A Christmas Gathering Turns Deadly

The Dead of Winter, Nicola Upson
Detective Archie Penrose has an interesting Christmas proposition for Josephine Tey (Tey's real name was Elizabeth MacIntosh, but in this series Upson refers to her as a real person named Josephine Tey) and her partner Marta Fox: join him on the picturesque island of St. Michael's Mount for a lavish Christmas gathering which will benefit refugee Jewish children already fleeing from Hitler's tyranny; the castle on the island belongs to the family of his old friend Hilaria. He tells them he will be escorting a "famous actress" who will also be in attendance. To his surprise, one of the locals on the island is Reverend Richard Hartley, who he met 18 years earlier at the scene of a horrific murder. But the Christmas gathering is already getting tense: one of the guests is a Nazi sympathizer, Archie's "actress" is herself being stalked by Nazis, at least one of the guests isn't who they seem, and all sorts of secrets are being held on the island.

This is Upson's riff on a Agatha Christie mystery trope (people trapped in a remote location) crossed with a little social commentary. You are actually an eyewitness for more than one crime and know who some of the guilty are. The main charm of this book is that it's a mystery set at Christmas on a unique island off the coast of Cornwall, England, that can only be reached at low tide, and which was coveted by the Nazis. The family Upson portrays as owning the castle actually did, and the descriptions of the castle, the village, and the island people is very evocative and fascinating.

Some of the other plot choices seem odd. It was interesting to learn about "the Hollywood star"—a real-life person—that Archie brings to the island, but she seems to be in the story for no reason but to feature this particular person. Also, this time Josephine and Marta take a back seat in the investigation; it's nice to see Archie in action, though, so I didn't quibble too much. I ended up enjoying the story very much.

Note: In the United States this book is known as The Secrets of Winter, which isn't half as ominous as the British title.