Agatha Christie 
Adventure of the Christmas Pudding 

An English country house at Christmas time, with its crackling log fires and fine food, may seem an incongruous setting for a crime — but a sinister note left on his pillow tells Hercule Poirot everything is not as it seems.The great detective plays his cards close to his chest — until the discovery of a young woman lying in the snow, a Kurdish knife in the centre of a crimson stain on her white wrap, spurs Poirot into revealing his hand.Seven cases in which Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple prove conclusively that their powers of detection take the cake