Murder Takes A Holiday

Vintage Summer Murders

by Cecily Gayford (Editor), Various, Arthur Conan Doyle (Contributor)

Join us for a summer holiday to die for ...
For most of us, a summer holiday is an opportunity to escape from it to lounge on warm sands or sip a cool drink in the shade of a city square. But, as the characters in this murderously good collection of classic crime stories discover to their cost ... trouble has a nasty habit of finding you out.

From a body found on a beach without a single footprint, to a lemonade stand whose wares appear to have been poisoned and a Wimbledon final ruined by the mysterious disappearance of the championship player, these tales of murder and malice will take you on the trip of a lifetime.

So pour that glass of Pimms, grab your sunhat and indulge your dark these stories will chill you to your very core, even in a heatwave ...

Genres: Short Stories, Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Summer, Anthologies, Mystery Thriller

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 2020

Reviews

[Anissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's summer and I am getting in some anthology time. I have a big book of short stories going on but this one is a shorter, slimmer volume with ten stories by various authors. They're classic mysteries but not all of the Golden Age of classic crime. This is one in a series of collections with trips & travel as themes. There was only one story here I'd come across in other reading so that was to the good. As with all collections, YMMV.

The Adventure of the Devil's Foot by Arthur Conan Doyle- I skipped this one. Just not much a fan of reading Conan Doyle though I do love Sherlock Holmes. It's a reading quirk of mine so I'm moving on.

The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question by Dorothy L. Sayers - A good mystery of thievery. A note: more than likely that you need to bring your recall of enough high school French to get through this one to have a chance of working it out.

The Mystery of Hornes Copse by Anthony Berkeley- A good multi-layer mystery plot that features Lake Como and double-crossing amongst conspirators. As I'm finding with Berkeley lately, there are nuptials featured in this story too. It seems a hallmark of his.

Invisible Hands by John Dickson Carr- A really good story of trying to figure out who killed a woman on a beach but left no footprints. I was surprised to see the reason put forth by the detective for the murder in an older work: Woman laughs at man, so he kills her. I haven't come across that one much older fiction but have heard all too many modern references to it.

Chapter and Verse by Ngaio Marsh - This was just an okay story for me; a bit dry. I first came across this in another short story collection, Murder by the Book: Mysteries for Bibliophiles by Martin Edwards.

The Mysterious Visitor by R. Austin Freeman- A very good mystery of a very reliable man who goes off on a vacation and goes missing only to turn up dead. Was it foul play or something else? I loved the twists, the puzzle and mostly the motive.

A Case in Camera by Edmund Crispin- In which a photo is the tell in a murder mystery. A good puzzle and a novel way to suss out a solution.

The Fever Tree by Ruth Rendell - I liked this one in the end but found the female character utterly ridiculous and had a hard time believing that she'd be able to change enough to survive on her own after the final act. The description of the preserve reminded me of The Veldt by Ray Bradbury. That was my favourite aspect of the story.

Parking Space by Simon Brett- A very engaging story of a marriage at the terminus of a decline that had a great ending. The descent of the main character was sad but this was very well done. This was one that wins points for one I could most see happening IRL.

Death in the Sun by Michael Innes- The misdirection is well done in this story and it had a stellar opening paragraph. A good ending for this collection.

Overall a good collection of stories. Just the thing to read while on vacation or on a lazy weekend. I'll continue reading these collections by Cecily Gayford. I have a copy of the latest entry in this holiday theme which I will definitely be reading (though I may not get to it this summer). Whether summer or Christmas, Gayford does a good job with these collections.

Recommended.

[Stephen Bacon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather uninspiring collection of ten crime stories with a very tenuous link of 'holidays', these tales barely come under the central theme. However, that's largely unimportant.
What is important is the quality of the stories themselves, which is where it comes out as decidedly average. All are from writers I'd heard of, and all are writers of decent pedigree, however the best were the two recent ones (Rendell and Brett) with honourable mentions to the Conan Doyle, Innes and Freeman ones. The other half, I'm afraid to say, were rather forgettable.

[Filip Eklund · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bunch of British-esque murder mysteries somewhat linked to holidays.

While I did enjoy some of the stories, most were confined to the simplicity that 20-30 pages allows for. I would recommend this book to someone who wants a short read in between pool visits and the occasional ice cream.

A small note, however, regarding the language. At times it is painfully obvious that you’re reading older work, with somewhat outdated terminology and unnecessarily complicated words and sentences. One of the stories for instance has a French section which, for the untrained, can be a bit challenging.

All in all a decent read!

[Amira · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 – Most of these stories, apart from the one by Arthur Conan Doyle, were fairly forgettable. That said, I was simply looking for something easy to read to satisfy my craving for Sherlock Holmes-style mysteries, and it served that purpose.

[Veerle Peene · Rating 3 out of 5]

so fun & exciting! just not as much diversity between stories as i’d have liked.

[Birte · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ A good mix of stories, very enjoyable.

[Jane Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed reading different stories from different authors all based around being on holiday or travelling very cleverly done.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic and interesting collection of stories that lean on detective fiction - but I can’t say they evoke the feeling of summer holidays all too much. Whilst majority feature some sort of vacation or journey, it doesn’t seem to be a key connecting link throughout the collection.

Despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed this collection, and the pace of the stories within. A few highlights were:
- The Mystery of Horne’s Copse by Anthony Berkeley.
- Chapter and Verse by Ngaio Marsh.
- Parking Space by Simon Brett and,
- The Fever Tree by Ruth Rendell.

[Ceebee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of 10 summer / holiday themed crime short stories. Rating: 3.6

The Adventure of the Devil's Foot - Arthur Conan Doyle ****
The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question - Dorothy L. Sayers ***
The Mystery of Horne's Copse - Anthony Berkeley ****
Invisible Hands - John Dickson Carr ****
Chapter and Verse - Ngaio Marsh ****
The Mysterious Visitor - R. Austin Freeman ****
A Case in Camera - Edmund Crispin ***
The Fever Tree - Ruth Rendell ****
Parking Space - Simon Brett ***
Death in the Sun - Michael Innes ***

[Susanne (Pages of Crime) · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a good collection of stories here, however I can't say that they invoke summer all that much, surely there are more apt stories to suit the season.

(After reading the description here, which doesn't match that on my copy, I'm wondering if there is another version as mine does not contain stories regarding a tennis player or a lemonade stand?!)

[Mads · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as short story collections go, I really liked this. It took me a little to get used to the fast pace of each story, but once I did I found it a really good read. Some of the stories are substantially weaker than the others, and thus are a little bit of a bore to get through, but the really good, interesting ones definitely make up for this!

[Olly Boston · Rating 3 out of 5]

1) The Adventure of the Devil's Foot by Arthur Conan Doyle - a short story featuring Sherlock and Watson which I liked but thats it. 3/5
2) The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question by Dorothy L. Sayers - one of the ones i skim read and have no recollection whatsoever 1/5
3) The Mystery of Horne's Corpse by Anthony Berkeley - LOVED this one!!! I was hooked! 5/5
4) Invisible Hands by John Dickson Carr - I really enjoyed this one too, had an intruiging mystery. 4/5
5) Chapter and Verse by Ngaio Marsh - I like it, couldn't really tell you what happened but I liked it. 2/5
6) The Mysterious Visitor by R. Austin Freeman - I really enjoyed this one, did not have a clue what was going on but I was invested. 4/5
7) A Case In Camera by Edmund Crispin - a story only 10 pages but they were 10 pages I do not remember at all. 1/5
8) The Fever Tree by Ruth Rendell - I liked the style of writing with this one but I cannot tell you anything about the plot. 2/5
9) Parking Space by Simon Brett - YES!!! Perfect short story which nailed everything that I like. A proper gaslighting, did that really happen storyline with suspense which will have you hooked! 5/5
10) Death in the Sun by Michael Innes - a good closer but after the high note of the last story it kind of fell flat. 3/5

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another collection of crime based, summer themed short stories edited by Cecily Gayford.

The ten stories are mainly written by Golden Age authors and there were less stories already familiar to me than in the first collection, only three rather than six. An entertaining and easy to read selection.

Favourite stories
The Mystery of Horne's Copse by Anthony Berkeley. This is one of the stories I have read before but was very pleased to read again

The Fever Tree by Ruth Rendell. By the time this was published in 1987, I had gone off Rendell so did not read it; this story reminded me why I used to like her.

Chapter and Verse by Ngaio Marsh. I have already read this several times before, it is quite heavily anthologised but it is another that I am always happy to revist

Least favourite

Parking Space by Simon Brett. I read quite a lot of Brett's work; this one failed to hit the spot although I am not quite sure why. Possibly the premise of the story struck a little close to home.

[Adam Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another collection of stories collated by Cecily Gayford, this time very very loosely themed around the summer holidays. It's a strong collection of stories from well-known authors, although it would be nice to have a brief introduction to each one.

Some of the highlights:
- Berkeley's "Mystery of Horne's Copse" is an enjoyable story with an intriguing premise, which I've read before but was definitely worth re-reading
- Marsh's "Chapter and Verse" is a great mystery with Bible-based clues, and a neat explanation of the solution
- Freeman's "The Mysterious Visitor" is classic Thorndyke, which is good if you like that sort of thing
- Rendell's "The Fever Tree" is an excellent piece of safari-based suspense, even if the ending is not at all a surprise
- Brett's "The Parking Space" is a good story with a darkly humorous ending
- And Innes' "Death in the Sun" is a clever little puzzle to round things off

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book received from a book box last summer. I didn't read it last summer so I waited until we finally got to summer again before reading it. This is a collection of mystery short stories that are set on holiday/over the summer.

As for any other short story collection, some stories were great and some were okay. Some stuck out in my head more than others, for good and bad reasons, but I enjoyed the collection as a whole. Some authors I recognised, others I didn't, and I was a little surprised there was no Christie short stories in here (even if they weren't Poirot/Marple). Some were mysteries to solve, some were creepy and some were just two friends chatting about a mystery in their career.

Ones that I enjoyed: The Mystery of Horne's Copse, Chapter and Verse (though that ending came out of nowhere) and The Mysterious Visitor.

4 stars!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of ten classic short murder stories vaguely organised around the theme of holidays. The collection includes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy L. Sayers, Anthony Berkeley, John Dickinson Carr, Ngaio Marsh, R. Austin Freeman, Edmund Crispin, Ruth Rendell, Simon Brett, and Michael Innes. In my opinion, the Doyle story was leagues above the rest, particularly in terms of atmosphere and setting.

All of the stories were fun and kind of silly. I bought this book at an airport and read it on a plane and is perfect for that sort of reading; you don't need to concentrate and you can be interrupted without losing anything.

[Dan Blackley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book 2 summers ago at the infamous Waterstones bookstore in London. I really was excited to read these classic stories about murders during vacation and was even surprised that a Sherlock Holmes story starts off the bunch. However, a lot of the stories were not as good as I expected. The Dr. Gideon Fell for John Dickerson car was a good one as well as the mystery that took place during the turn-of-the-century. The rest were sort of ho-hum and we’re not as exciting as I thought they would be, but I like the idea of reading different types of writers in different types of murder mysteries in one book. I hope they continue this series

[Lucy-Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of stories from a variety of authors: Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy L. Sayers, Anthony Berkeley, John Dickinson Carr, Ngaio Marsh, R. Austin Freeman, Edmund Crispin, Ruth Rendell, Simon Brett, and Michael Innes.
The stories do vary quite considerably in their quality/enjoyment but I was delighted to find stories that I hadn’t previously encountered from these authors.
The stories are short and not too serious so perfect for quick reads. There isn't much to connect them other than they take place when people are away from home “on holiday”.

[Cathy McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this anthology a lot more than the previous one I read (Murder in the Falling Snow), even though the holiday theme was rather tenuous, with some stories not featuring any sort of holiday. There were some great short stories (Ruth Rendell: The Fever Tree, set in a safari park, and Anthony Berkeley: The Mystery of Horne's Copse, with a body in the woods were particularly good) and some rubbish ones (Dorothy L Sayers, I'm looking a you with your page in untranslated French). I guess that's to be expected in a group of short stories. Think I'll go back to reading full length novels now.

[Under Milkwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

A veritable curate's egg, you might say. There's some neat little thrillers in this short story collection but my problem lies with a few of the classic writers like Conan Doyle, Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy Sayers who are perfectly fine when you're in the right frame of mind. In this collection they just come across as a bit naff. Lord Peter Wimsey is a case in point!
While there is actually some entertaining reading here, in the end it's not only the murder that takes a holiday.

[Marta · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting short story collection that I borrowed from my local library to get a mixture of mystery and holiday vibes. Not all stories were as easy to follow due to some convoluted vocabulary and narrative, but all were quite quick to read and the collection overall has a good variety of authors. My personal favourite stories were The Mystery of Horne’s Copse by Anthony Berkley, Chapter and Verse by Ngaio Marsh, The Fever Tree by Ruth Rendell and Parking Space by Simon Brett.

[James M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve read a few of these books by the same editor now (there’s a winter series and a summer series) and you know what your getting. This collection was very good - some top quality mysteries and a few unexpected twists along the way. The short stories make for a nice chunk of self-contained reading for 30-60 minutes while you’re having a coffee or waiting for an appointment or just taking a bit of time out. Very good collections of works which don’t appear to be available in many other places.

[Cidney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories are ideal for holidays, and as we are still emerging from lockdown I read this book. There are 10 shortish stories by authors such as Conan Doyle, Ngaio Marsh, Ruth Rendell, Simon Brett etc. A few of them weren't bad and the others were so predictable that you practically knew the murderer from the get go. Not a book I would read again.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with lots of books of short stories some are excellent and others are pretty rubbish which generally results in a mediocre impression of the whole. In this case some of them it was difficult to even see where the theme of “holiday” linked them together. Generally saved from being dire by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ruth Rendell and Simon Brett’s contributions.

[Katy Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem with collections of short stories by multiple authors is that inevitably there's some good ones and some bad ones. For some of these authors I can see why they weren't quite so enduring as others, while others, like Ruth Rendell and Simon Brett, will not be making my reading list for longer books!

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid and enjoyable collection of short stories with a slight heaviness towards detective fiction. There aren’t any dreadful or overly dull stories; Ruth Rendell’s ‘The Fever Tree’ is an absolute highlight of the bunch.

[Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I got this book I didn’t realise it was 10 short stories, which I tend not to enjoy. I still got through the book, and enjoyed the more modern ones, but the stories that were older I didn’t enjoy as much.

[Polly Sinclair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the Christmas version of this and then saw this in the library. Takes me a while to get into the rhythm of short stories as my brain is usually thinking big picture story lines but enjoyed these as quick reads on the hot tub!

[Book pleasure · Rating 4 out of 5]

Чудовий варіант для відпочинку. Що маємо? Десяток коротеньких детективів та трилерів. Частина - від авторів, яких ми знаємо і любимо. Частина, особисто для мене, стали новими, але, в цілому, знайомство було цілком приємним.

[Carmel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good short stories but just not for me. I’ve never been able to get into the short story genre & this was no exception.