Mrs. Jeffries & the Mistletoe Mix-Up by Emily Brightwell

Mrs. Jeffries & the Mistletoe Mix-Up by Emily Brightwell ISBN-13: 9780425251706 Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Released: November 6, 2012

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description from Back Cover:
Moments after a high tea is interrupted by a fire in the servants’ hall, art collector Daniel McCourt is found sprawled on the floor of his study under a bundle of mistletoe, his throat slit by the bloody sword lying next to his body. Could the killer be a disgruntled lover, sending a message by murdering McCourt under the mistletoe? Could it be one of his fellow collectors, pointedly using one of McCourt’s own acquisitions to kill him?

Inspector Witherspoon is determined to solve the case—preferably before Christmas Eve—but of course he will need some assistance from the always sharp-witted Mrs. Jeffries, who has her own theories on why McCourt had to die by the sword...


My Review:
Mrs. Jeffries & the Mistletoe Mix-Up is a historical mystery set in England in the late 1800's, though we don't know the exact year. This book was the twenty-ninth book in the series. You don't need to read the previous books to understand this one, and this book didn't spoil the mysteries of the previous books.

There were enough setting and time period details to give the story a historical feel. The characters were engaging and realistic, though not highly complex. The suspense came from wondering whodunit, though Mrs. Jeffries and company also nearly got caught helping the Inspector several times (which they want to avoid).

The story was a clue-based "puzzle-it-out" mystery. By about halfway through, I was pretty sure that one or two specific characters were whodunit. I had the correct whodunit and motive before Mrs. Jeffries even caught on to the "revealing" clue. It was clever how the author hid that clue, though, so whodunit wasn't obvious.

There was no sex. There was a minor amount of explicit bad language (some of it was British bad words). Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.