Ten Lords A-Leaping

October 7, 2013
An affable lead with a sympathetic backstory anchors Benison’s carefully crafted third Father Christmas mystery (after 2012’s Eleven Pipers Piping). Four years earlier, the Rev. Tom Christmas, the vicar of St. Nicholas Church in Thornford Regis, lost his wife as a result of a violent crime, and even as he serves his flock and takes care of his daughter, who has “reached the age of finding her father faintly embarrassing in certain instances,” the wound is still fresh. Christmas once again turns sleuth with his discovery of the strangled corpse of Oliver fforde-Beckett, seventh Marquess of Morborne, on the grounds of the Devon estate of fforde-Beckett’s brother-in-law. The victim, an entertainment entrepreneur, had no shortage of people wishing him ill, including family members disgruntled at his unilateral decision to sell valuable paintings belonging to the family trust and replace them with forgeries. Readers will hope that Christmas will keeping detecting past the partridge-in-a-pear-tree volume. Agent: Dean Cooke, Cooke Agency.

November 15, 2013
A church fundraiser at a stately home goes horribly wrong. The Rev. Tom Christmas, vicar of St. Nicholas Church, Thornford Regis, is understandably nervous about jumping out of a plane. But he's pleased that the Leaping Lords are using their celebrity sky diving to help raise money to repair the church. Landing on the grounds of Eggescombe Park, he sprains an ankle, forcing him to stay over with his daughter, Miranda. The first indication of trouble comes while watching Hector, the tenth Earl of Fairhaven, and his wife's brother, Oliver fforde-Beckett, seventh Marquess of Morborne, get into a midair wrestling match before both land safely. Oliver is a nasty customer whose relatives all dislike him, and Tom gets a bird's eye view of his enmity not only with Hector, but also with his half sister Lucinda, his cousins Dominic and Jamie, Viscount Kirkbride, and his sleuthing wife, Jane. When Tom finds Oliver strangled in Eggescombe's labyrinth, there is no shortage of suspects, all of them lying about their whereabouts on the night of the murder. Even Tom, who was being seduced by the stunning Lucinda, falls under suspicion, along with his former verger Jamie Kirkbride's brother, a man with a secret who vanished after an earlier murder case (Twelve Drummers Drumming, 2011, etc.), emerges as a suspect. After the dowager countess's artist in residence and lover is murdered, more motives emerge from Oliver's past. Tom, helped by Jane, needs to figure out who is the guilty party. A strong mystery reminiscent of P.D. James, with many well-developed characters, local color and a sensitive, intelligent investigator.

COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2013
The Reverend Tom Christmas, vicar of St. Nicholas Church, arranges a fund-raiser for his church starring the Leaping Lords, members of the aristocracy who skydive for charity. When Tom injures his ankle upon landing after his own jump, he, along with his young daughter, is invited to recuperate at Eggescombe, the estate of the Earl of Fairhaven, host of the event. Tom soon learns a past scandal has led to tensions among the half-siblings, cousins, and in-laws who are currently staying at Eggescombe. When Tom, on an early morning walk, finds the body of one of the relatives in a labyrinth on the estate, there are many suspects. With Tom also hiding a secret from the police, he decides not to tell them all he knows until he is able to talk to the parties involved. It becomes apparent that the murder may be rooted in the past actions of the victim. This leisurely paced, English-country-house mystery has multiple plotlines and plot twists as Tom finds a long-lost relative of a friend and solves several mysteries.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)