An English Murder

Warbeck Hall in the fictional county of Markshire is falling apart, and Lord Warbeck, who is ill, invites his family and guests there on Christmas Eve. This could be the last Christmas the estate sees, since postwar taxes are close to ruining the Warbecks.

Politics splits the house party. Sir Julius Warbeck is Chancellor of the Exchequer in a socialist government. His nephew's rival camp is the heir, Robert, who heads a fascist organisation pledged to topple that government. Meanwhile a German refugee scholar, Dr Bottwink, works through the family papers.

At midnight a guest drinks from the wrong glass and dies. Snow has cut the house off, so no outside help can arrive. The only policeman under the roof is Sergeant Rogers, Sir Julius's bodyguard, and every person in the house is a suspect.

The novel is a Golden Age puzzle with a closed circle of suspects and a single snowbound setting. It first appeared in 1951 and was issued in the United States as The Christmas Murder. The tone is sharp and wry, and the book also paints a portrait of an old landed order facing its decline.

The question is whether one bodyguard, with no backup, can find the poisoner before the guests leave the house.