Book Review by Anna Karras

Murder at Holly House

If you’re anything like me, you have a thirst for British murder mysteries. I consume every one of them that comes to Acorn or BritBox from the delightful and humorous Ludwig to the intense and gritty Shetland, I can’t get enough. Maybe it’s because I was raised on a steady diet of Miss Marple books and James Bond films. However you view it, the UK bug bit me hard from an early age.

And since it’s December, I wanted to bring you a book that is filled with a blizzard, an idyllic Yorkshire village, the holiday season, and murder. What could be more festive than that?

In 1952 Yorkshire, rather hapless Inspector Frank Grasby is in disgrace with his chief. He may have accidentally let a stable full of thoroughbred horses loose in the countryside during an arrest, and yes, he might have arrested the lord mayor’s daughter for being drunk and disorderly when she was really having an epileptic seizure. But these things were certainly not his fault! Superintendent Arthur Juggers decides to send Grasby north to the village of Elderby to investigate a series of thefts while the scandals cool at home.

Grasby arrives during a sizeable snowstorm, and his first visit is to the festively named Holly House, home of Lord and Lady Damnish. Upon entering their rather smoky drawing room, Grasby steps in to assist with the flue in the fireplace and down drops a dead body that had been lodged in the chimney. What’s more puzzling, he’s a stranger–no one seems to know who the chap might be.

Within 12 hours, another body will be added to the count: this time the American husband of the village doctor. Grasby is only assisted by constable Bleakly, a narcoleptic war hero, and Daisy Dean, or Deedee, a young American college student who is interning at the police station. Will he have enough wits to catch a killer before someone else is whacked in the back of the head with a blunt instrument?

This is a charming sendup of the village murder mystery that Agatha Christie made so popular. All the elements are present: a charming, isolated hamlet, a well-named pub (The Hanging Beggar), and quirky townsfolk (like Hetty Gaunt, Grasby’s landlady with a penchant for being the local medium, complete with a crow on her shoulder).

So whodunnit? Was it the butcher? The vicar? Lady Damnish herself? The more Grasby probes into Elderby’s secrets the deeper the mystery grows. Including how is own father, a church bishop, might be involved in the whole mess. And Grasby, while not half as clever as Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple, has a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor that will keep you smirking until the final page.

This is the middle of three Christmas mysteries written about Inspector Grasby by Meyrick. The third, The Mistletoe Wedding Murders, was released in the UK this year, will most likely be available in the US in 2026.

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∞ Author Profile

Denzil Meyrick was a Scottish bestselling author of murder mysteries. Born in Glasgow, he wore many hats in his early life from police officer to corporate executive. He was most well-known for his DCI Jim Daley novels, Whisky from Small Glasses being the first in the series. Sadly, Meyrick died February 14, 2025, at the young age of 59.