Murder for Christmas
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  • Published: 15 December 2015
  • ISBN: 9781784703455
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $22.99

Murder for Christmas

Formats & editions
EBook
12 Nov 2015
Audiobook
27 Oct 2016
Paperback
15 Dec 2015
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A classic mystery for the festive season: mulled wine, mince pies...and murder.

Discover the perfect classic mystery for the Christmas season: mulled wine, mince pies...and murder.

Mordecai Tremaine, former tobacconist and perennial lover of romance novels, has been invited to spend Christmas in the sleepy village of Sherbroome at the country retreat of one Benedict Grame.

Arriving on Christmas Eve, he finds that the revelries are in full flow - but so too are tensions amongst the assortment of guests.

Midnight strikes and the party-goers discover that it's not just presents nestling under the tree...there's a dead body too. A dead body that bears a striking resemblance to Father Christmas.

With the snow falling and the suspicions flying, it's up to Mordecai to sniff out the culprit - and prevent someone else from getting murder for Christmas.

'The book nods towards Agatha Christie but retains a crackling atmosphere of dread and horror that will chill the heart however warm your fireside' Metro
  • Published: 15 December 2015
  • ISBN: 9781784703455
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $22.99
Categories:

About the author

Francis Duncan

Francis Duncan is the pseudonym for William Underhill, who was born in 1918. He lived virtually all his life in Bristol and was a ‘scholarship boy’ boarder at Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital school. Due to family circumstances he was unable to go to university and started work in the Housing Department of Bristol City Council. Writing was always important to him and very early on he published articles in newspapers and magazines. His first detective story was published in 1936.

In 1938 he married Sylvia Henly. Although a conscientious objector, he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in World War II, landing in France shortly after D-Day. After the war he trained as a teacher and spent the rest of his life in education, first as a primary school teacher and then as a lecturer in a college of further education. In the 1950s he studied for an external economics degree from London University. No mean feat with a family to support; his daughter, Kathryn, was born in 1943 and his son, Derek, in 1949.

Throughout much of this time he continued to write detective fiction from ‘sheer inner necessity’, but also to supplement a modest income. He enjoyed foreign travel, particularly to France, and took up golf on retirement. He died of a heart attack shortly after celebrating his fiftieth wedding anniversary in 1988.

Also by Francis Duncan

Murder has a Motive
So Pretty a Problem
In at the Death
Behold a Fair Woman
See all

Praise for Murder for Christmas

A classic murder mystery

Bookseller

This is a bah-humbug’s ideal read

Lady

A wonderfully cosy read and a great way to while away a winter’s evening

Erin Britton, Nudge

Kept guessing to the end, I am left wondering why it has taken so long to discover Francis Duncan […] With some 20 crime novels to his credit, a relaunch seems long overdue.

Barry Turner, Daily Mail

The book nods towards Agatha Christie but retains a crackling atmosphere of dread and horror that will chill the heart however warm your fireside

Claire Allfree, Metro

A delightful festive murder mystery

Nudge

A devilishly good murder mystery, replete with atmospheric mansion, shifty characters and a christmas conundrum, this is perfect for those who prefer murder and mayhem to mistletoe and wine

Jade Craddock, Bookseller
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