Fun to read an old tale of murder for the holidays. It was interesting enough to keep me going until the end. ( )

I enjoyed holiday-related mysteries, and this one had a pleasing cover and an endorsement by Dorothy Sayers. Written in 1933, Portrait of a Murderer has lengthy sentences and drawn-out paragraphs from that era where people had attention spans and tolerance for winding descriptions. I rather like this old-fashioned style of writing.
I was warned in the introduction that this mystery reveals the murderer up front. Not my preferred type of story, but okay, I was game. While this was not the cozy mystery I expected, I will keep it as a writing reference book. If you prefer the short and direct type of story, I'll say that this book is the wordy version of a Lucy Foley mystery, a story told from varying points of view, with no one being particularly likeable and yet we can be somewhat sympathetic to their self-constructed miseries. This is much like The Hunting Party or The Guest List, 30s-style.
Yes, we know who the killer is, but the story still has twists and turns and depth, to keep the reader wondering if the killer will get away with it or get caught. There is no Christmas cheer to be drawn from this novel; it's fairly grim in character and circumstance. At one point, I almost set it aside. So glad I didn't. Instead, I got out my mechanical pencil and enjoyed the ride, underlining some divinely constructed sentences as, "Since her father's death, she had changed, awakened, begun to glow; as a piece of silver that has not been polished for years, suddenly receiving attention, catches the light in a dozen places, reflects, burns, almost illuminates the room where it is placed, so Isobel flashed with an ardour that had been typical of her early years, but that had been quenched for so long that few recognized its return." ( )

Christmas 1931 (the book was published 1933) and Adrian Gray, at 70 years old, is residing at Kings Poplars. But he has his family visiting him for the season and is killed by one of his children. With none of them fond of their father we read the story of the murder, their thinking at the time, and what they did next as an act of self-preservation. Will the murderer slip up, will anyone care enough.
An interesting and enjoyable read.
A NetGalley Book ( )

The crime was instantaneous and unpremeditated, and the murderer was left staring from the weapon on the table to the dead man in the shadow of the tapestry curtains, not apprehensive, not yet afraid, but incredulous and dumb.

This is not a spoiler. This is the start of the book.

Unlike other murder mysteries, the book starts with the murder and even shows us who the murderer is. The suspense element in this story is based on whether the murderer gets caught in the story.

In a way, this was a lot like an episode of Columbo, where we also see the solution to the murder mystery at the start of the episode, then watch Columbo drive the murder nuts with questions until they trip up in their own web of lies.
Unlike in Columbo, there is no clever detective driving the murder to confession, and instead we, the readers, are fully relying on the Gray family to find out the truth. Unfortunately, most of the family are rather unlikable.

“A charming family débâcle,” Olivia agreed.
“Well, you must acknowledge this, Eustace. We do do things thoroughly; no skulking in odd corners for the Grays, once they get started.”

And yet! I really enjoyed this book. It took a while to get the story going and to get used to the characters and structure of the story, but there is something incredible thrilling in watching this train wreck and hoping that someone will slam on the brakes before an innocent person is hanged. ( )