I’m sure most of us are familiar with the board game Cluedo (or Clue, if you’re in America), but do you know who invented it? I didn’t, but thanks to Nicola Upson’s new novel, The Christmas Clue, I now know that it was invented in the 1940s by Anthony and Elva Pratt, a married couple from Birmingham. Upson tells the story of the game’s creation while also imagining a fictional murder mystery for the couple to solve.
It’s Christmas 1943 and Anthony and Elva are on their way to the Tudor Close Hotel in Rottingdean on the south coast of England. Although he’s currently working in a weapons factory, Anthony is a pianist and before the war he and Elva regularly provided entertainment for hotels, both of the musical sort and also hosting murder mystery events. They’ve been invited to host one of these at the Tudor Close over the Christmas weekend but, on arriving at the hotel, they quickly discover that the war has made things more challenging than usual – there are no actors available to play the various roles in the game and interact with the guests, so the Pratts are going to have to come up with a new format.
Before the game even begins, however, the couple find themselves with a real mystery to investigate. Stopping at their old friend Miss Silver’s shop in the town to collect a box of cigars for Anthony’s Christmas present, they discover Miss Silver’s body in the storeroom apparently beaten to death. The dead woman’s sister works at the Tudor Close and as Anthony and Elva look for more connections, they start to suspect that the killer could be one of the guests staying at the hotel.
The Christmas Clue is a very short book (novella length at 140 pages), but despite its shortness, Upson manages to create a satisfying murder mystery – I found some of the developments a bit far-fetched, but it was fun to read overall, despite taking a darker turn towards the end. I liked the hotel setting, although Elva and Anthony find it very different from their memories of visiting before the war: shortages of staff, no money for decent Christmas decorations, and a group of Canadian soldiers billeted nearby.
I’ve learned some interesting little facts about the game of Cluedo, both from the book itself and from feeling inspired to look things up while reading. For example, the name Cluedo is a pun on Ludo, another popular board game – which is less well known in America (though Parcheesi is similar) and that’s why the name was simplified to Clue. If Elva and Anthony had their way, it would have been called Murder at Tudor Close and was originally supposed to include additional rooms, weapons and characters. Elva was a talented artist and designed the artwork for the board.
This is the first book I’ve read by Nicola Upson, mainly because most of her other novels are mysteries where the sleuth is the real life author Josephine Tey. I’ve never felt entirely comfortable with the recent trend for using real people as detectives – and of course, Upson is doing the same in this book with Anthony and Elva Pratt. I wondered how the Pratts’ family might feel about it, so I was pleased to read Upson’s acknowledgments at the end where she says she has been in contact with Anthony and Elva’s daughter, Marcia Lewis, who gave her best wishes to the project. I think she can certainly be happy with the way her parents are portrayed in this book – they seem like a really lovely couple!
Thanks to Faber & Faber for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.
She Reads Novels 
My local indie bookshop is having a Cluedo-themed/book club around this one! Sadly I am unable to make it as it clashes with a friend’s birthday dinner, or I’d definitely be there!
That sounds like it would have been fun! Sorry you can’t make it.
Yes, I don’t like the books that make a real person a detective, either, although I have read some of them.
I can’t think of any others I’ve read, although I’m sure I must have done. I’ve mainly been avoiding them.
I know I read one that had Edgar Allen Poe helping out, and I’ve seen some with Jane Austen but not read them. And also Agatha Christie.
I like the sound of this!
It was really good and perfect for the time of year!
Fascinating, and perfect for the seasons too!
Yes, I thought so! It would make a nice Christmas present for the right reader.
I don’t care for mysteries involving real people for many reasons but somehow I did read and enjoy the first Upson/Tey book and bought one or two others (plus a Tey bio I have not had time to read). This novella sounds very appealing.
After enjoying this book so much, I’m tempted to try one of Upson’s Tey novels now. I’m pleased to hear you enjoyed the first one.
This sounds like fun!
It was – and perfect for the time of year!
I read the first of her Josephine Tey novels and quite enjoyed it, but like you I’m not enthusiastic about this trend for having real-life people as detectives, so I didn’t stick with the series. Somehow this couple doesn’t seem so bad, maybe because they’re not as well-known. Tempting!
I might try the first Josephine Tey novel as I quite liked Nicola Upson’s writing, but using real people as detectives still seems like a strange idea to me!
When was the novella published? Back in the 1940s or recently? Is fiction, based on real people or nonfiction?
My last novella reviews of this year’s challenge: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2025/11/reviews-for-three-novellas-we-animals.html
It’s a new novella, published in September this year and it’s fiction based on real people!
I don’t love books which reinvent real people who are famous for something else as spies, but I do love the idea of finding out more about Cluedo!
Thanks for sharing your review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.