Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop

by Otto Penzler - editor, Otto Penzler, Lisa Atkinson

The oldest mystery specialty bookstore in the world, The Mysterious Bookshop, has for most of its forty-five-year history commissioned an original short story as a holiday gift for its customers. Written exclusively for the store, the stories were given as a holiday gift to its customers as a thank you for their business, handed out or mailed between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.

The prompt for the story requires three that it be set at Christmastime, that it involve a crime of some kind, or the suspicion of one, and that it be set at least partially in the bookstore. And from these loose structural guidelines, diverse tales took flight. The twelve tales included in this volume are among the finest to be produced in this annual tradition.

Included herein are the ingenious "Snowflake Time" by Laura Lippman; Lyndsay Faye's tale of vengeance "A Midnight Clear"; the challenging brainteaser, "A Christmas Puzzle," by Ragnar Jonasson; "Hester's Gift," an impossible crime story by Tom Mead; the suspenseful "The Christmas Party" by Jeffery Deaver; Thomas Perry's hilarious comedy of errors, "Here We Come A-Wassailing;" and other tales appropriate for the season, collected and introduced by Otto Penzler. The result is, objectively speaking, the finest "stocking stuffer" that a mystery fan could hope to find.

Audible Audio

Published October 22, 2024

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was wrong. I did not want to listen to a collection of murder stories with a Christmas theme. Too depressing. I do now have a feeling that I "know" the Mysterious Bookstore now, though I've never been there. Sounds like a place I would like.

[Susan B · Rating 3 out of 5]

read the kindle version, stories were ok , some better than others. glad I didn't read at Chrisatmas time some of the stories were a little depressing.