Among the many fine volumes of traditional mysteries being brought back into circulation through the British Library Crime Classics series, you will find several first-rate collections of short stories, most by Golden Age authors with a sprinkling of both older and younger tales. It's a pleasure to add their latest anthology to this group. In The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories, editor and mystery historian Martin Edwards has selected, and provided introductions for, a group of eleven short mysteries for our reading pleasure. It is being published at the beginning of October as one of the British Library Crime Classics from Sourcebooks and the Poisoned Pen Press, which sent me an advance reader's copy for this review. The book is the subject of this week's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast.
The stories were originally published between 1909 and 1965, and all of them are set in (or at least around) the winter holidays. The authors include some very familiar names, including Carter Dickson, Ronald Knox, John Bingham, John Bude and Julian Symons. Among the seasonal stories you'll find here:
- An unpleasant old man is murdered – but do the police have the right man?
- A train breaks down in a snowstorm, and an abduction and a murder soon follow in a frantic hunt for half of a Christmas card.
- A woman tells a tale of impossible murder and revenge from beyond the grave.
- A mysterious stranger knocks at the door of a remote cottage on a dark and stormy night, with an escaped murderer lurking nearby.
- A man comes up with a plan to get rid of the person who has been blackmailing him – but it may not be as easy as he thinks.
Eleven stories in all, some by authors whose names you’ll recognize, others from classic writers whose fame has faded with time. For a complete list of the stories - and the authors - please listen to the podcast by clicking here - it's not very long and contains fuller descriptions of the collected stories and more information about each of the authors.
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