Murder Goes Mumming by Alisa Craig

The second book in the Madoc Rhys/Janet Wadman series was Murder Goes Mumming. Alisa Craig (aka Charlotte Macleod) set the book at Christmas time, hence the mumming part of the title. Madoc Rhys and his new fiance, Janet (pronounced Jennet), are invited to Graylings, a huge estate in the north of Canada. The Condrycke family was interested in Madoc because his father was a famous conductor, and his brother and sister were famous operatic singers. Donald Condrycke, who was on the board of the company where Janet worked, didn’t know that Madoc was just a lowly Mountie. When the family matriarch and her sister wound up dead, Madoc started his investigation. Well, he had to because the family was snowbound due to a blizzard. Of course, no one seemed to realize that Grannie Rosa was murdered, but Madoc guessed it. Then It looked like Cyril Condrycke killed his Aunt Adelaide while high on speed. Madoc, of course, figured out the murder, and had ample aid from his Janet.

The book was a nice pleasant read. I will admit that I was confused with all the characters. I was having trouble keeping all the brothers, sisters, and married partners straight. The Condrycke family was not very likable, so it didn’t matter that one of them was murdering the others. After the murderer was announced, it did make sense, but I was just confused trying to keep them all straight. I’ll continue on with the series because it is pleasant enough, and there are so few books in the total.