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Reviewed by Stephen Christopher for Readers' Favorite
Retired police detective Michael McLaren and his girlfriend Melanie are visiting his grandfather Neil and uncle Brandon at Corbie Hall for Christmas after being estranged for many years. Looking forward to some quality family time, everything is interrupted when a man’s body is discovered outside the house. This murder reminds Neil of the one the previous Christmas involving the husband of the Corbie Hall cook. Neil asks Michael to investigate. He reluctantly agrees, and through interviews with an eclectic cast of characters, he tries to solve it. Could these two murders be linked? Is it because they both worked for the bank or is it their connection to the market that resulted in their deaths? Grab Christmas at Corbie Hall by Jo A. Hiestand to find out.
Christmas at Corbie Hall starts with a bang, and the pace never halts. McLaren is extremely busy as he has many people to interview, some more than once as the extraordinary tale unravels. There are red herrings galore, and just when you think you know what’s going on, things take another turn, and the body count increases. The murders aren’t as cut and dried as they first appear, and the clues pile up. I enjoyed how Jo. A Hiestand connected every character to the two deceased men, increasing the list of suspects. Ultimately, I was blindsided by the reveal of what really happened, and the killer wasn’t someone I had considered at all—a testament to excellent storytelling.
The narrator of an audiobook is a difficult choice; get it wrong, and the experience isn’t positive. By choosing Callum Hale, Jo A. Hiestand has struck gold. Hale does a superb job by changing his voice for each character to deliver dialogue complete with accents and gender changes. His 'Britishness' is perfect for the setting in the UK, adding an extra class level to the story. I loved the ‘stiff upper lip’ dialogue between the three McLaren gentlemen. Lovers of murder mysteries, especially those set in the UK, will appreciate this audiobook as much as I did.
