Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture, and author Verity Bright for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

Recently, I picked up new books in a few “cozy mystery” series. For the most part, I found them pretty accessible, even without having read the books that preceded them. While I enjoyed A Midwinter Murder, I didn’t find it quite as accessible as the other series.

Lady Eleanor Swift is en route to the residence of the Duke of Auldwyke for Christmas in 1924. No, he’s not a relative or friend. In fact, she’s never made his acquaintance. She was invited to his annual shooting party gathering and was guilted into attending after her RSVP declining the invite was lost in the mail. Her fiancee, Scotland Yard Detective Hugh Seldon, will be arriving after her, thanks to his job.

Along with her staff, Lady Eleanor is picked up at the train station by the Duke’s secretary, Porritt, and brought to Auldwyke Hall. She has barely settled in when she finds Porritt’s dead body in a shed. He’s been strangled.

The Duke has been a recluse since the death of his wife ten years earlier and doesn’t like having people around. With his position, he’s also used to getting what he wants, which is why Hugh ends up on the murder investigation with little help except for Eleanor, her staff, and an inexperienced local constable. A winter storm cuts Auldwyke Hall off from the rest of the world, so there’s no way to call for help, even if the Duke would allow it.

The mystery was interesting. I did figure it out when one clue was dropped, but I wasn’t certain until the end when all was revealed. The mystery is rather complicated but also rather simple in the end. Where the book faltered a bit was making it accessible to someone new to the series. There are a lot of hints about the background of Hugh and Eleanor’s relationship but not enough details that I felt like I knew why they were engaged and yet still having to work through some things before getting married. It was brought up several times without dropping more information and I didn’t feel I understood enough there.

My other criticism is that the writing is very repetitive. The same information is presented over and over again at different times in various ways. Whether it’s Eleanor and Hugh talking about their relationship, talking about the impediments the Duke puts on the investigation, or the investigation itself, there are minor details which are repeated over and over again.

Still, I enjoyed A Midwinter Murder overall. The characters were interesting, and the setting of a Christmas shooting competition was interesting. I would go back and check out the rest of this series after reading this. Lady Eleanor and Hugh are interesting characters, and this book intrigued me about how they got to this point. Eleanor is an unconventional woman who is defying social norms, much to the chagrin of the “old guard,” such as The Duke. She has what would be considered an overly-friendly relationship with her staff. In actuality, she is on the correct side of the social revolution that’s about to happen, but that’s easy to see looking at it from the perspective of 100 years later. Marrying Hugh is also considered to be beneath her, which is one of the problems they seem to be struggling with, at least from his perspective.

I think if you’ve already read some of this series, you’ll like A Midwinter Murder quite a bit. If you haven’t, I think it would be easier to pick up earlier books in the series before this one. However, it feels like it’s a series worth getting invested in. I enjoyed the mystery and the setting quite a bit. The characters are also interesting. I think it could have been edited a bit better, but I’d likely overlook that if I were already invested in the characters already.