English Mysteries Club discussion

This is the thread to discuss The Case of the Ghost of Christmas Morning by P.J. Fitzsimmons, which has won our poll for the final more contemporary English mystery group read this year.

Reading and discussion will begin on 1st December, and continue all month.

Who's in for this one?

Hello Jean, I'm in !! :-)

I plan to read it. Probably start it later this week.

I'm at 45% through the book.
I can't stand readings with forced humor. The author clearly wants to imitate Wodehouse's style. He does it well, but all his effort is concentrated on the ironic and humorous way of speaking, which however not only does not make me laugh (probably because I'm not British and being from Italy I can't fully appreciate a British style humor) , but after a while it becomes tiring.
The mystery is not that great and nothing makes me fond of the characters ( the worst thing to me).
I think the book is well written for those who love this genre, but perhaps in the last 2 years I have distanced myself too much from this kind of reading... It seems I do not to like it anymore, I prefer fast paced mysteries or historical mysteries linked to real events and/or real historical figures.

It's difficult to find a Christmas mystery with Christmas atmosphere ( I only found 4 in my whole life), but at least here we can breath a cozy atmosphere of a snowy English village, you know, like those on old Christmas cards.
I appreciate very much this aspect in the writer style, he's very good in backgrounds description.

Hello, Jean.
Sounds interesting, I'm in!!!

It's good to see some in already! We start officially today 😊

I have not read this author before so will give it a try!

From 45% through the book onwards ( I'm currently at 60% ) the story improved, becoming more engaging and making me appreciate the writer's and therefore the protagonist's humor more.

As before, I really like the descriptive parts because they fully capture the cozy atmosphere of the English village and of the winter and Christmas period.

It took me a while to get into the story, but I'm really enjoying this read now

That's good Tiziana, but it sounds very slow to start. 🤔 I wonder if others will find this too.

Bionic Jean wrote: "That's good Tiziana, but it sounds very slow to start. 🤔 I wonder if others will find this too."

It wasn't slow, it was right for this kind of read, but it wasn't very engaging for me at the start. I try to explain better:
It was difficult for me to get involved in the story, because this kind of mystery is probably no longer the genre I'm used to and it's no longer the genre I prefer.
Furthermore, at the beginning I found the author's constant humorous jokes annoying, now that I find myself involved in the story and have gotten used to the author's style, I appreciate the protagonist's jokes more.

I think the others in the group will like it.
Probably I will read more books in the series in the future.

I finished it and I must admit that despite my initial difficulties, I really liked this book!
It was funny and wittily thought out by the author.
I rated it 4 stars, my review will be available in the next few days.

Recommended for the whole group!!

Here is my 4 stars review ( no spoiler, I promise ) :
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Oh that's great! I'm sorry, I misunderstood - thanks Tizi 😊 And that's a lovely review.

I am really looking forward to this one now!

Finished it yesterday. I'll put my comments behind a spoiler alert, although I don't actually mention anything about who done it, or how; I only comment on my reactions to the reading experience, but some may feel that indicates too much about Fitzsimmons's style and the nature of the ending.

(view spoiler)[Tiziana commented early on about the continuous jokey Wodehousian style. Like Tiziana, I found it a bit over-the-top at first, but also like her, I found that I grew to accept it after a couple of chapters. Not only the writing style, but the plot, characters, and final explanation are similarly over-the-top. I have to say that it's not my favourite type of detective mystery, but I think it's a style that the reader has to take on its own terms, i.e. you have to accept it and enjoy it for its own type of humour. Having done that, I found it entertaining. I definitely enjoyed this more than Heyer's Death in the Stocks, in which there was also a lot of supposedly witty verbal duelling. The difference was that, for me, Fitzsimmons/Anty Boisjoly is actually funny most of the time, whereas Heyer's 'bright young things' aren't.

Like the writing style, the reader has to accept the outlandishly exaggerated explanation at the end. It was certainly inventive, if totally implausible! Acceptance equals entertainment in a case like this, but as I implied before, I really prefer a plot and characters that bear some resemblance to real life. That's what I think, anyway. (hide spoiler)]

Mike wrote: "Finished it yesterday. I'll put my comments behind a spoiler alert, although I don't actually mention anything about who done it, or how; I only comment on my reactions to the reading experience, b..."

I totally agree with you about accepting both the writing style ( to be able to enjoy the reading) and the final explanation.
I think that at the start I wasn't prepared for the author's style and was annoyed by it.
Once I accepted it I was able to appreciate the story and enjoy reading it.

I haven't read that book you mention by Heyer, but I have read others and agree with your impressions about her style and I prefer the entertaining style of this contemporary author too.

Thanks Mike, I find always very interesting to read other people's point of view !!! :-D

Bionic Jean wrote: "Oh that's great! I'm sorry, I misunderstood - thanks Tizi 😊 And that's a lovely review."

You don't have to be sorry, I probably didn't explain myself well.
Thanks for your kind words and for reading my review !!

Mike, that is really helpful, thank you! It bears out what Tizi was saying, too.

I'm another who has found Georgette Heyer's style difficult to get into - although many here love her, so I know this is merely a personal preference.

Anyway, I'm keen to read this one now, as soon as I am able.

Bionic Jean wrote: "Mike, that is really helpful, thank you! It bears out what Tizi was saying, too.

I'm another who has found Georgette Heyer's style difficult to get into - although many here love he..."

Can't wait to read your review then !! :-)
( no rush of course, all in your time )

My book came in! I would really like to get to it before Christmas. I think I will probably be able to and will jump back in with my comments!

Tiziana wrote: "I'm at 45% through the book.
I can't stand readings with forced humor. The author clearly wants to imitate Wodehouse's style. He does it well, but all his effort is concentrated on the ironic and h..."

I just hit the 45% mark, and I can see where you're coming from. At least so far, the mystery has relied more on interpersonal relationships than logic, so it's difficult for me to imagine where the solution is heading. I do enjoy his humor, though, and his prose flows very smoothly. We'll see how the latter half goes!

I got this for free on Audible until the end of the year and absolutely love the narrator though I admit I zone out a bit sometimes when descriptions become hard for me to follow. I just read the chapter where Anty sings in the church with his Aunt on piano. I laughed right out through the whole scene.

I finished it this morning. It was a fun read throughout, and the ending twist reminded me of The Valley of Fear. Part of me wishes I'd read the ending first so that I could better appreciate some of the finer logical points (which tend to interest me more than the whodunnit component). Or I could just re-read it in a year or so :).

I finished today and really loved it. Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I’ve had this on my to read list for a while. Plan to start it tomorrow! I’m looking forward to it. Great pick for December and Christmas.

Jessica wrote: "I finished today and really loved it. Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Agree with you about "the best part of the book", when Anty sang that bizarre Christmas Carol inventing the missing sentences... so hilarious !!

I started this yesterday and I am really enjoying it so far. You guys have made me eagerly anticipate the singing scene! :)

I have just finished reading the singing scene and it is truly memorable! I am very much enjoying Anty's sense of humour.

I'm so pleased this is so much fun!

Finished it and really enjoyed it - enough to go out and find the other books in the series. This is my review.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

One more chapter to go! I will check in with you guys tomorrow :-)

The singing scene -- priceless.

What a fun read! I found Anty delightful. I appreciated his quick wits, both with his sense of humor and his ability to solve the crime. He never gave up on his Aunty, which I also loved about him.

Tiziana wrote: "I'm at 45% through the book.
I can't stand readings with forced humor. The author clearly wants to imitate Wodehouse's style. He does it well, but all his effort is concentrated on the ironic and h..."

I’m reading the Kindle with Audible narration set at 1.8 speed, and it’s like watching a Noël Coward play with the witticisms coming at you fast and furious; if you’re not paying attention, you might miss one!

I hope that I don’t give anything away.

The Case of the Ghost of Christmas Morning, is a great book. One day it should be a classic.

If this book is a sample of PJ Fitzsimmons humor and writing, then I will be happy to buy more of his books. Let me talk to you.

The Anty Boijoly Mysteries, has “got it on!” It is extremely “well put together.” And the author has got to be “flying high!” After his “runaway digs,” he’s got his “feet on the table!” With his “hands all over the place.”

This book “isn’t going to wait for you.” You “better run, if you want to catch it.” “It’s all easy now,” “I’ve got no tip for you.” “The rat and cat wants to know where you hide it.”

“All day long you, you nibble your fingers…”


Five stars is what I give it. ✨✨✨✨✨

This has been such a great read! I'll leave the thread here until Twelfth Night before archiving it, to give everyone a chance to finish.

You can add your thoughts at any time.😊

I finished this 12/27/24, and thought it was hysterically funny. The wrap up of the “who dun it” was a little confusing, but after going over the passages I understood that my guess was wrong! I would read another book in the series with some of the same characters, which would be the Anty Boijoly series https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8...

Thanks Debbie.