LoveReading Says
Armchair detectives should get their thinking caps on while trying to solve this rather fabulous 1950’s festive murder mystery. Stockings cause havoc in a Yorkshire fishing village as Inspector Grasby and his Superintendent investigate a murder. Inspector Grasby has written his memoirs in the 70’s looking back to the time when the country was still recovering from the deprivations of the Second World War. Denzil Meyrick, author of the DCI Daley series, certainly knows how to meld humour with murder and mayhem. The humour, of the snort and smirk variety, sits on the dark side of life and and cleverly comes from observing moments of the ridiculous or allowing us the reader, to look behind and beyond Grasby’s thoughts and feelings. The sense of place and time is wonderful, the snowed-in village, hotel, streets, and the sea all offer a visual feast. The plot itself twists and corkscrews, ensuring a host of suspects. The range of characters thoroughly entertains, whether someone is on the page for a moment or in a starring role. Satisfying and rewarding, The Christmas Stocking Murders would make a wonderful gift or treat for lovers of historical or festive crime fiction.
Liz Robinson
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The Christmas Stocking Murders Synopsis
'Tis the season to solve a mystery... Inspector Frank Gradsby returns in a dazzling crime novel, from the bestselling author of Murder at Holly House.
A case shrouded in secrets.
It's just before Christmas, 1953. Grasby and Juggers are investigating a puzzling murder in the remote village of Uthley's Bay. A fisherman has been found dead on the beach, with a stocking wound tight round his throat.
A festive mystery for one and all.
Hundreds of pairs of stockings, in neat cellophane bags, soon wash up on the shore. A blizzard cuts off Grasby and Juggers from help, and the local innkeeper is murdered. Any remaining Christmas cheer goes up in smoke as the villagers refuse to talk, leaving the two detectives chasing false leads in the snow.
A winter wonderland with no escape.
To make matters worse, Grasby can't stop thinking about stockings. Why does everyone seem to be enjoying strangely high standards of hosiery, even beneath their oilskins? Who is the sinister bespectacled man snooping around their hotel? And how can they solve the murder when everyone in the village is a suspect?
About This Edition
About Denzil Meyrick
Denzil Meyrick was born in Glasgow and brought up in Campbeltown. After studying politics, he pursued a varied career including time spent as a police officer, freelance journalist and director of several companies in the leisure, engineering and marketing sectors. Denzil lives on Loch Lomond side with his wife, Fiona.
Author Photo Credit: Kirsty Anderson
The bestselling DCI Daley thriller series includes: Whisky from Small Glasses (Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year, 2015), The Last Witness, Dark Suits and Sad Songs, The Rat Stone Serenade, Well of the Winds, The Relentless Tide, A Breath on Dying Embers (longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize, 2019), Jeremiah’s Bell and The Death of Remembrance.
Click here to read a Q&A with Denzil Meyrick.
More About Denzil Meyrick