Murder on a Winter's Night

Murderous Christmas Stories #6

by Cecily Gayford

In the bleak midwinter ... murder awaits.

The halls might be decked, and the mistletoe hung, but in these ten classic crime stories you're more likely to come across a corpse under the Christmas tree than a present. From a Santa Claus with a secret to a violent theft that snowballs into something quite unexpected, pull up a chair, throw another log on the fire ... and let history's greatest crime writers surprise, delight and chill you to the bone.

Featuring stories by Dorothy L. Sayers, Arthur Conan Doyle, Cyril Hare, Margery Allingham, Mark Billingham and more...

Table of contents:
A Surprise for Christmas, Cyril Hare
The Snowball Burglary, H. C. Bailey
Tall Story, Margery Allingham
A Present from Santa Claus, Julian Symons
The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention, Dorothy L. Sayers
The Motive, G. D. H. and M. Cole
Underneath the Mistletoe Last Night, Mark Billingham
The New Catacomb, Arthur Conan Doyle
The Motive, Ronald Knox
Dog in the Night-Time, Edmund Crispin

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

200 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 2021

Reviews

[Anissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good collection but not the best in the series. For a short 200 pages, this took me a little longer to get through than I would have expected (mostly because of a rather long Lord Whimsy story in the middle that didn't dazzle me). Still, there were some good stories here and some new-to-me authors that I'll keep an eye out for, so that was all to the good. My thoughts on each story follow (with the exception of the Conan Doyle story because as I've mentioned in other reviews, I don't much love reading him):

A Surprise for Christmas by Cyril Hare - in which the surprise isn't one found in a Christmas cracker and I'm pretty sure makes this family's close of year really unexpected. Enjoyable short if not a little predictable.

The Snowball Burglary by H.C. Bailey - in which a house party prank turns into a real attempted theft and a reassurance that one of the invited guests really shouldn't be invited anywhere because they're thoroughly awful. This has some silly moments but the redeeming bits make up for it.

Tall Story by Margery Allingham - in which a past crime he solved is related by a DCI and his height came in handy. Good storey.

A Present from Santa Claus by Julian Symons - in which Francis Quarles figures out how a whole crime ring is operating in a department store while on an outing to take his nephew to see Santa Claus. Easy to solve but I really liked this one further proving, I'm a Symons fan.

The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention by Dorothy L. Sayers - in which a visiting Lord Whimsey finds himself caught up in village matters when a wealthy man's funeral kicks off the search for a will by his heir and the problem of the corpse going missing. An okay story but overlong and tedious in places.

The Motive by G.D.H. and M. Cole - in which a disagreeable wealthy woman is murdered the motive and murderer are tough for the police to suss out. I thought it was basically a good story but the one lead they didn't follow early on would have got them to their solution sooner so this wasn't the best puzzle for this reader.

Underneath the Mistletoe Last Night by Mark Billingham - in which the most modern tale of the collection has a red suited corpse under the tree on Christmas Eve is grim but has heartwarming moments and highlight-worthy passages. Well done story.

The Motive by Ronald Knox - in which a barrister relates a twisty tale for a group that has a very good payoff in the end. I really enjoyed this one.

Dog in the Night-Time by Edmund Crispin - in which housekeeping plays a larger part in the solution than I had expected. 

Recommended.

[Helga · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

A collection of crime/mystery short stories. A Surprise for Christmas by Cyril Hare was my favorite.

[Judith van Wijk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t really like most of the stories. Bit boring.

[Lisa Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the perfect read for the pre-Christmas season and the time between the years. I did not enjoy every story equally but all of them had their special twist to them. It was also great to discover some new crime authors, I haven't read before.

[Lili · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story collections are sometimes like a pre-made bag of pick’n’mix - random, sometimes disappointing and with a rare favourite at the bottom.

Murder on a Winter’s Night is sadly one of those short story collections for me; many liquorice allsorts (sorry if you like those) but with a sprinkling of chocolate coated raisins (you might think those are disgusting but they’re my favourite).

My personal favourite was by Dorothy L Sayers and honestly it was so good it made up for the duds!

As you can see by my terrible analogy above, stories which I might have not enjoyed may be seen as stand-outs by others, and vice versa, so don’t let my opinion deter you from picking this one up if it’s on your radar.

[Mark Gannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few good stories in here, but an equal number were quite dull and lost my interest very quickly.

[Eustacia Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to years of media, winter and Christmas have become inextricably linked, even if you live in year-round summer. So when I saw Murder on a Winter’s Night, I thought: “this book would be perfect for the Christmas season.”

Edited by Cecily Gayford, Murder on a Winter’s Night collects 10 crime stories from various classic crime writers. Despite the title, not all stories are about murder. Most of them are fun, so I’ll just cover each of them briefly in my review:

- A Surprise for Christmas by Cyril Hare: This short story, while involving a murder, doesn’t really count as a crime story (in my opinion, anyway). It’s about a couple hosting their nieces and nephews and I won’t say anything more because I’ll give it away. I could sort of see the twist coming, but I still enjoyed it.
- The Snowball Burglary by H.C. Bailey: This was definitely a mystery, but one that didn’t involve a murder. Someone is set upon and the house is burgled, and Reggie Fortune has to find out who is responsible. This was fun and I loved this description of a character: “Sally Winslow is a wisp of a creature who has no respect for anyone, even herself.” That just painted a picture in my mind.
- Tall Story by Margery Allingham: I read this, but something about the narrative just made it fly over my head.
- A Present from Santa Claus by Julian Symons: Someone is stealing from a department store, during the Christmas season of all times! I wasn’t terribly impressed by this story, apart from the fact that apparently a department store is willing to make a loss on its Santa Claus grotto by giving gifts greater than the value of the price of entry.
- The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention by Dorothy L. Sayers: This is the longest story in the collection and the one that I enjoyed the most, probably because it’s a Wimsey mystery and I’m already fond of this detective. Peter Wimsey goes to stay with a friend where tragically, a local and rather mean-spirited man’s funeral is about to be held. More concerning, however, is the appearance of a ghostly carriage that heralds death and a break-in at the Church while people are keeping vigil. Wimsey solves this one rather satisfyingly, in my opinion.
- The Motive by G.D.H and M. Cole: A rich and miserly old woman is found dead in her house. With a personality like hers, many people have the motive to kill her but who is the true culprit? I really enjoyed this mystery, since it felt very much like a classic Golden Age tale.
- Underneath the Mistletoe Last Night by Mark Billingham: Santa Claus is murdered while delivering presents? Even a cynical detective can’t quite believe it. It’s a startling premise, but I wish there was more investigation; the story felt rather rushed.
- The New Catacomb by Arthur Conan Doyle: This is perhaps the least Christmas-y of the collection, since it takes place in Rome and could be during any season (except that they mention it’s cold). It’s a fun story, as expected of Doyle, but I saw the ending coming halfway though the story.
- The Movie by Ronald Knox: Yes, there are two short stories with the same title. I have to say, though, this one isn’t as entertaining and the last line quite ruins the story for me.
- Dog in the Night Time by Edmund Crispin: The last story in the collection, I enjoyed this Gervase Fen tale as he tries to help a student. There’s a crime, but even though it doesn’t take center stage (the exact crime is unclear until the end, and the reveal takes place soon after), I found myself satisfied with how Gervase solved the case.

As you can tell from the authors, these are mostly stories from the Golden Age of fiction. I think it would actually go quite well with the book The Golden Age of Murder because many of the authors mentioned in the book are in this collection as well and would make a good introduction to the various authors.

This was a fun collection and I’d definitely recommend it to those looking for a seasonal read or who are just looking to read more from the Golden Age of mysteries.

This review was first posted at Eustea Reads

[Jeff Howells · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 6th Christmas crime anthology in this series, and proof that the cupboard is getting very thin as far as overtly festive short stories are concerned. Only 3 of the tales here are Christmassy - and the others barely qualify as wintery, over and above a sentence or two that sets out when the stories are taking place. The best story is the first one by Cyril Hare. It really does feel now as if the Christmas crime cupboard is empty.
Maybe it will prompt more stories to be written by contemporary writers (although I do recall the Daily Mail in the 80s and 90s printing specially commissioned festive stories either from established authors or featuring popular tv dramas), maybe these could be collected together?

[Rhea Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think the first story was a very strong opener, which made me worry for the rest of the book, but it was okay overall. Nothing really stood out to me although it did introduce me to some writers that I had not read before so that's always a good thing. Good enough to while away an afternoon, or if you only have a short bit of time to get reading done.

[Hannah Edmonds · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories in this collection were very hit or miss. One of the best stories was the opening one: A Surprise for Christmas by Cyril Hare. It gave me high hopes for the rest of the book, which did eventually fall flat.

Other notable stories were; Underneath the Mistletoe Last Night by Mark Billingham in which a little boy finds Father Christmas dead under the Christmas tree; and The New Catacomb by Arthur Conan Doyle.

This is so far the only story I've read by Doyle that isn't a Sherlock Holmes story and I actually preferred it to most of the Holmes stories I've read. It is reminiscent of Poe's The Cask of Amontillado but with more of a backstory.

It's a shame that in a book of ten stories, it's probably only the above three that I'll still remember in a few months' time.

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice series - This one is more focused on mysteries in winter time- though there are a few that do focus on the holidays. Enjoyable selection. I have read a few before but was happy to find some I have not. I did like the rather long Sayer’s piece - especially as it was not as long winded or prone to a lot of dialogue. I found it contained a lot of unexpected events that then came together as the story finished.

In general however, it a nice selection of short stories from the Golden Age of Detection (and some before or after that match the feel.). Worth getting.

[Maya · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 aber irgendwie so meh

[Eugene · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely looking paperback edition, and I did enjoy most of the wintry mystery stories within. However, a British Library Classic Crime it is not, even if that is what it's aiming at.

My main complaint was the inclusion of a modern story, 'Underneath The Mistletoe Last Night' by the modern author Mark Billingham. Classic Crime? Not even close. A bit charmless too, compared to offerings by the ridiculously talented Dorothy L. Sayers and Arthur Conan Doyle. As other reviewers have said, this is the latest in a series of 'Murder on a ...' anthologies and clearly the cupboard is becoming bare, as well as tenuously linked to the title.

My favourite stories were the (truly) classic 'The New Catacomb' by Doyle, the brilliantly named and imagined Lord Peter Wimsey novella 'The Undignified Melodrama Of The Bone Of Contention' by Dorothy L. Sayers, and 'The Motive' by Ronald Knox. These quality few are why this book gets to remain on my bookshelves.

[Plum-crazy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ten short "Classic Crime" stories set at Christmas. Strictly speaking it's really nine as there's a Mark Billingham story included. As much as I love Thorne I don't think he fits the "classic" bill just yet. The remaining nine tales are much older ones, having a good few decades on Thorne, & come from the likes of Dorothy L Sayers, Margery Allingham & Conan Doyle.

"A Surprise for Christmas" proved a nice short introduction & I did enjoy the ending of the second of the two stories titled "The Motive". I liked them all well enough with the exception of Sayers' "The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention" which quite frankly bored me to tears &, for me at least, was far longer than a short story should be!

Overall a decent enough collection of tales but not the best selection of the series.

[Imogen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, it was quite a boring book and I was never hooked. It was tough to bring myself to read it and I barely got through it. Not all of the stories had themes of murder or of Christmas/winter as suggested and they were pretty horribly written. The only half decent one was the Arthur Conan Doyle.

[Selin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was, plainly put, boring. I don’t think it was a good selection of stories. None of them hooked me from the start and it felt like a chore. There was only one story that I read that made me feel a little bit intrigued but that was short lived. It was such a drag. Disappointed.

[Georgie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly I found this book to be boring… I was never hooked, the stories weren’t greatly written and definitely too short to form any suspense or questions (which a good crime story needs…)

[Mollie Brook · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me

[Marcus Gavin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a great read. Bored after the first story.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A winter themed collection of crime based short stories. As always in this series, there are ten stories, most by well known authors. I can only recollect reading three of them before, so quite satisfying. This collection differs slightly from the others I have read in this series, in that there is one story which is much longer than the others meaning that the other nine are very short.

Favourite stories

The Unsatisfying Melodrama of the Bone of Contention by Dorothy L. Sayers, featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. This is the longer story referred to above - the rather odd title does make sense when you read it. Although there are attitudes displayed within the tale which grate today, it still serves to show quite clearly the superiority of Wimsey over Campion. The story does not involve murder, although the fate of a body figures largely

The New Catacomb by Arthur Conan Doyle. A non Sherlock Holmes story, I have read this before and fairly recently at that. However, I enjoyed it very much and was quite happy to reread it. One could say it is a little predictable but there is an air of menace about the text and a feeling of satisfaction at the conclusion (to me, at least)

Least Favourite

A Present from Santa Claus by Julian Symons. This very short piece seemed tedious and pointless to me.

Underneath the Mistletoe Last Night by Mark Billingham. I was happy to see a story by a more modern author includedand I have enjoyed the Billingham novels I have read. But, although this offering was pretty well written, the attitudes on display fitted quite well with the much older tales in the book, especially in the attitudes to women.

Dog in the Night-Time by Edmund Crispin. These collections often seem to contain stories by Crispin and, although I am a big fan of his novels, I have found every single one of the short stories disappointing - his style doesn't (IMO) suit the short-short story he seems to favour.

[Carole Tyrrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of ten classic crime stories which includes some from the Golden Age of Crime and also more contemporary ones. It comes in at under 200 pages and so would be ideal for a winter’s afternoon. But not all of them involve murder.
I really liked the striking cover which was very eye catching and reminded me of a Christmas card. It’s a snow scene featuring a large house with a lit upper window and a front door that is ajar….
Short story collections can be like a selection box of chocolates in that you prefer some to others. The ones that I really liked were:
A Surprise for Christmas – Cyril Hare is the opening tale and was a neat, very short story with a sting in its tail.
A Present from Santa Claus - Julian Symons In this certain visitors to a department store Santa Claus receive a spexcial present from him.
The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Convention - Dorothy L Sayers. This was the longest story in the book and features Lord Peter Wimsey. He goes to stay with a friend as a local and mean spirited man is about to be buried. But there is an appearance by a ‘death coach’ with headless horses and a headless coach driver. And during a vigil at the church there is a break in. Lord Peter solves it all.
The Motive – G D H & M Cole. This was another one with an effective ending. A rich and mean woman is found dead in her house. There are many people who would have had a motive to kill her but who actually did it?
Underneath the Mistletoe Last Night – Mark Billingham . In this story Father Christmas is murdered while delivering presents and I liked its touches of dark humour.
The New Catacomb – Arthur Conan Doyle. This was set in Rome’s catacombs and not strictly set at winter although a character mentions that it’s cold) I liked the claustrophobic setting and the opportunity for revenge.
This is part of a series and I will look out for the others,

[Alex Sarll]

The title isn't quite right; even leaving aside the one where the intended victim survives, crime writers back in the day knew that you could get a story out of plenty of other misdeeds, so several of these are about thefts and one turns out barely even to be that. The only modern inclusion, granted, lacks all trace of such inventiveness – this would be Mark Billingham's Underneath The Mistletoe Last Night, a story which seems much more interested in thoroughly and brutally spoiling its poor characters' Christmas than offering much of a mystery at all. Thank goodness, then, that otherwise we're back in the Golden Age, or even earlier – though Conan Doyle himself, his famous investigator nowhere to be seen, blatantly rips off a story already venerable by his time, and normally filed in a different genre altogether, for The New Catacomb. Despite which, and a frankly implausible piece of ignorance on one character's part, it's effectively creepy. A little closer to our time, familiar figures include Gervase Fen, Charlie Luke taking the spotlight from Campion for once, and Wimsey in the great folk horror-adjacent novella The Undignified Melodrama Of The Bone Of Contention. Other contributors were less familiar, but still fun: Cyril Hare's A Surprise For Christmas opens proceedings in entertainingly ghoulish fashion, HC Bailey's The Snowball Burglary features a detective I'd like to see more of in the somewhat Campion-esque Reggie Fortune, and I love Ronald Knox simply for inventing an Oxbridge college with the quiet-bit-out-loud name Simon Magus. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the offering from GDH & M Cole, one of two here called The Motive: I knew GDH was a detective writer as well as a prominent Fabian, but given his bottom-up leftwing proposals, I wasn't expecting his fiction to lean quite so heavily on the broadly-drawn foibles of the lower orders, even if you can tell he enjoyed bumping off a wealthy miser.

[Meghna Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the bleak midwinter, murder awaits.

The halls might be decked and the mistletoe hung, but in these ten classic crime stories, you're more likely to come across a corpse under the Christmas tree than a present. From a Santa Claus with a secret to a violent theft that snowballs into something quite unexpected, pull up a chair, throw another log on the fire, and let history's greatest crime writers surprise, delight, and chill you to the bone. Featuring stories by Dorothy L. Sayers, Arthur Conan Doyle, Cyril Hare, Margery Allingham, Mark Billingham and more...

Some of the stories were more like burglary than murder mysteries, but I liked the Christmassy vibe of them all. My views for each story are:
A Surprise for Christmas, Cyril Hare: It was short and good.
The Snowball Burglary, H. C. Bailey: Too lengthy and nothing to do with murder, but a good story.
Tall Story, Margery Allingham: I liked the climax. Good story.
A Present from Santa Claus, Julian Symons: Not a murder story, but nice storyline.
The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention, Dorothy L. Sayers: It was way longer than needed, but I enjoyed it.
The Motive, G. D. H. and M. Cole: Another long story and It was Okayish.
Underneath the Mistletoe Last Night, Mark Billingham: I enjoyed this the most. It was short and precise
The New Catacomb, Arthur Conan Doyle: The author has a way of writing that I have always loved. It was a good story.
The Motive, Ronald Knox: It was a twisty tale, and I loved the ending.
Dog in the Nighttime, Edmund Crispin: It was a good story, but I don't know why it was in this collection.

[Charlie Morris (Read, Watch & Drink Coffee) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently found this book in a charity shop and was so excited by the prospect of a collection of crime stories set over winter. And what better way to get in the Christmas mood than with a bit of murder?!

Sadly, not every story features a gruesome murder, as I soon realised that this was a collection of crime stories rather than every winter's night seeing an unexpected death. But as a collection, this was a fantastic combination of crimes and misdemeanours, and every story held my interest in some way.

Normally with short story collections, I don't see the point in half of the stories and often feel like they neglect to get their message across. But I found every story very effective here and enjoyed 90% of them.

My favourite stories were A Surprise for Christmas by Cyril Hare and Underneath the Mistletoe Last Night by Mark Billingham which really stood out for me. They both packed a real punch and brilliantly managed to shock in only a small amount of pages.

So if you're looking for a quick read for a winter's night, this one is definitely worth a go!

[Vix · Rating 3 out of 5]

So me only paying half attention, got attracted by the initial blurb and missed the part about it being classic crime writers - I only realised when I started reading and thought that the writing looked old-fashioned.

I don't think the mysteries are as good as current authors but there were definitely good ones in there. My favourites were:
The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention by Dorothy L. Sayers,
The New Catacomb by Arthur Conan Doyla, and
The Motive by Ronald Knox

Others I struggled with either due to the language or the sheer number of characters in such short stories.

Overall, a good Christmas read without the usual happy endings!

[Adam Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

August is the perfect time to read a selection of Christmas crime classics. This is a well-selected anthology, although some of the best stories are ones that I've read before, including the opening "A Surprise for Christmas" by Cyril Hare. The Dorothy Sayers story, "The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention" is my favourite not-so-short story from Lord Peter Views the Body. "The New Catacomb" is a very good Holmes-less Doyle story. In terms of the new-to-me stories, there are two entitled "The Motive" by the Coles and Ronald Knox - both were excellent, for different reasons. Edmund Crispin's "Dog in the Night-Time" is a satisfying end to the collection.

[Vanya Prodanova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Чудесна книжка за това време на годината. Всичките истории бяха интересни, което беше неочаквано. Някои може веднага да ги разгадаеш за какво става дума, но други те изненадват приятно. Имам чувството, че една-две истории ми бяха познати, но не съм напълно сигурна.

Историите не са просто класически в смисъла, че са стари, ами и структурата без изключение на всяка история, е класическа подредба, което носи комфорт и приятно усещане, че знаеш какво да очакваш от криминалната си история. Модерните криминални истории са толкова сложни, пикантни и излишно драматични, че малко елегантност и чистота на изказа и историята, са добре дошли. :)

[Karen Buttle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished all but one

I enjoyed most of these, particularly the Lord Peter Wimsey story.
I did not finish the Arthur Conan Doyle story as I began to suspect I would find it too disturbing and skipped to the end, and I was correct, but at least I had not become too mentally involved by reading the whole thing.

[Rosalie Dekker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked most of the story's. Only the long story in the middle was a bit boring in the first 70% off it and a bit hard to get trough. But overall it was fun to read around christmas and i liked underneath the mistletoe last night by mark billingham the most.

[Helena Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

As to be expected from a collection of stories by a variety of authors, I liked some of these more than others. Having said that, there were none I didn't like at all so the overall reading experience was fine.