An English Murder by Cyril Hare

http://www.gutenberg.ca/ebooks/hare-englishmurder/hare-englishmurder-00-h.html I put off reading this book until Christmas time. The plot takes place in a country house in the countryside. A professor is a guest of the house going over some manuscripts. Warbeck Hall is going to host a holiday party for Christmas, the Lord Warbeck has invited some of his extended family. The guests have diferent political views. Robert Warbeck, son of Lord Warbeck, is a member of the League of Liberty and Justice which is a Fascist organization. The book was written in 1958, and the professor, a Jewish man, had been in a concentration camp during the war. He is not sure what to make of the guest and feels a strain on him to join in the festivities, but Lord Warbeck is insistent that Professor Bottwink is made at home. After all the guests arrive there is a severe snowstorm that leaves them cut of from the village with no telephone service, and litttle hope of taking to the roads. It is a good set up for a murder that takes place Christmas Eve. A good whodunit. In keeping with my theme I read "Murder at Longbourn"http://www.tracykielymysteries.com/?p=books by Tracy Kiely, a mystery that takes place on New Year's Eve at a Cape Cod B & B. The sleuth is amateur Elizabeth Parker, her aunt's guest and helper for the holiday Murder Mystery Play that will be performed at the B & B. I like to read about a winter setting while the snow is howling around the windows. Happy Holidays to all my readers.