Murder Most Merry

by Abigail Browining (Editor)

A great holiday gift for mystery fans, this new short story collection of over thirty Christmas tales of crime contains contributions from some of the best writers of the genre: Patricia Moyes, John D. MacDonald, Rex Stout, Julian Symons, Georges Simenon, Margery Allingham, Lawrence Block, John Mortimer and many others. These holiday tales with a murderous twist include suspicious Santa's helpers; a Christmas pageant player who assumes the role of a killer; and evil elves with malicious intentions. Beware of hanging mistletoe and stuffed stockings this season, as you celebrate a creepy Christmas with Murder Most Merry.

Genres: Christmas, Mystery, Fiction, Short Stories, Crime

384 pages, Hardcover

First published July 2, 2002

Reviews

[Richard Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read five anthologies of Christmas mysteries this year, starting around Thanksgiving. This was the last one of the group. By the time I got to this book, I had already read about a third of the stories in the other books.

As with any anthology, there are really good stories and others that are not quite up to that standard. Among the really good ones are those by John D. MacDonald, Lawrence Block, Edward D. Hoch (3 stories by Hoch!), Arthur Conan Doyle, and Rex Stout. I know I'm going to like those.

Another favorite author is Georges Simenon. This long story is not an Inspector Maigret story, but it's a good one. Another reviewer here hated it. I was not happy at about 5 pages into the 49-page opus, thinking it slow and dreary, but as I read on it became quite interesting. Recognize that my favorite mysteries are those that walk us through the many stages of following clues and eventually figuring it all out. This procedural story pieces together disparate pieces of information to first realize that someone is in life-threatening danger, then slowly builds to fill in the picture and solve the problem. The payoff was worth the effort to get there.

If you're in the holiday mood, this is a rewarding book to read.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

As in all compilations, I didn't love every story (sorry but the Sherlock Holmes "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" did not cause me to like Arthur Conan Doyle - I prefer "Sherlock" and "Elementary" more). BUT, I enjoyed most which is all you can really ask of in these things.

[Calvin Daniels · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this back on Nov 25, with the idea of reading a short a day, and finishing with, as it turned out the final two to wile away time Christmas Day.

As if often the case with a short collection the stories ranged from great to average to just OK.

And then there was 'A Matter of Life and Death' by Georges Simenon, the longest of the stories, not that the length mattered as I could not wade through the tedious, boring, horrible piece. The book lost at least 1/2-star for including this long snorefest. If you read this book, just rip the story pout to start and use the pages to start the Yule fire.

Otherwise a story-a-day was a nice holiday season diversion.

[Susan O'connor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish it was boring