Murder in the Falling Snow: Ten Classic Crime Stories

Murderous Christmas Stories #7

by Cecily Gayford

It's only the afternoon, but dusk is already falling and a log fire burning in the grate. Outside, frost coats the tree branches and snow sparkles on the ground. And somewhere in the darkness, a murderer is making plans ...

Here are ten classic crime stories for the winter months, from the greatest minds of the mystery genre. So bundle up, grab a glass of mulled wine, and get ready to be puzzled, astonished and entertained by these festive stories of murder and mayhem.

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

165 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 3, 2022

Reviews

[Helga چـو ایـران نباشد تن من مـباد · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining classic crime/mystery short story collection

[Anissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the time of year when I like my books snowy and these seasonal short stories fit right in. This is one more in a good series of seasonal mysteries by Cecily Gayford and as long as she keeps compiling them, I'll keep buying them to read.

Here are my thoughts on the stories below:

Haunted House by Gladys Mitchell - in which a woman's murder on a snowy night in her supposed haunted house is resolved to be all too human. I'm not much for the supernatural as a device but this resolved in a satisfying way. A good story.
 
Sleuths on the Scent by Dorothy Sayers - in which the solution hinged on the detective and reader on observed details. a good story.

Mr Ponting's Alibi by R. Austin Freeman - in which a woman is murdered and finding her killer may hinge on finding a cat, a dog and a monkey. Another good one.

Meeting in the Snow by Julian Symons - in which snow and footwear unmask a killer. Another good story.

The Chopham Affair by Edgar Wallace - in which a blackmailer of ladies meets his end on a snowy night by a roadside with a fantastic twist in the end. My absolute favourite of the book!

The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel by L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace - a very good story in which murder is suspected near a train tunnel in winter but the solution is completely natural. 

The Reprisal by Michael Innes - in which it shows the peril of two scoundrels crossing paths. Good story.

Off the Tile by Ianthe Jerrold - a good story that I came across in another anthology: Crimson Snow: Winter Mysteries . I'll just repeat what I said from that review: in which a fall from a roof in November turns out to be more sinister than originally thought. Clearly, deftly scaling rooves is for Santa and chimney sweeps.

These two were just okay but really, it's just me when it comes to Conan Doyle & Chesterton:
The Adventure of the Abbey Grange by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Sign of the Broken Sword by G.K. Chesterton

So definitely a good collection and I recommend Gaford's summer season anthologies.

Recommended.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed some of these tales, but it seemed quite an uneven and random collection and not really very wintry at all. There isn't very much snow despite the cover! Some of the stories are also in other collections - I really like The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel by L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace, possibly the standout story here for me, but I remembered it fairly well from reading it somewhere else, possibly in one of the British Library collections.

The Michael Innes story is also great - less wordy than his full-length Appleby novels, and very clever. I also liked the Sayers story starring her lesser-known detective, commercial traveller Montague Egg, and the Sherlock Holmes story, though I'd read both of these before. Some of the other stories are less good and I didn't really like the Father Brown story that's included at all. The stories don't have details of the dates when they were written or previously published, which is a shame. It would also have been nice to have an introduction and/or mini-biographies of the writers, as in the British Library and Bodies from the Library collections.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ten Golden Age stories. Annoyingly the publication of the stories is included. I enjoyed several of them especially the two where the murderer escapes punishment. The Father Brown story about a martyred General who was not all that he seemed.

The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel is original in how the two signalmen died. The Chopham Affair is excellent with two crooks meeting a shocking and karmic end. Did not like The Reprisal story it seemed a bit juvenile and silly.
Sleuths on the Scent with Monty Egg was appealing having owned several Morris Minors in my youth. The Ponting Affair was funny and obvious when the cat, dog and monkey’s appearance in the story.

Overall some wintry stories with a few gems.

[Mia Steinert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didnt realise this book had lots of short stories, not long enough for me to get into them, and some just difficult to read in my opinion, some better than others however!

[Shauna · Rating 3 out of 5]

There isn't a lot of snow in these stories although they are all set in winter time. A pretty mundane selection with at least 2 of the tales also appearing in the British Library crime series. I found the Father Brown selection very boring and the Conan Doyle offering I have read at least twice before.

[Eugene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every Christmas I treat myself to anthologies of murder mysteries from the Golden Age (sometimes beyond) and this proved to be a very solid and entertaining example of said type. I would say there are no 'duds' in this collection of stories, and a few real jewels.

My favourite stories were:

'The Adventure of Abbey Grange' by Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes chooses to play judge and jury, after his detective work is done ...
'The Mystery of Fellwyn Tunnel' by L T Meade and Robert Eustace - a railway signalman dies in mysterious and ghostly circumstances, but scientific investigator John Bell is not convinced ...
'Meeting In The Snow' by Julian Symons - short and sweet, and very clever
'The Reprisal' by Michael Innes - ditto

[Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed this collection, and if this is anthology #7, I'm assuming the stories in 1-6 are even better!

A mixed bunch from some big names, with some stories working better than others.

I'm knocking off a star for the inclusion of a story that I read as containing a whole load of homophobic dog whistles (and not much else.)

[Daniel Myatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real mix here of the terrible to the 'ha, that was okay,' but not one of these short stories stood out for me as excellent.

Dorothy L. Sayers probably wrote the best short story, and to be honest, Gladys Mitchell, the worst!

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of ten classic short crime stories. Some of the stories are a little obscure, but I really enjoyed The Chopham Affair, The Adventure of the Abbey Grange and The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel.

This book of short stories was one of my Christmas presents from a friend. The perfect read for a winters night - thank you!

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read! I enjoyed the Holmes, Father Brown , and mystery of felwyn tunnels, stories the most!

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthology of classic crime stories from authors such as Dorothy L. Sayers and Arthur Conan Doyle. Perfect for this time of year.

[Tom Vanstone · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories - some much stronger than others but overall a good Winter read!!!

[Faras_bookclub · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5/5

This was a collection of (murder) mystery short stories written by different authors. I liked the concept of like all these little stories bundled together. But it being from a wide variety of authors also made that I liked some but disliked others. Some did feel a bit rushed but that also kept it interesting. Unfortunately the one story that I just really did not enjoy reading was also the longest one haha, I guess that’s really typical 😂

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Have read a few in this series now, and I have to say they are a bit hit and miss... More miss in this collection, sadly

[Iva Linn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well… I had higher expectations but i love the concept of having a bunch of short stories in one book

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the short stories were better than others in this book, I found and they didn’t engage me enough. A quick read though as it’s only a short book.

[Jeff Howells · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unbelievably, this is the seventh seasonal collection in this series of cosy crime short stories edited by Cecily Gayford. Whilst there are now much fewer instances of stories set at Christmas, all the stories are set in the cold or snowy winter months.
Some of the stories are very slight indeed, my favourites inevitably being the ones by Dorothy L. Sayers and Arthur Conan Doyle, with an honourable mention to Julian Symons
These are just the ticket for the festive season. I don’t rule out the publication of an 8th instalment next year.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A number of winter-themed – for the most part – crime and mystery stories, generally ranging from the fin-de-siecle to the mid twentieth century. I'd read the Conan Doyle, Wallace and Jerrold stories before and of the three I only re-read the Sherlock Holmes tale, which remains very good; the rest were new to me.

Gladys Mitchell's HAUNTED HOUSE is too short to have much of a build up, but the murder mystery is well crafted and the solution satisfying. Dorothy L. Sayers is up next with SLEUTHS ON THE SCENT, a charming and funny little story set entirely in a pub, about the hunt for a murderer. There are twists galore here and some choice dialogue. R. Austin Freeman, one of the classic mystery writers of the 1890s, comes up trumps again with MR PONTING'S ALIBI, in which an intimidation plot turns deadly. It's pretty gruesome, with an intricate little mystery to support it, and it doesn't disappoint.

MEETING IN THE SNOW is a simple little thing by Julian Symons in which reader and detective have to figure out which of three offspring are responsible for murder, THE REPRISAL by Michael Innes is another short one about a theft at a country house which has a neat double twist, and THE SIGN OF THE BROKEN SWORD is a Father Brown adventure that's very different, involving the solving of a historical mystery (with a war theme) which is unlike any other mystery I've read – very novel!

My favourite story in the collection is L.T. Meade & Robert Eustace's THE MYSTERY OF FELWYN TUNNEL, which feels like a crime version of the Dickens classic THE SIGNALMAN with almost exactly the same setting. It's a wonderful thing, just as spooky as the Dickens piece, with an intricate mystery and a fully satisfying solution. This was part of a series featuring sleuth John Bell called A MASTER OF MYSTERIES, and I look forward to reading the rest of the stories at some point. Great stuff!

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

As often with short story collections, a mixed bag. Publisher-wise, I much prefer the BLCC short story collections as before each story there's a short introduction with some context about the story/writer. These collections have nothing like that, not even an introduction to the book as a whole.
My favourites in this were the Sherlock Holmes (which I've read many times), The Chopham Affair, and Haunted House, but my absolute favourite was The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel, which is very like The Signalman by Charles Dickens, a story that I love. This was like a retelling almost, but with a different ending.
Some of the stories were enjoyable, but just OK. The Chesterton was a bit boring and since most of the action was set in South America, seemed a weird inclusion. Mr Ponting's Alibi was OK, but absolutely reads like Holmes-lite, so nowhere near as good.
Probably 2.5 stars due to the mix of stories, but I'd love to read more LT Meade.

[Sophie Constable · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This is a collection of 10 short classic crime stories that all feature a murder and take place in a wintry setting. I liked the vast majority of this collection and there are some authors in here that I will definitely read from again. I would have like a little biographical section about each author and some mention as to why each story was chosen. However, it is a very quick wintry read and one I would recommend!
Ratings for each individual story:
Haunted House by Gladys Mitchell - 2🌟
Sleuths on the Scent by Dorothy L. Sayers - 3.5🌟
Mr Ponting's Alibi by R. Austin Freeman - 4🌟
Meeting in the Snow by Julian Symons - 3 🌟
The Chopham Affair by Edgar Wallace - 5 🌟
The Adventure of the Abbey Grange by Arthur Conan Doyle - 4 🌟
The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel by L.T. Meade + Robert Eustace - 4 🌟
The Reprisal by Michael Innes - 2 🌟
The Sign of the Broken Sword by G.K. Chesterton - 5 🌟
Off The Tiles by Ianthe Jerrold - 3 🌟

[Martin Pilkington · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sub-title "Ten Classic Crime Stories" gives it away that Cecily Gayford put these stories together. There's no overall introduction, there's no introduction to any of the individual stories, it's just the stories.

And the stories are in the main by well known crime writers, three of the stories were by people I hadn't known about before. Two of the stories, the Conan Doyle and the Chesterton, I had read before.

An enjoyable quick read, it's just 182 pages, the stories all work, some better than others, of course. Perhaps a bit more than just the title and author, even just the date first published (even the credits at the back of the book only mentions 4 of the stories and no dates), would have been the icing on the cake.

But a very worthwhile read.

[Ceebee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of 10 Christmas or winter themed classic crime short stories.
Rating: 3.4

Haunted House - Gladys Mitchell ***
Sleuths on the Scent - Dorothy L. Sayers ***
Mr Ponting's Alibi (Dr. Thorndyke) - R. Austin Freeman ****
Meeting in the Snow (Francis Quarles) - Julian Symons ****
The Chopham Affair - Edgar Wallace ***
The Adventure of the Abbey Grange (Sherlock Holmes) - Arthur Conan Doyle ****
The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel - L.T. Meade & Robert Eustace ***
The Reprisal (Sir John Appleby) - Michael Innes ****
The Sign of the Broken Sword (Father Brown) - G.K. Chesterton **
Off the Tiles - Ianthe Jerrold ****

[travelsalongmybookshelf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well I just inhale short stories at Christmas, there is just something about cold winter nights, curled up in front of the fire, solving murders from the sofa! This is just a great and balanced collection from some of our most well beloved Golden Age Crime writers, including Gladys Mitchell, Dorothy L Sayers and R. Austin Freeman. I really enjoyed Mr Pontings Alibi by the latter, twistingly clever, designed to fox the reader and just great fun to read! Perfect to dip in and out of between other festivities and I am building my collection of this joyous series!

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The latest collection of ten winter themed crime short stories in this series. I had read the four longest entries before but was quite happy to read them all again ; the remaining six very short stories were fine.

Favourite stories:

The Adventure of the Abbey Grange by Arthur Conan Doyle. A well known Sherlock Holmes tale.

The Mystery of the Felwyn Tunnel by L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace. A slightly unusual story with a scientific solution

None of the remaining stories annoyed or irritated me so I have no least favourite story in this collection

[Anthony Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ten short detective stories. I felt they passed the time nicely, but apart from the Conan Doyle and the Chesterton, I found them tidy but rather workaday. Innes was reliably clever, Sayers terse and entertaining with a well crafted red herring character, but I did rather enjoy R. Austin Freeman - not a name I knew - whose 'Mr Ponting's Alibi' was long enough, like the Doyle and the Chesteton, to develop a neatly attentuated investigation by lawyer Thorndyke whose relations with the local detective, Superintendent Miller are similar to Holmes and Lestrade.

[Cathy McCarthy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories, somewhat misleadingly called Murder in the Falling Snow since they don't all involve wintry snowy scenes. The stories are all fairly dated, it would have been nice to have more variety. There is no information given about the authors or the background to the stories, and some authors are better known than others, e.g. Dorothy L Sayers and Conan Doyle. Most of the stories felt a bit Meh, the one I enjoyed the most was The Sign of the Broken Sword by G K Chesterton

[Sharron Joy Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fun easy to read short story collection of classic whodunnits. All of them set in the cold of winter.

These are mainly set in the last century but I love the old fashioned settings, the way people spoke, the simplicity of life and the hardship of it before the health service, before the welfare state.

They are stories of domestic life at its most barbaric but quietly so with very few gory details.

A cosy read for me, very short stories to pick up and read as and when. 4 stars ⭐️

[Neil Fulwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ten short stories from the golden age of British crime fiction, not all of which involve murder and precious few of which play out against a backdrop of snow, either falling or settled. A pretty ragtag selection, all told, with only Conan Doyle’s ‘The Adventure of the Abbey Grange’ and Edgar Wallace’s sneakily structured ‘The Clapham Affair’ truly standing out.

[Inu · Rating 2 out of 5]

should’ve done my research bc i was surprised to find ten little mysteries inside instead of a one and have alr aknowledged this is not the form of crime i love to read

i just don’t think u can write a compelling mystery of a crime in 10-30 pages or at least i haven’t stumbled across such

anyways i didn’t find it hard to finish this book so i have to give it credit for that