A fun read for the snowy season is former detective constable Emma Mason’s debut mystery, Murder Most Haunted. When self-effacing DS Midge McGowan retires from her years with the Thames Valley Police property office, she receives an unexpected parting gift: a haunted Christmas weekend at historic Atherton Manor, family manse of an old tin-mining dynasty. To say this gift has not one iota of appeal for Midge would overstate her enthusiasm.
Nevertheless, Midge’s wife Bridie insists that she go, and from the outset something is off. The group is led by a former police detective who, thankfully for Midge, appears not to remember her. And there is a rather unusual bus driver who frequently forgets he’s in a service industry. The small party for the weekend includes a physician and his melancholic wife, a pop star and a podcaster determined to believe in supernatural manifestations at the Hall. He’s most especially on the hunt for the White Lady of Atherton Moor, the best-known ghost of the area, and has brought along all the sensory equipment and cameras he needs in order to document her appearance.
Atherton Hall happens to be in the middle of a military firing range, which makes it impossible to leave the Hall until the current incredibly noisy, nerve-wracking exercises are over. A blizzard descends on the manor and more than that, someone or something has slashed the tyres of the group’s tour bus. Because the tour leader collected all their phones at the outset and they cannot be found, no matter how wild and crazy things get at the Hall, this hapless tour group cannot signal for help.
So here you have the classic setup for a story in which a group of characters are totally isolated and the killer starts to pick them off, one by one. But is everyone at risk, or are there hidden motives behind the happenings at Atherton Hall? The challenge is to figure out not only whodunnit, but why and how.
Midge, overweight and apparently rather plain in appearance, was, for me, a truly sympathetic character. She had buried herself in the police property office for her whole career, but, as the hours slowly pass at Atherton Manor and the mysteries intensify, I could see how she would have been a good detective, had she the chance, and I regretted her truncated opportunities.
Each character is distinctive, interesting and not above having secrets, just as they should do in a story of this type. The glamourous pop star is increasingly on edge, cut off from her legions of fans. The podcaster, Noah, is so desperate to find and record a ghost that every occurrence is filtered through his particular lens and, indeed, a number of episodes don’t lend themselves to conventional interpretation. The doctor and his wife apparently lost a son, and the wife’s interest in the weekend – in the face of her husband’s massive scepticism – is in using séances, tarot or any other means to establish a connection with the deceased. In an interesting parallel, it emerges that the White Lady was driven to haunting the moor because she, too, lost a child.
Even Midge, who seems so uncomplicated, and possibly slightly on the spectrum, as she tends to be aggressively literal – hides a thing or two. Plus, she cannot entirely put out of her mind that, by being at this weekend, she’s missing Bridie’s chemotherapy session.
The party’s number is decreased through some rather unlamented losses. But, if you don’t like gruesome, never fear, you won’t find it off-putting. I didn’t. It seemed more that author Mason was smiling mischievously in the background, creating events just beyond the realm of plausibility to make sure we all know that it’s just plain fun! Perfect for the winter season.
Also see Murder at Maybridge Castle by Ada Moncrieff.
Bantam
Print/Kindle/iBook
£13.59
CFL Rating: 4 Stars
