A Surprise for Christmas And Other Seasonal Mysteries. Martin Edwards, Editor. 2021 (US) 2020 (UK). 304 pages. [Source: Review copy]
Love mysteries and suspense? Enjoy holiday/winter themed short stories? I recommend Martin Edwards' newest collection for the British Library Crime series. The series includes novels and short story collections. (I have read several in this series, but not all by any means!)
The stories included in this collection are as follows:
The Black Bag Left On a Doorstep by Catharine Louisa Pirkis
The Hole in the Wall by G.K. Chesterton
Death on the Air by Ngaio Marsh
Persons or Things Unknown by Carter Dickson
Dead Man's Hand by E.R. Punshon
The Christmas Eve Ghost by Ernest Dudley
Dick Whittington's Cat by Victor Canning
A Surprise for Christmas by Cyril Hare
On Christmas Day in the Morning by Margery Allingham
Give Me a Ring by Gilbert Lucy Malleson
Father Christmas Comes to Orbins by Julian Symons
The Turn-Again Bell by Barry Perowne
I found the collection to be a blend of familiar authors and new-to-me authors. Most of the stories stayed within the mystery/suspense genre. A couple, however, flirted with other genres or sub-genres. For example, stories that focused on crimes from the criminal point of view. One story is definitely ALL thriller. (Give Me a Ring was a LONG thriller-esque story that kept me turning pages.)
I enjoyed almost all of the stories within this collection. (Perhaps with the exception of Father Christmas Comes to Orbins. I don't know WHERE I've read the story before. Perhaps in another Christmas-themed collection. But I didn't enjoy it the first time around. A few paragraphs in, I was THAT STORY AGAIN???
Still for the most part I can wholeheartedly recommend this collection for those that enjoy this genre.
© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment