The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories by Martin Edwards (editor) Published by The British Library on October 1, 2019
Source: NetGalley
Genres: Vintage Mystery, Anthology
Pages: 288
Format: eBook
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A Christmas party is punctuated by a gunshot under a policeman’s watchful eye. A jewel heist is planned amidst the glitz and glamour of Oxford Street’s Christmas shopping. Lost in a snowstorm, a man finds a motive for murder.
This collection of mysteries explores the darker side of the festive season – from unexplained disturbances in the fresh snow, to the darkness that lurks beneath the sparkling decorations.
With neglected stories by John Bude and E.C.R. Lorac, as well as tales by little-known writers of crime fiction, Martin Edwards blends the cosy atmosphere of the fireside story with a chill to match the temperature outside. This is a gripping seasonal collection sure to delight mystery fans.
I thoroughly enjoyed the storied in The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. Each short story/mystery is set around Christmas, but aside from that one connecting feature, it’s a great variety, from typical whodunnits, to spy stories, to a ghost story.
The stories are as follows:
“A Christmas Tragedy” by Baroness Orczy
“By the Sword” by Selwyn Jepson
“The Christmas Card Crime” by Donald Stuart
“The Motive” by Ronald Knox
“Blind Man’s Hood” by Carter Dickson
“Paul Temple’s White Christmas” by Francis Durbridge
“Sister Bessie” or “Your Old Leech” by Cyril Hare
“A Bit of Wire Pulling” by E.C.R. Lorac
“Pattern of Revenge” by John Bude
“Crime at Lark Cottage” by John Bingham
“‘Twixt the Cup and the Lip” by Julian Symons
Most of the authors were new to me, but there wasn’t really a bad one in the bunch. Granted, some are better than others, as in any collection, but there’s none that I felt should have been left out. To be honest, I’d be happy to find any of the British Library’s Crime anthologies under the Christmas tree.
About Martin Edwards (editor)
Martin Edwards is consultant to the British Library’s Crime Classics series, and has written sixteen contemporary whodunits, including The Coffin Trail, which was shortlisted for the Theakston’s Prize for best crime novel of the year. His genre study The Golden Age of Murder won the Edgar, Agatha, H.R.F. Keating and Macavity awards, while The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books has been nominated for two awards in the UK and three in the US. Editor of 38 anthologies, he has also won the CWA Short Story Dagger and the CWA Margery Allingham Prize, and been nominated for an Anthony, the CWA Dagger in the Library, the CWA John Creasey Memorial Dagger, and a CWA Gold Dagger. He is President of the Detection Club and Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, and Archivist of both organisations. He has received the Red Herring award for services to the CWA, and the Poirot award for his outstanding contribution to the crime genre.