BOOK REVIEW: The Case Of The Ghost Of Christmas Morning - PJ Fitzsimmons

TITLE: The Case Of The Ghost Of Christmas Morning
AUTHOR: P J Fitzsimmons
PUBLISHED BY: Indefensible Publishing

Anty Boisjoly is such a happy-go-lucky person that it’s a joy to read this story of how he pits his satirical intellect against another duo of incredible murders. In this storyline, Aunty Boisjoly is the only conceivable suspect when a murder victim buys his old friends a farewell drink at the local, hours after being murdered on Christmas Eve.

This easy-to-read tale involves another marvellous convoluted adventure for Boisjoly; it has as many complications of characters and plot as its contemporaries, but with more murders than usually found in them.

Set at Christmastime in the English countryside, our valiant hero and his Scotland Yard friend solve the mystery of a dead war hero and a few side mysteries along the way. The style of the tale is witty, in true PG Wodehouse fashion, but it still manages to respect the conventions of the cosy English manor house murder mystery. There is much atmospheric charm and the usual witty banter as our hero goes sleuthing in a small Hertfordshire village during a wintery Christmas.

This is the second in the Anty Boisjoly series; it has a very clever plot and an amusing storyline; it was so enjoyable, I didn’t want it to end. Some of the answers I worked out for myself but a lot of it was a complete surprise and as Anty explains all in the final chapters I could compare my findings with his.

It is a book with a twisting plot which I very much enjoyed reading; the likeable characters who are so much fun, from the WWI war heroes to a vicar who writes poetry, the barmaid who only allows one man one drink every hour and not forgetting the cow with short legs who gives an amazing amount of milk each day. Each character is an individual who readers will feel they have known all their life, the descriptions are so good.

The dialogue in this book is a hoot along with the humour; some of it was laugh out loud funny. Half of the fun is the characters, for instance the aunt who spends the first half concealed in the drapes and the three foot high cow that comes to play a crucial role. The other half is the quips scattered throughout. Just as the book's description suggests, the story invokes both Wodehouse and Christie but in an original fashion. I found the writing intelligent and witty and the plot was cleverly interesting.

This witty whodunit has old fashioned charm, immense humour, likeable characters and is the second in a very enjoyable series. Fans of Wodehouse will delight in the setting, the characters and the witty dialogue, while Christie fans will savour the complex mystery with seemingly hidden clues.

For readers who enjoy plenty of wit with quirky characters, secrets and a multitude of twists in an intriguing plot, this is a wonderful complex murder mystery to sit back and enjoy.

Reviewer - Anne Pritchard