‘The Christmas Clue’ by Nicola Upson

Published by Faber,
25 September 2025.
ISBN: 978-0-57139502-6 

The names of Anthony and Elva Pratt are probably a mystery to most people, but the chances are that a lot of us have a memento of them tucked away in a cupboard. They were the inventors of Cluedo, one of the most popular board games in the western world. The Pratts are now lost in the mists of history, but when Nicola Upson, herself a lifelong Cluedo fan, discovered them, she decided that a suitable homage would be to give them a murder mystery of their own to solve.

The Christmas Clue is fiction, of course, but with more than a nod not only to the Pratts who are centre stage, but also to Tudor Close, the celebrated Sussex hotel where the mystery-loving couple used to entertain visitors between the two world wars. Over Christmas 1943 the pair are engaged to run a murder mystery for the seasonal guests – but on their way to the hotel they discover a body! And when the arrival of the police is delayed by heavy snow, the festive game they planned has to be cancelled and it’s up to the Pratts to find out who really dunnit.

There are more nods to the famous board game in the names of the characters they encounter: Browning the hotel concierge; Miss Silver the village shopkeeper; Mrs Grayson the cook; Mrs Threadgold, the reclusive guest. And I especially enjoyed Colonel Colman...

At first there are plenty of clues, but they give rise to more questions than answers. Where did the body disappear to? Who called the two policemen who are on the spot almost right away? Is someone trying to scare the guests, and if so, why? A trail is laid, and it’s up to Anthony and Elva to gather the evidence and unravel the knots, which of course they do.

The Christmas Clue is a slim volume, fewer than two hundred pages, but it’s packed with references to the classic crime fiction of the Golden Age: a country house hotel cut off by snow, a motley crew of suspects with connections that date back for years, an amateur sleuth (in this case two) with a genius for joining dots the police haven’t even spotted, and above all, an intricate plot with plenty of red herrings and carefully placed misdirection. It’s enormous fun, and with the festive season rapidly approaching, an ideal stocking filler for the murder mystery fan. 
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Nicola Upson was born in Suffolk and read English at Downing College, Cambridge. Her debut, An Expert in Murder, was the first in a series of crime novels to feature Josephine Tey – one of Britain’s finest Golden Age crime writers - and was dramatised for BBC Radio 4. She is a member of the Detection Club, and in 2024 curated the acclaimed Murder by the Book: a celebration of twentieth century British crime fiction at Cambridge University Library. She lives with her partner in Cambridge and Cornwall.  

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.