Kitchin, CHB - Crime at Christmas (1934)

Malcolm Warren is back -- not a suspect this time, as in Death of My Aunt, but as a bystander and discoverer of bodies. As a successful stockbroker, he is invited to spend Christmas at the house of a wealthy client, Mr Quisberg. Quisberg is occupied on Christmas Eve, but his wife and her children from two previous marriages are at home, as well as his ebullient friend Dr Green. Also staying for Christmas is Quisberg's secretary, Harvey, and -- making her first visit -- Harvey's timid mother.

Alas for Harvey! His mother plummets from her second-floor window, and Warren discovers her body on Christmas morning, impaled on his balcony railings. Doctors and police are called in, but despite some odd circumstances the event is dismissed as a tragic sleepwalking accident. It takes another death on Boxing Day to draw the attention of a Scotland Yard inspector who manages -- with Warren's aid -- to unravel the mystery within twenty-four hours.

There are some improbabilities, but the book is closely plotted and carries the reader through them with panache. The compression of time into a few days maintains interest, and Warren is a likeable if somewhat naive narrator. There is very little extraneous matter and the chapter headings -- The Dropped Pipe; The Smiling Nurse -- are classics. A solid contribution to the genre.

Jon.