Crossed Skis - by Carol Carnac

Review by Julia

Best consumed with: 

A comforting mug of hot chocolate with a lot of whipped cream.

What’s it all about? 

A murder mystery spanning across England and Austria. In London, a victim is ruthlessly burned. The police find a small but important lead which suggests the involvement of a skier. At the same time, we follow 8 men and 8 women on a skiing trip in the Austrian Alps. As the trip takes a strange turn, we’re led to wonder - could one of them be the murderer?

Why did I choose this book to read? 

Crossed Skis is part of the British Library Crime Classics, which I’ve been a fan of for many years. I discovered the series in 2017, during a trip to the British Library in London which had a Crime Classics exhibit where a room was set up like an old-fashioned crime scene (with the books on the shelves) - clever, right? It’s a series of detective novels from the ‘golden age’ of crime writing (1920 - 1950s). They are typically set in Britain with occasional trips to mainland Europe. I’ve only read 8 books so far and they have all been fun and easy to read - pure escapism! I also love (for better or for worse) the “Britishness” of the novels.

I chose this novel as I had previously read another book by the same author (Two-Way Murder - written under the author’s other pseudonym ‘E.C.R Lorac’). My edition of Two-Way Murder included a description of Crossed Skis at the back, so I decided to give it a go.

What did I love?

It’s a really fun, old-fashioned detective romp!

The two stories (the London police, and the skiers), run parallel to each other for most of the novel. This was done really well and kept me on my toes. It’s a clever way of allowing the reader to find out more about the murderer through the police, and then guess which one of the skiing group it could be - I felt that I was part of Scotland Yard trying to crack the case!

The “Britishness” of this novel was also a highlight. There was the post-WWII setting of England and Europe, which was interesting. It must have been such an opposing time - bleak following the horrors of the war, but also hopeful as people started to rebuild their lives (which was played out in the novel with the bleakness of the London crime, in contrast to the young men and women’s excitement on the pristine ski slopes). And, true to form of a British Library Crime Classic, the banter between the characters did not disappoint (very witty, funny \,and “British”). One line in particular about the Irish and Scottish stood out (given my husband is an Irishman living in Australia): “The Irish and Scots are all alike. They adore their own countries. They can hardly speak of their dear homelands without tears in their eyes, but they take jolly good care not to live in the said homelands.” 

What did I not love? 

Each person in the 16 person skiing party was only described only briefly early on. As I was reading on my Kindle, I couldn’t easily go back to that page, so I found it a bit confusing to understand exactly who the person speaking was. Over time, 5 or so characters began to stand out as the main protagonists, which helped, but I was still left a bit confused.

The motivation of the murderer also wasn’t explored properly and I found myself wondering what actually led the murderer to commit the crime. 

Book club recommended? 

I love these Crime Classics, but I don’t think they lend themselves well to a book club, given they are rather straightforward (in the best way possible). I think these are better consumed by yourself, preferably whilst sitting in an old fashioned-arm-chair drinking that mug of hot chocolate.

However, if you do choose this for a book club, I’d recommend reading about the author. Carol Carnac is a pseudonym used by Edith Caroline Rivett (1894 - 1958), who also wrote under the name ‘E.C.R Lorac’. Interestingly, Carol was a keen skier, and this novel was first published in 1952, one year after her own excursion to the Australian Alps. I like to imagine that when Carol was in Austria skiing down the white slopes, this whodunit story started to form in her mind, and was completed once she finished her run!