The Mystery of Mistletoe Hall

Title: The Mystery of Mistletoe Hall (Lord Edgington Investigates #4)

Author: Benedict Brown

Published in: 2021

Date read: 19th February 2026

Score: 4/5

Genre: Detective, Mystery, Thriller

Plot: (Warning, may contain spoilers):
Published in 2021, this is the fourth installment in the Lord Edgington Investigates series. It is a festive "locked-room" mystery heavily inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, set during a snowy Christmas in 1925.

The Plot:
The story follows Lord Edgington, a retired, eccentric police superintendent, and his teenage grandson and narrator, Christopher ("Chrissy"). They travel to Mistletoe Hall after receiving a last-minute Christmas invitation from Edgington’s old police colleague, Lord Mountfalcon.
Upon arrival, they find the grand manor eerily deserted—the host is missing, and the servants have been sent away. The mystery deepens when Christopher discovers Lord Mountfalcon’s body shot dead in the snowy garden. As a massive blizzard traps everyone inside, a group of disparate strangers begins to arrive, including a racing driver, a comedian, and a singer. A cryptic riddle poem warns that more deaths are coming, and soon the body count begins to rise.

Key Characters:
Lord Edgington: The brilliant, sharp-tongued detective who must use his years of experience to outwit a killer.
Christopher: His bumbling but loyal grandson who provides a youthful, often humorous perspective on the grim events.
The Guests: A cast of eight archetypal strangers, each harboring secrets that link them to the house or the host.

The Resolution:
As the group is picked off one by one, Lord Edgington realizes the murders are part of a meticulously planned revenge plot. The killer is revealed to be the policeman among the guests. His motive stems from a decades-old grudge: he believes Lord Mountfalcon and Edgington’s former colleagues framed his father for a crime he didn't commit (or for which he was unfairly punished), and he lured the group to the hall to enact a final, bloody "justice."

Comments:
This book had been recommended to me by my wife who read it on days leading up to Christmas day and I read it in mid February. Firstly, it is not essential that it is read over Christmas, it can be read at any time. I am always nervous about the works of authors I am not familiar with but this book got off to a great start and did not let me down at all. Quick pace, lots of things happening so you never get bored and good ending that was far from obvious. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the best way to describe it is "Entertaining".

Books that we've read by Benedict Brown (1):
The Mystery of Mistletoe Hall (Lord Edgington Investigates #4) (2021)