Death and the Dancing Footman by Ngaio Marsh

Jonathan Royal was going to observe a drama to be enacted in his home at Highfold Manor. He explained it to his friend Aubrey Mandrake who was a very modern dramatist. Jonathan's drama would feature real people who were not aware that they had been invited to Highfold Manor for the amusement of their host. There was Mrs. Compline and her two sons who competed for their mother's attention as well as for the attention of young Chloris Wynne. Mrs. Compline's face had been seriously damaged by a failed plastic surgery and Jonathan had invited the plastic surgeon, Dr. Hart, who had done the damage. The guest list included two women who were competing owners of beauty salons. The first meeting of these seven people challenged them to do nothing else than restrain themselves from attacking each other.

The snow began falling on the second day. Aubrey Mandrake was pushed into a freezing swimming pool, and the guests starting forming hypotheses about who had done this and why. Later that evening, another guest was almost killed by a falling statue of a Buddha. The members of this hostile group continued with their suspicions as the snow fell heavier and heavier. Then the murder occurred. They were trapped in a house which they could not leave because of the snow, and the telephone lines were down because of the storm. Everyone slept in locked bedrooms and that evening the snow changed to rain and the next morning, travel was possible.

Aubrey Mandrake drove through the snow, ice, and slush to a neighboring town where he knew that Inspector Roderick Alleyn was visiting friends. He and Alleyn came back to Highfold Manor where Alleyn questioned all of the guests and investigated the crime scene before he found the solution to murder. This book does keep the reader guessing, because although most of the people in the book had reasons to kill others in the group, the person who was actually murdered was one whom nobody seemed to dislike. It should be noted that the footman who was dancing in the hall does play an important part in the solution to the murder.

This book was published in 1942, and was Ms. Marsh's 12th mystery novel.