Christmas was long gone when I started to read A Cornish Christmas Murder by Fiona Leitch but it didn’t matter. Although this is a murder tale starting three days before Christmas, the festive season is a background theme rather than being key to the story. Fourth in the Nosey Parker cosy crime series featuring ex-Metropolitan Police caterer Jodie, this is a closed room mystery in a snowbound country hotel high on Bodmin Moor. Jodie, mum Shirley, daughter Daisy and friend Debbie have got a last-minute catering job at Kingseat Abbey, a country mansion being renovated into a hotel. A charitable foundation, run by a millionaire with a notorious bad boy reputation, has hired the hotel as venue for a Christmas party for local children. The party is a success but after the departure of the children, the weather turns nasty. Jodie and friends are snowbound with the hotel’s owner and staff plus the millionaire, his son and charity manager. They are soon joined by people lost in the snow; four Japanese girls whose car is in a ditch, and a mysterious couple who are rather vague about who they are. While Jodie rustles up food for the group, hotel manager Lily – who grew up in Penstowan with Jodie – attempts to find beds for the unexpected guests in the partially-redecorated hotel. Next morning, one of the group is found dead in a locked bedroom.
The police are informed but, because of the snow, are unable to get to the remote hotel. Jodie’s boyfriend DCI Nathan Withers, stuck in Penstowan, reminds her that the murderer is most likely still in the house and urges her not to start investigating. Of course she ignores his advice. While Daisy proves herself to have inherited her grandfather’s sharp eye for clues, Jodie tries to keep all the guests in the house without frightening them. But the hours pass without the police arriving.
This is a great locked room mystery in a house with a sinister history, a hidden priest hole and secret passages, and the brooding silence of the snow-covered moors around them.
Despite there being too many toilet jokes – I don’t remember noticing them in the earlier books –  this is an easy read with enough laughs and unpredictable elements to keep me guessing until near the end. Oh, and there are some tempting Christmas recipes at the end.
The baking theme continues in book five, A Cornish Recipe for Murder, to be reviewed here soon.

And here are my reviews of the first books in the Nosey Parker series:-
THE CORNISH WEDDING MURDER #1NOSEYPARKER
THE CORNISH VILLAGE MURDER #2NOSEYPARKER
THE PERFECT CORNISH MURDER #3NOSEYPARKER

If you like this, try:-
‘The Secrets of Gaslight Lane’ by MRC Kasasian #4GowerDetective
‘The Killing of Polly Carter’ by Robert Thorogood #2DeathinParadise
‘Or The Bull Kills You’ by Jason Webster #1MaxCamara

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#BookReview A CORNISH CHRISTMAS MURDER by Fiona Leitch https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7Yf via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-