Murder at Christmas: Ten Classic Crime Stories for the Festive Season

Murderous Christmas Stories #4

by Cecily Gayford (Editor), Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham

Christmas is a season of overindulgence. For most of us, that means an extra mince pie, a second helping of turkey, or perhaps a third glass of mulled wine. But for some among us, the festive season is a time to settle old scores, dispatch new enemies and indulge ... in murder . Here, ten masters of the genre serve up mystery and mayhem aplenty. From a dowager's missing diamonds to a Christmas party gone horribly wrong, these classic crime stories will delight, puzzle and satisfy long after the last slice of pudding has been consumed.

Genres: Christmas, Short Stories, Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Anthologies, British Literature

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2019

Reviews

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall a very disappointing collection of stories, as the title suggests these are predominantly set around Christmas and some of the links are tenuous at best.

One of the good aspects of this set is the fact that many of the chosen stories are from the goldern age of crime, I'm pretty sure I've not read any of the writers previously.

All the stories are pretty short and I eventually finished them with a coffee each morning, it's a shame that so many are instantly forgettable.

[Ingrid · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very mediocre and not very Christmassy

[Anissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third in this series that I've read and I am still enjoying the collected works. Another seasonal read for me and I thought this was a very good collection.

There were authors that were new to me and I'd only come across one of these stories before. I've two more books in this series to read and expect I'll enjoy those as well. Over the last two years, Cecily Gayford & Martin Edwards have become my favourite editors who compile books of classic crime short stories.

Recommended.

Following are my thoughts on each story herein:

The Snapdragon and the C.I.D  by Margery Allingham- in which the solution to a murder is hidden because of a ruse to hide another. By the story's end, the only question left to answer is if the inspector had enough time to get suited up to play Father Christmas at the children's party. Charming story.

Let Nothing You Dismay! by Ellis Peters-in which a young woman breaks into a country house only to have to deal with the arrival of a pair of burglars. Before all is said and done there are carol singers in the road helping to thwart a getaway, a shot in the night and a family reunion with one member having quite a story to relate. This was fun to read and the ending was well done.

The Lion's Tooth by Edmund Crispin- in which the solution to kidnap for ransom & the bludgeoning of a nun lies in something hidden in translation. this one wasn't set at Christmas but during the hard winter.

Rumpole and the Spirit of Christmas by John Mortimer- in which Rumpole has a rough go with a spirit of Christmas and it extracts its price in court. All the usual wit is on display here and that alone made it worth reading. This story takes place in the lead up to Christmas & the scene is set in the first line of the story. 

The Assassins' Club by Nicholas Blake- in which a dinner with a group of detective novelists takes an all too real turn when after the lights go out and come back on, one of the guests has been murdered. No mention of Christmas but there is snow. Good misdirection and very quick solution.

The Ascham by Michael Innes- in which Sir John & Lady Appleby are stranded in the snow at night and take refuge at nearby Gore Castle. Another traveller has come to stay and Lord Appleby (also the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police) feels things are amiss with the assembled group. All was well with this one until the very end. The final line is pithy but there's never any answer to what was in the pocketbook of the blackmailer!

The Scandal in Winter by Gillian Linscott- in which young Jennifer (who is vacationing with her parents and sister) recounts an encounter with "Silver Stick" and "Square Bear" at a snowy Hotel Edelweiss in the Swiss Alps, where the duo have come to clear the name of Irene, who is believed to have murdered her husband a year earlier. I really enjoyed this one.

Waxworks by Ethel Lina White- in which a reporter spends the evening in a wax museum. I read this one in Silent Nights by Martin Edwards.

Twixt the Cup and the Lip by Julian Symons- in which a jewel heist in the week leading up to Christmas is carried out and ultimately foiled by a very unlikely witness via an even more obscure means. A nice story but I figured out the situation & solution far too early. Still a good story.

Nebuchadnezzar by Dorothy L. Sayers- in which a holiday round of charades proves all too telling for one player, culminating in a wild confession.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of classic Christmas crime stories. I don’t think there was a bad story in the bunch. My favorites were The Ascham, A Scandal in Winter, and Twixt the Cup and the Lip. A wonderful read for the festive season!

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good collection of stories with a twist and a little bit of Christmas added too

[léa · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️3,5/5 !

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant collection of classic crime short stories with a Christmas theme. There are plenty of well known authors of the genre such as Michael Innes, Dorothy L Sayers and Nicholas Blake as well as a rather clever and restrained Holmes and Watson story by Gillian Linscott.

I really enjoyed these stories and their Christmas feel - a castle in the snow, robbers dressed as Santa Claus and jovial carol singers. They were an entertaining and easy read.

[lorenzodulac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as Murder on Christmas Eve but still solid. This is more like a 3.5/5 even if a lot of the singular ratings are 4 and above.
Anyway, here are my ratings to each short story:
The Snapdragon and the C.I.D. by Margery Allingham: 3/5⭐️
Let Nothing You Dismay! by Ellis Peters: 3/5⭐️
The Lion's Tooth by Edmund Crispin: 3.5/5⭐️
Rumpole and the Spirit of Christmas by John Mortimer: 4/5⭐️
The Assassins' Club by Nicholas Blake: 4/5⭐️
The Ascham by Michael Innes: 4.5/5⭐️
A Scandal in Winter by Gillian Linscott: 4.5/5⭐️
Waxworks by Ethel Lina White: 4.5/5⭐️
Twixt the Cup and the Lip by Julian Symons: 3/5⭐️
Nebuchadnezzar by Dorothy L. Sayers: 3.5/5⭐️

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Michael Innes story was good.

[Jeff Howells · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the fourth volume of Christmas Crime stories edited by Cecily Gaylord, and the quality of the stories remain remarkably high. I’d have expected by now for the well to have run dry as far as festive crime stories was concerned. However, in the main, these stories were enjoyable. Sometimes the link to Christmas was tenuous and some were more stories set in wintry weather rather than over Christmas. My favourite stories were ‘The Ascham’ by Michael Innes - where a couple have to abandon their car in the snow and seek refuge in a stately home. The other is As Scandal in Winter’ by Gillian Linscott - essentially a sequel to Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’ this time featuring Holmes & Watson in a story narrated by a young girl.
I fully expect this to be the last volume...but I’ve been saying this for at least the last couple of years.

[Tiffany Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

My mum gave me this to read while waiting for a hospital appointment, and most of these stories aren't much more than a decent way to pass the time, but it does have two really good ones, 'The Lion's Tooth', which is a clever little mystery based on a French/English translation, and 'A Scandal in Winter', a lovely Sherlock Holmes adaptation.

[Tanya (aka ListObsessedReader) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a slog to get through. There were very few stories I enjoyed and the “Christmas” link was extremely tenuous. Definitely not the fun festive read I’d been hoping for.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of Christmas crime stories. Some are better than others but an enjoyable read for winter.

[H. Daley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag.

[Adam Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very pleasing collection of Christmas stories. Some of these I'd read before, including the excellent stories "Waxworks" by Ethel Lina White and "Twixt the Cup and the Lip" by Julian Symons. Among the new-to-me stories, the two highlights were Allingham's "The Snapdragon and the CID" and "A Scandal in Winter" by Gillian Linscott. A few of the others had very satisfying twists as well.

[Mia Cassani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ngl when I read the title "Ten Classic Crime Stories..." I actually thought the crime stories would be good. Most of them were mediocre at best. One or two were interesting but the rest just failed to impress me.

[Linda Amos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories from the giants of whodunnits - Dorothy Sayers, Margery Allingham etc.all with many of our favourite characters. Even Shelock and Watson get a look in.
Thoroughly enjoyed them and it's an easy read for when you only have a few minutes spare.

[Miss Robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was difficult to get into, each story was no more than a 1.5 or w star rating for me. It wasn’t very Christmassy and was quite boring to be honest

[Luisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's like a max of 2 good stories in there....

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading books like this for the festive season but this was a bit of a disappointment. The writing was ok and one of the stories had a very interesting slant but I have to say that the majority of the other stories were, of their time, and a little bland and not particularly Christmassy. Just my opinion...

[Hanna Boven · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favourites: The Ascham, A Scandal in Winter, and Twixt the Cup and the Lip.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great selection of stories but the link to Christmas was tenuous in some.

[Helen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Took a long time get into

[Giulia De Sanctis · Rating 3 out of 5]

10 storie, alcune molto brevi, altre un po’ più consistenti. Tutte ambientate nel periodo Natalizio e tutte con una nota lugubre o macabra. Omicidi, Rapine, Rapimenti al centro di ogni piccola storia.

[David Shepherd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a mixed bag in both the story content and the link to Christmas.

As others have sais some of the links to Christmas are very tenuous. The stories could be set in any time of the year as they are really just 'cosy' crime stories.

I enjoyed 'Twixt the Cup and Lip (Julian Symons) particularly and the Christmas element here was reasonably strong.

I'm sorry to say that Dorothy L. Sayers' Nebuchadnezzar was my least favourite. I just didn't get the point of it at all.

The other eight stories there were enjoyable tales, mainly winter, rather than Christmas specifically.

A nice little Holmes and Watson tale that is a sequel of sorts to 'A Scandal in Bohemia' by Gillian Linscott.

Overall a pleasant, light, read for the festive season, but not 'Christmassy'. All the tales are of the kind of the 'golden age' of crime fiction writing.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed 8 of the short stories in this collection of Golden Age of Detective Fiction writers; the first and last stories, however, disappointed. The first is a short story by Margery Allingham featuring Albert Campion, and I felt that you needed to be familiar with Campion (which I confess I am not) to appreciate the story. The last was a standalone story by Dorothy L Sayers, an author hailed as one of the greats, but this missed the mark for me, it seemed more about showing how clever Sayers was than presenting a good story.

[M.K. Aston · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was slightly disappointed with this collection in as much that a number of the stories were not as festive as I would have liked nor as murderous. Having said that, a couple of stories stood out for me - Let Nothing You Dismay! and Waxworks. The majority of the remainder were and are, I'm afraid to say, rather forgettable. This is a Christmas collection that I will probably not revisit.

[Bookwormandtheatremouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the tales were brilliant but some the tales dragged a little for me. I am not a fan of short stories and I struggle if they do not hold my attention. However as a festive read this ticks the boxes.

[Tracy Stephens · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just couldn’t get into this book at all.

Christmas short stories that weren’t really that Christmassy at all. Just in general the writing didn’t flow at all on pretty much all of the stories. I found them boring and a struggle to get through the book.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories were great, others were a half-hearted flop.