Advent Day 25: Murder for Christmas
Dec. 25th, 2023 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stonepicnicking_okapiI always prefer reading mysteries to any other genre. Poetry comes a close second. And I ALWAYS read mysteries at Christmas time.
Today I am re-reading the Christmas mystery novel Envious Casca by Georgette Heyer, which has the advantage of being my favorite kind of mystery: locked room mystery!
Most of the time, I read short stories, though, and I still believe I have one of the est collections of Christmas mystery short stories in the English language.
Here are some favorites I recommended in 2021 and I don't think my opinion has changed.
1. "Death on Christmas Eve" by Stanley Ellin. I love Stanley Ellin, and in terms of role models for my own writing, he's definitely one of them. This is the story of a lawyer's encounter with a highly dysfunctional family. [Murder for Christmas, edited by Thomas Godfrey]
2. all four stories in P.D. James' The Mistletoe Murder and other stories with a special gift in the stocking for the final two which are Adam Dalgliesh tales, "The Boxdale Inheritance," which is a very, very clever twist, and "The 12 Clues of Christmas" which is a spoof of Agatha Christie, but very well done.
3. "The Trinity Cat" by Ellis Peters (of Cadfael fame). An old lady gets murdered and a stray cat reveals clues. [Murder on Christmas Eve, edited by Cecily Gayford].
4. "On Christmas Day in the Morning" by Margery Allingham. Campion as detective and the critical clue is rather a sweet one. [A Surprise for Christmas and Other Seasonal Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards].
5. "Sister Bessie or Your Old Leech" by Cyril Hare. An excellent blackmailing story. [The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories edited by Martin Edwards].
Today I am re-reading the Christmas mystery novel Envious Casca by Georgette Heyer, which has the advantage of being my favorite kind of mystery: locked room mystery!
Most of the time, I read short stories, though, and I still believe I have one of the est collections of Christmas mystery short stories in the English language.
Here are some favorites I recommended in 2021 and I don't think my opinion has changed.
1. "Death on Christmas Eve" by Stanley Ellin. I love Stanley Ellin, and in terms of role models for my own writing, he's definitely one of them. This is the story of a lawyer's encounter with a highly dysfunctional family. [Murder for Christmas, edited by Thomas Godfrey]
2. all four stories in P.D. James' The Mistletoe Murder and other stories with a special gift in the stocking for the final two which are Adam Dalgliesh tales, "The Boxdale Inheritance," which is a very, very clever twist, and "The 12 Clues of Christmas" which is a spoof of Agatha Christie, but very well done.
3. "The Trinity Cat" by Ellis Peters (of Cadfael fame). An old lady gets murdered and a stray cat reveals clues. [Murder on Christmas Eve, edited by Cecily Gayford].
4. "On Christmas Day in the Morning" by Margery Allingham. Campion as detective and the critical clue is rather a sweet one. [A Surprise for Christmas and Other Seasonal Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards].
5. "Sister Bessie or Your Old Leech" by Cyril Hare. An excellent blackmailing story. [The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories edited by Martin Edwards].