in the series, Murder Goes Mumming, proves even better.

Pressured into a house party in an isolated part of New Brunswick, Madoc and Janet find themselves trapped at the mansion called Graylings by a heavy storm. The Condrycke family use cutting humor and nasty practical jokes to cover up some pretty dysfunctional relationships, but Madoc and Janet weren’t expecting murder. But that’s just what they get. I don’t want to reveal too much, but I do want to say that I really enjoyed the low-key Madoc, the clever plotting and even Janet show more Wadman, whose 1960s sensibility seems a bit too prim for today. Still, I was really surprised by the revelation of the murder and the motive, and I highly recommend Murder Goes Mumming to fans of old-fashioned cozies with a clever bent. show less

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 show more 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. show less

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.

This mystery featuring Madoc Rhys, from the RCMP, takes place in an isolated house in New Brunswick. Think country house party mystery Canadian style...

Madoc has a four day Christmas holiday and ends up at the annual Christmas celebration of the Condrycke family. Ms. MacLeod often writes about eccentric families full of quirky personalities and she has given us one here, as well as a murder for her detective and his new fiance to solve. While not a favorite author I've decided that her books do make a good occasional change of pace.

Excellent cozy murder with lots of fun hijinks!

Nice little mystery. I enjoyed Madoc and Janet's relationship.
It is the 2nd in a series. I haven't read the 1st one yet, but I would like too.

Published in 1981 Janet works as a typist in the Secretarial pool. So this was before Microsoft took over and offices still had people actually using type writers.

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