Dead Men's Morris — Gladys Mitchell

A ghost watch in rural Oxfordshire turns deadly for Mrs. Bradley. When Mrs. Bradley arrives at her nephew Carey Lestrange's Oxfordshire pig farm for the Christmas holidays, little does she expect to be caught up in a series of murders and attempted murders. The household is a lively one. Besides her grandnephew Denis there is the Ditch family, local rustics who are avid devotees of Morris dancing. But wherever Mrs. Bradley goes, murder is sure to follow, and both Mr. Bradley and the local police inspector suspect foul play when a neighboring country lawyer dies of an apparent heart attack after having been invited to attend a ghost watch. The story takes many turns before the murderer is finally unmasked by Mrs. Bradley at a Whitsun Morris dance. First published in 1936, and the sixth case of the psychoanalyst detective, the book showcases Gladys Mitchell's fondness for village settings, unusual murder weapons, and rural folklore and customs.