Richard Dalby’s anthology offers something for everyone. Some well-known classic stories like “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” will remind you of Doyle’s subtlety. Agatha Christie captures the Christmas mood with “A Christmas Tragedy.” Literature lovers will appreciate Thomas Hardy’s “The Grave By the Handpost.” I enjoyed Wilkie Collins’s “Mr. Wray’s Cash Box.” If you’re looking for a well-rounded anthology of Christmas stories, Crime for Christmas will fit the bill.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
FOREWORD By Peter Cushing OBE vii
The trinity cat / Ellis Peters . 1
A happy solution / Raymond Allen 14
The adventure of the blue carbuncle / Arthur Conan Doyle 27
An upright woman — H.R.F. Keating 45
A book for christmas — Christopher Hallum 67
A pair of muddy shoes — Lennox Robinson 73
The unknown murderer — H.C. Bailey 80
The buoy that did not light — Edgar Wallace 101
A christmas tragedy / Agatha Christie 112
The Ghost’s touch / Fergus Hume 127
The Grotto / Pamela Sewell 140
The show must not go on / David G. Rowlands 144
Red lily / Dick Donovan 154
The black bag left on a doorstep / C.L. Pirkis 177
The grave by the handpost / Thomas Hardy 198
Mr. Wray’s cash box / Wilkie Collins 209
SOLUTION OF THE ENDGAME IN ‘A HAPPY SOLUTION’ 279
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 280
That Hardy story is intriguing – not read that – thanks George. And happy holidays 🙂
Sergio, Happy Holidays to you and your family!
Good choice. I don’t think I’ve read it, though I have read several other Christmas story anthologies, including the new Soho Crime collection, THE USUAL SANTAS. I like collections like this (like the ones Martin Edwards is doing), where they start in the late 19th Century and go from there.
Jeff, like you I enjoy mystery anthologies that include older stories I’m not familiar with. Martin Edwards is a master of this approach.
Christmas in Connecticut comes on TCM in half an hour.
Whoa, Rick! It says your comment was posted at 7:31 pm today but it’s only 6:56! What sorcery is this?
I imagine you’ve done MURDER FOR CHRISTMAS before as well…
Happy solstice holidays!
Todd, I have a couple dozen crime/murder Christmas anthologies that I use for FFB around this time of year.