Blue Christmas & Other Holiday Homicides

by Max Allan Collins

Here is a cornucopia of holiday-themed tales of crime and mystery, cleverly told by master storyteller Max Allan Collins. Three novellas anchor the book, all featuring '40s era Chicago P.I. Richard Stone. "A Wreath for Marley" adds intrigue to a traditional Christmas tale; "Flowers for Bill O'Reilly" infuses a Memorial Day setting with horror-movie madness; and in the Thanksgiving yarn "A Bird for Becky," a sweet twelve-year-old girl turns out to be the reincarnation of a rubbed-out Chicago gangster.

Also included are the short stories "Mommy," a Mother's Day tale that became the bases of a cult movie; "Firecracker Kill," a Fourth of July serial-killer noir that pairs a cop and a mob enforcer as heroes; and "His Father's Ghost," a Halloween-meets-Father's Day study of an adopted boy's search for the killer of the father he never met.

Contents
A wreath for Marley
Mommy
Flowers for Bill Reilly
His father's ghost
Firecracker kill
A bird for Becky

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2001

About the author

Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 2006.

He has also published under the name Patrick Culhane. He and his wife, Barbara Collins, have written several books together. Some of them are published under the name Barbara Allan.

Book Awards
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1984) : True Detective
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1992) : Stolen Away
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1995) : Carnal Hours
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) : Damned in Paradise
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1999) : Flying Blind: A Novel about Amelia Earhart
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (2002) : Angel in Black

Japanese: マックス・アラン・コリンズ
or マックス・アラン コリンズ

Reviews

[Blair Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blue Christmas contains six stories that revolve around a holiday (Christmas, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving). I read the first-holiday story last Christmas and have subsequently read each other story per holiday. This collection is well worth patiently waiting till each holiday rolls around. Flowers for Bill O’Riley (Memorial Day) and A Bird for Becky (Thanksgiving) were standouts for me.

[Allen Gregory · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Great Collection of Unusual Holiday Tales...
Max Allan Collins is a master storyteller, and this is a superb collection of short stories. If you love a great story written in a sparse, yet surprisingly effective punchy style, you'll love these stories. Had to binge-read this during the holidays! Treat yourself and enjoy!

[Michael Fredette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blue Christmas & Other Holiday Homicides, Max Allan Collins [Wolf Pack Press].

A collection of holiday-themed crime fiction including:

“A Wreath for Marley”— A semi-comic hard boiled retelling of A Christmas Carol, in which private eye Richard Stone is visited by ghostly apparitions urging him to investigate his former partner’s murder.

“Mommy”—Ostensibly a Mother’s Day story about an affluent widowed mother, whose attractive appearance belies her homicidal proclivities.

“Flowers for Bill O’Reilly”—(Not about the talk show host). When a disabled WWII vet, Bill O’Reilly is killed in an apparent hit and run accident, detective Richard Stone agrees to investigate as a favor to a friend. A private detective story with gothic horror elements.

“My Father’s Ghost”—A returning Desert Storm vet investigates the murder of a father he never knew.

***

Max Allan Collins is a Mystery Writers of America grandmaster and four time winner of the Shamus Award from Private Eye Writers of America. Collins’s works include The Road to Perdition, the basis of Sam Mendes’s acclaimed film. His most recent Nathan Heller novel,Too Many Bullets, was published last year by Hard Case Crime.

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kicking off the holiday season with a book about holiday homicides! This was a collection of short stories with quick mysteries surrounding a year of holidays.

The stories were short and clever. Definitely a basic read you can snap up in one sitting.

[Denise Spicer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seven short stories each centered around a different holiday-- Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, and, of course, Christmas. The story “A Wreath For Marley” is a variant on Dickens’ classic where the Scrooge type is a hardboiled P.I. who has a complete change of heart after meeting the Ghosts of Past, Present, and Future. Mildly interesting characters -- way too much violence and gore.

[Grey853 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found the writing to be weak and underdeveloped with little or no character development. Granted, a short story doesn't have the same amount of space to do that, but I really didn't enjoy the selection.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crazy collection of short stories, cool concept.