Society sleuth Olive Belgrave and her boyfriend Jasper Rimington are traveling by train to St. Moritz, ostensibly for a holiday but really to meet someone who has a decoding job for Jasper. While on the train to the mountains, Olive is approached by Emmaline Lavington, who tells her that she is being blackmailed and requests Olive to discover the culprit; however, given Emmaline’s high-handed behaviour toward her, Olive chooses not to accept the commission. A few days later, while at the hotel in St. Moritz, Emmaline is killed, apparently by a falling icicle. Olive has her doubts about the accidental nature of the death, although the local constabulary is initially reluctant to accept her evidence; nevertheless, Olive continues to look into the matter and soon finds that there are several people at the hotel with ample reason to wish Emmaline dead…. This is the eighth in the High Society Lady Detective series set in the 1920s and featuring a young woman of genteel birth who has to earn her own living despite being amongst the upper classes herself. Indeed, the reason Olive can take on (and solve) cases involving her peers is the fact that she is one of them, and so we are treated to a rather droll look at the mores and manners of that class, which can be pretty funny. This is a light-hearted series, one that reads quickly and gives the reader quiet pleasure for a few hours, and I don’t believe that it is necessary to have read the books in order to enjoy them; recommended. ( )

A quit fun read. Olive and Jasper start out on the train for a holiday in St. Moritz on the train where late at night Olive overhears a whispered conversation in the corridor between a man and women who sound like they’re planning a murder. It’s dark and she can’t tell who it is but she tells the police when they arrive. Lots of suspects and skating, toboggining, skiing while talking to all the suspects. A little bit of jealousy from Jasper as Olive and the Chief Detective work to solve this clever murder. ( )