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Very Merry Mysteries
3 favorite Christmas mysteries including Rest You Merry, by Charlotte Macleod, Corpus Christmas by Margaret Maron, A Highland Christmas by M.C. Beaton. Mystery Guild brings you an exclusive of favorite holiday whodunits!
469 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
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102 people want to read
About the author
Charlotte MacLeod
94 books256 followersNaturalized US Citizen
Also wrote as Alisa Craig
Charlotte MacLeod, born in New Brunswick, Canada, and a naturalized U.S. citizen, was the multi-award-winning author of over thirty acclaimed novels. Her series featuring detective Professor Peter Shandy, America's homegrown Hercule Poirot, delivers "generous dollops of...warmth, wit, and whimsy" (San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle). But fully a dozen novels star her popular husband-and-wife team of Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn. And her native Canada provides a backdrop for the amusing Grub-and-Stakers cozies written under the pseudonym Alisa Craig and the almost-police procedurals starring Madoc Rhys, RCMP. A cofounder and past president of the American Crime Writers League, she also edited the bestselling anthologies Mistletoe Mysteries and Christmas Stalkings.
Also wrote as Alisa Craig
Charlotte MacLeod, born in New Brunswick, Canada, and a naturalized U.S. citizen, was the multi-award-winning author of over thirty acclaimed novels. Her series featuring detective Professor Peter Shandy, America's homegrown Hercule Poirot, delivers "generous dollops of...warmth, wit, and whimsy" (San Francisco Sunday Examiner and Chronicle). But fully a dozen novels star her popular husband-and-wife team of Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn. And her native Canada provides a backdrop for the amusing Grub-and-Stakers cozies written under the pseudonym Alisa Craig and the almost-police procedurals starring Madoc Rhys, RCMP. A cofounder and past president of the American Crime Writers League, she also edited the bestselling anthologies Mistletoe Mysteries and Christmas Stalkings.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 2, 2019
Very Merry Mysteries is a collection of three Christmas novels: Rest You Merry by Charlotte MacLeod, Corpus Christmas by Margaret Maron and A Highland Christmas by M. C. Beaton. All three are interesting mysteries and appropriate to set the mood for Christmas.
Rest You Merry (1978) is the first of the Peter Shandy series (Maybe I will find some of the others, but I think almost all are out of print by now.) Peter Shandy is a professor at Balaclava Agricultural College, where he lives in faculty row (in this case Crescent). He plans on a cruise to avoid the yearly traditional Grand Illumination of Balaclava Crescent on Christmas Eve (a rollicking winter festival with booths selling food and drink and outdoor activities to lure in the parents and public to help support the college), and to get even with other faculty who complain about his lack of decoration and spirit, he hires someone to over-decorate his home while he is gone. Unfortunately, there are problems with the cruise ship, and he has to return to the bright lights and blaring noise he has planned for others. If that is not enough, he finds one, and then two, dead bodies on faculty row--both neighbors and colleagues. Fortunately, the two are not the nicest of the inhabitants of the Crescent, and in the first case, a relative from California who is a librarian, quickly comes to take care of the house and effects of the deceased. Helen Marsh quickly becomes Shandy's friend and girl Friday, searching for the murderer. The story is lively, exciting, and interesting. The joy of Christmas prevails throughout the darkness of the murderers. It is a good Christmas read, both humorous and intriguing.
Corpus Christmas by Margaret Maron (1989) is a more serious story, apparently # 6 in a Sigrid Harald series. Sigrid is a cool, somewhat enigmatic detective, who is not particularly empathetic, at least in this novel. She is living with an artist, Oscar Nauman, who knows why or how, and in this novel she investigates a murder in the Erich Breul House, a small art gallery stuffed with nineteenth century paintings and memorabilia. The victim, Dr. Shambley, is a stuffy, self-important would-be-scholar who is a new trustee and un-liked by nearly everybody. Consequently there are lots of possible suspects, but no firm motive or reason for the crime. There are several side stories, including one with Sigrid herself and Nauman and his previous lover. Another concerns Soren Thorvaldsen, (most of the people seem Dutch) a shipbuilder who started poor and built himself to wealth and a taste for fine art (primarily Nauman). Another concerns four babies whose mummified bodies were found in an attic (one of Sigrid's cases). Another a friendship between Pascal Grant, the handyman at Breul House, who is beautiful, slow and innocent, and Rick Evans, the son of another of the trustees, Jim Munson. Another concerns the various types of art, from the multitudinous nineteenth century examples on display to the more modern, especially Braque, Picasso, Leger, and of course Nauman. The various stories weave around one another, and form a dense, interesting and quite complex story for a murder mystery. The truly spectacular part (in terms of the novel's plot) is that at the end, even though the perpetrator is caught and basically poetic justice is distributed to all, the real motive behind the action is known only to the reader. It is unlikely anyone will find the packet of letters that Shambley has misfiled in the attic (or know what he learned from them), and it will probably be a long time before anyone finds the ChouChew-Eric Breul portrait by Braque and Picasso (or knows what it actually is without the help of the misfiled letters from son to mother) or the two Leger works. It is an extremely intricate plot and truly a worthwhile read.
Finally there is A Highland Christmas (1999) a novella, book 15.5 in the Hamish Macbeth series, a short, but marvelous Christmas Tale. Set in Scotland where many of the people feel celebrating Christmas is a pagan, devilish custom, Hamish, in several ways, tries to bring the joy of Christmas to the inhabitants of Lockdubh. One of his cases is a missing cat of Mrs. Gallagher, who many of the neighbors think is a nasty witch, but is really a lonely, frightened old woman. Another is a lot of stolen Christmas lights from neighboring Cnothan. But his primary interest, not case, is a lonely young girl, Morag Anderson, whose parents, being strict Christians, do not let her have any fun or celebrate Christmas. She steals Mrs. Gallagher's cat to have someone who loves her as much as she loves them. In order to catch a quartet of hoodlums who are committing petty theft around the impoverished countryside (including the lights), Hamish leads the county police to their hideout where he knocks at the door and suddenly hears the bark of his dead dog Towser (apparently known from previous novels in the series). Because of this warning, he leaps aside and avoids getting shot. With the help of friends during the night he puts up the stolen lights in Lockdubh to bring Christmas joy to the inhabitants of his village, and having been given a warning, gets the same friends to take them down Christmas night and avoid being caught. He takes a bus load of Lockdubhians to celebrate a Christmas concert for a nursing home of elderly people, but irritates his date, Maisie, the new schoolteacher, especially when long-time love Priscilla calls to wish him a happy Christmas from New York. He goes home and discovers a new dog with a label from Archie. At first he doesn't want a new dog, but when the dog pees in Blair's shoe (it doesn't say why Blair didn't have his shoe on), he decides the blue-eyed mongrel is for him. He is named Lugs for the length of his floppy ears. Lugs appears in many future novels. The story is short, warm, funny in spots, and a solid Christmas read. An additional treat for Hamish fans, the reader learns the origin of Lugs.
Rest You Merry (1978) is the first of the Peter Shandy series (Maybe I will find some of the others, but I think almost all are out of print by now.) Peter Shandy is a professor at Balaclava Agricultural College, where he lives in faculty row (in this case Crescent). He plans on a cruise to avoid the yearly traditional Grand Illumination of Balaclava Crescent on Christmas Eve (a rollicking winter festival with booths selling food and drink and outdoor activities to lure in the parents and public to help support the college), and to get even with other faculty who complain about his lack of decoration and spirit, he hires someone to over-decorate his home while he is gone. Unfortunately, there are problems with the cruise ship, and he has to return to the bright lights and blaring noise he has planned for others. If that is not enough, he finds one, and then two, dead bodies on faculty row--both neighbors and colleagues. Fortunately, the two are not the nicest of the inhabitants of the Crescent, and in the first case, a relative from California who is a librarian, quickly comes to take care of the house and effects of the deceased. Helen Marsh quickly becomes Shandy's friend and girl Friday, searching for the murderer. The story is lively, exciting, and interesting. The joy of Christmas prevails throughout the darkness of the murderers. It is a good Christmas read, both humorous and intriguing.
Corpus Christmas by Margaret Maron (1989) is a more serious story, apparently # 6 in a Sigrid Harald series. Sigrid is a cool, somewhat enigmatic detective, who is not particularly empathetic, at least in this novel. She is living with an artist, Oscar Nauman, who knows why or how, and in this novel she investigates a murder in the Erich Breul House, a small art gallery stuffed with nineteenth century paintings and memorabilia. The victim, Dr. Shambley, is a stuffy, self-important would-be-scholar who is a new trustee and un-liked by nearly everybody. Consequently there are lots of possible suspects, but no firm motive or reason for the crime. There are several side stories, including one with Sigrid herself and Nauman and his previous lover. Another concerns Soren Thorvaldsen, (most of the people seem Dutch) a shipbuilder who started poor and built himself to wealth and a taste for fine art (primarily Nauman). Another concerns four babies whose mummified bodies were found in an attic (one of Sigrid's cases). Another a friendship between Pascal Grant, the handyman at Breul House, who is beautiful, slow and innocent, and Rick Evans, the son of another of the trustees, Jim Munson. Another concerns the various types of art, from the multitudinous nineteenth century examples on display to the more modern, especially Braque, Picasso, Leger, and of course Nauman. The various stories weave around one another, and form a dense, interesting and quite complex story for a murder mystery. The truly spectacular part (in terms of the novel's plot) is that at the end, even though the perpetrator is caught and basically poetic justice is distributed to all, the real motive behind the action is known only to the reader. It is unlikely anyone will find the packet of letters that Shambley has misfiled in the attic (or know what he learned from them), and it will probably be a long time before anyone finds the ChouChew-Eric Breul portrait by Braque and Picasso (or knows what it actually is without the help of the misfiled letters from son to mother) or the two Leger works. It is an extremely intricate plot and truly a worthwhile read.
Finally there is A Highland Christmas (1999) a novella, book 15.5 in the Hamish Macbeth series, a short, but marvelous Christmas Tale. Set in Scotland where many of the people feel celebrating Christmas is a pagan, devilish custom, Hamish, in several ways, tries to bring the joy of Christmas to the inhabitants of Lockdubh. One of his cases is a missing cat of Mrs. Gallagher, who many of the neighbors think is a nasty witch, but is really a lonely, frightened old woman. Another is a lot of stolen Christmas lights from neighboring Cnothan. But his primary interest, not case, is a lonely young girl, Morag Anderson, whose parents, being strict Christians, do not let her have any fun or celebrate Christmas. She steals Mrs. Gallagher's cat to have someone who loves her as much as she loves them. In order to catch a quartet of hoodlums who are committing petty theft around the impoverished countryside (including the lights), Hamish leads the county police to their hideout where he knocks at the door and suddenly hears the bark of his dead dog Towser (apparently known from previous novels in the series). Because of this warning, he leaps aside and avoids getting shot. With the help of friends during the night he puts up the stolen lights in Lockdubh to bring Christmas joy to the inhabitants of his village, and having been given a warning, gets the same friends to take them down Christmas night and avoid being caught. He takes a bus load of Lockdubhians to celebrate a Christmas concert for a nursing home of elderly people, but irritates his date, Maisie, the new schoolteacher, especially when long-time love Priscilla calls to wish him a happy Christmas from New York. He goes home and discovers a new dog with a label from Archie. At first he doesn't want a new dog, but when the dog pees in Blair's shoe (it doesn't say why Blair didn't have his shoe on), he decides the blue-eyed mongrel is for him. He is named Lugs for the length of his floppy ears. Lugs appears in many future novels. The story is short, warm, funny in spots, and a solid Christmas read. An additional treat for Hamish fans, the reader learns the origin of Lugs.
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October 5, 2021This contains two novels, and one novella: Rest You Merry, Corpus Christmas, and A Highland Christmas.
I was led to MacLeod by Elizabeth Peters' dedicating a book to "Charlotte MacLeod, my favorite mystery writer". Rest You Merry (1978) is the first Professor Peter Shandy mystery. The agricultural college setting interested me, and a librarian becomes important to the plot. But it didn't satisfy me because I couldn't find the ethic of it.
Reading this clarified for me that etiquette is a subdivision of ethics, and that a main reason I enjoy writing of earlier periods is not the surface elements but the worldview. This is why I rarely enjoy movie adaptations, because even if they keep the body of the work they exchange its soul for the sensibilities of the current audience.
Corpus Christmas lost my attention.
I thoroughly enjoyed the 60 page A Highland Christmas Hamish Macbeth story.
I was led to MacLeod by Elizabeth Peters' dedicating a book to "Charlotte MacLeod, my favorite mystery writer". Rest You Merry (1978) is the first Professor Peter Shandy mystery. The agricultural college setting interested me, and a librarian becomes important to the plot. But it didn't satisfy me because I couldn't find the ethic of it.
Reading this clarified for me that etiquette is a subdivision of ethics, and that a main reason I enjoy writing of earlier periods is not the surface elements but the worldview. This is why I rarely enjoy movie adaptations, because even if they keep the body of the work they exchange its soul for the sensibilities of the current audience.
Corpus Christmas lost my attention.
I thoroughly enjoyed the 60 page A Highland Christmas Hamish Macbeth story.
January 9, 2021
I read the last first as I'm a big M.C. Beaton fan. Great read. I liked the sweet story and the way Hamish arranged for the lonely woman and child to find each other. Then I read "Rest you Merry" by Charlotte MacLeod. I really liked the sweet romance that suddenly appears for the bachelor and hero of the story. Helen was cool. I baled on the third story by Margaret Maron. I have a habit of reading in bed. The book was so dense and heavy and not well cracked if you get my meaning. My hands were too tired to stuggle with it one more time.
January 5, 2011
Light reading for a holiday break.
March 8, 2011
No way to go wrong with this merry collection. My favorite is Highland Christmas by M.C. Beaton.
December 31, 2011
Very Cute stories
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews