"Rest You Merry"

All right, here we are at the end of January. Have your neighbors - the ones with the unbelievably garish Christmas displays on their house - taken the decorations down yet? No? Then here's a mystery that may help you survive until they do.

It's called "Rest You Merry," by Charlotte MacLeod, and it is a very funny, very well-written mystery about Peter Shandy, Professor of Horticulture at Balaclava Agricultural College in New England. It is the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the full review by clicking here.

For many years, Balaclava Agricultural College has earned a considerable amount of money by having a winter festival of lights and sound generally called "the grand illumination" - with all the residents of the area around the college decorating and over-decorating their homes with garish lights and playing recordings of holiday music. Well, all the residents except Professor Shandy. He's not anti-holiday, he just doesn't like all the noise and nonsense. But he is constantly pressured to break down and load up the decorations - with much of the pressure coming from his busybody neighbor, Jemima Ames. Finally, Shandy snaps. He hires a team of electricians and decorators to put up the largest, most garish, most brightly-lit, blinking and twinkling decorations anywhere, loads up a sound system with loud holiday music, carefully turns everything on full-blast, locks the controls (so that nobody can turn them off) - and leaves home on vacation.

Unfortunately for him, the ship on which he is cruising breaks down, so he must return home - where he finds, inside his house, the body of that busybody neighbor. The police think she died from falling off a ladder while trying to turn off his display, but the professor is sure it is murder.

Do I have to tell you who's right?

And that is just the beginning of a very amusing, very cozy mystery by Charlotte MacLeod. In the course of her writing career, she turned out  some 30 books, including several series. "Rest You Merry" was the first of ten books to feature Professor Shandy. MacLeod's books are very definitely "cozies" by definition - there's little in the way of violence or sex, with everything taking place well offstage, and there's a lot of humor. There's also a pretty good mystery as part of it all. If you enjoy the cozy style, you will almost certainly enjoy Charlotte MacLeod's books. Many are out of print, though there seem to be plenty of used copies available. 

Comments

[Margot Kinberg]

Les - Oh, I'm so pleased you've highlighted a Charlotte MacLeod mystery. I'm more familiar with her Sarah Kelling/Max Bittersohn mysteries - I like them very much - than I am with her Peter Shandy series but I'm with you completely on recommending her as a talented cosy author. Folks give it a try.

[Les Blatt]

Thanks, Margot. I haven't read the Kelling/Bittersohn books yet - but the key word there is "yet" and I plan to try one in the near future. Thanks!

[Beverly Clemmer]

Another thank you for mentioning a Charlotte MacLeod mystery. I have loved her novels for many years, particularly the Kelling series, as well as the Shandy series and Madoc Rhys series that she wrote as "Alisa Craig." Her "Grub and Stakers" series under the Craig name was firmly tongue in cheek and was a fun, very light series which she was wise enough to keep short so as to remain tongue in cheek. It was rather lovely that the last book of both the Shandy and, particularly, the Kelling series neatly bookended the first book in each series, bringing back and resolving certain characters. I truly miss looking forward to her next release.

[Les Blatt]

While I knew of her, Beverly, I must admit that I hadn't read Charlotte MacLeod before this. I'm looking forward to meeting her other series detectives.