Rachel’s Reviews > The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries > Status Update
Rachel
is 45% done
If it's Christmas time, I'm back to chipping away at this anthology:
"The Haunted Crescent" by Peter Lovesy: Fantastic story that sticks the ending.
"A Christmas in Camp" by Edmund Cox: A Scooby Doo episode under the British Raj. Setting overshadows the cleverness of the plot.
"The Christmas Bogey" by Pat Frank: A fantastic Cold War narrative.
"The Killer Christian" by Andrew Klavan: Extremely engaging.
— Dec 10, 2025 04:31PM
"The Haunted Crescent" by Peter Lovesy: Fantastic story that sticks the ending.
"A Christmas in Camp" by Edmund Cox: A Scooby Doo episode under the British Raj. Setting overshadows the cleverness of the plot.
"The Christmas Bogey" by Pat Frank: A fantastic Cold War narrative.
"The Killer Christian" by Andrew Klavan: Extremely engaging.
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Rachel’s Previous Updates
Rachel
is 38% done
"Serenade to a Killer" by Joseph Commings has a solid setup and so-so characters. I would be interested in reading more of his writing though.
And that's the last of this book that I am reading until the next round of winter holidays.
— Jan 02, 2025 07:54AM
And that's the last of this book that I am reading until the next round of winter holidays.
Rachel
is 37% done
"Crime's Christmas Carol" by Norvell Page is a sweet bit of suspense that hinges on odds defying irony.
— Dec 30, 2024 10:30AM
Rachel
is 35% done
"The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a solid Sherlock Holmes short story, and a palette cleanse after most of the lesser fanfic in this collection.
"Dead on Christmas Street" by John D. MacDonald has a solid procedural format, but ends with police trickery that is probably going to prevent conviction due to how the confession elicited.
— Dec 29, 2024 10:03AM
"Dead on Christmas Street" by John D. MacDonald has a solid procedural format, but ends with police trickery that is probably going to prevent conviction due to how the confession elicited.
Rachel
is 32% done
I found "The Secret in the Pudding Bag & Herlock Sholmes's Christmas Case" by Peter Todd dull and unenjoyable.
"Christmas Eve" by S.C. Roberts is just okay.
An actual Arthur Conan Doyle story about Sherlock Holmes is next, thankfully.
— Dec 23, 2024 03:48PM
"Christmas Eve" by S.C. Roberts is just okay.
An actual Arthur Conan Doyle story about Sherlock Holmes is next, thankfully.
Rachel
is 29% done
Back at it, starting with the Sherlockian section:
"A Scandal in Winter" by Gillian Linscott was quite engaging and delightful.
"The Christmas Client" by Edward D. Hoch is an interesting piece of fanfiction: combining Sherlock Holmes and Lewis Carroll at Christmastime.
— Dec 13, 2024 08:56AM
"A Scandal in Winter" by Gillian Linscott was quite engaging and delightful.
"The Christmas Client" by Edward D. Hoch is an interesting piece of fanfiction: combining Sherlock Holmes and Lewis Carroll at Christmastime.
Rachel
is 26% done
"A Reversible Santa Claus" by Meredith Nicholson is delightful with the same energy as the Fritz Lang rom-com proto-noir "You and Me."
— Jan 02, 2024 09:37AM
Rachel
is 21% done
"A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Ron Goulart is an excellent short story.
"The Thieves Who Couldn't Help Sneezing" by Thomas Hardy is a tale of whimsical revenge.
"Rumpole and the Spirit of Christmas" by John Mortimer has an ending that I think is supposed to be cheeky and funny, but is actually an example of careless systemic abuse towards poor people.
— Dec 14, 2023 02:11PM
"The Thieves Who Couldn't Help Sneezing" by Thomas Hardy is a tale of whimsical revenge.
"Rumpole and the Spirit of Christmas" by John Mortimer has an ending that I think is supposed to be cheeky and funny, but is actually an example of careless systemic abuse towards poor people.
Rachel
is 18% done
"The Burglar and the Whatsit" by Donald E. Westlake is delightful and would make for a good episode of an anthology series.
"Dancing Dan's Christmas" by Damon Runyon had me thinking that I need to read more of the author's works about criminals with hearts of gold.
— Dec 11, 2023 10:28AM
"Dancing Dan's Christmas" by Damon Runyon had me thinking that I need to read more of the author's works about criminals with hearts of gold.
Rachel
is 16% done
"The Trinity Cat" by Ellis Peters loses points with me for its small minded village cop narrator, but regains balance thanks to the presence of the title cat. More mystery short stories should include cats who are local characters.
— Dec 06, 2023 01:24PM
Rachel
is 14% done
"The Butler's Christmas Eve" by Mary Robert Rinehart is melancholy, but ultimately wholesome.
— Dec 05, 2023 10:41AM
