Murder by Plum Pudding is a novel that is the length of a robust short story. It is set in 1925 England and features amateur sleuth Ginger Gold, who is married to a police inspector. The story revolves around a Christmas Eve dinner and the death of one of the guests. I wanted a festive Christmas mystery, and I suppose this fit the bill.
The story isn’t terribly interesting and features way too many characters for such a short mystery. I could barely keep everyone straight and none of them had more than a trace of backstory. Ginger Gold was quite charming; it seems there are other mysteries featuring her. Everyone is pleasantly wealthy and gilded.
Unfortunately, the mystery is very wispy. I immediately suspected the character who committed the murder and I’m usually terrible at that. There was the briefest of red herrings and no tension whatsoever. The mystery certainly qualifies as a cozy, and I enjoyed the 1920s setting. Still, I wish it had been more complex.
I set my goal as 13 books for this Cannonball and this is my thirteenth review. I read about 27 books this year overall. Nothing terribly challenging, but that’s okay. I am going to try to do 52 books for CBR 17 and am looking forward to some more pleasantly challenging reading. Even so, escapist reading is something I value, and as brief as it was, this mystery did the trick.