Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries (British Library Crime Classics)

Martin Edwards (Editor)

Christmas is a mysterious, as well as magical, time of year. Strange things can happen, and this helps to explain the hallowed tradition of telling ghost stories around the fireside as the year draws to a close. Christmas tales of crime and detection have a similar appeal. When television becomes tiresome, and party games pall, the prospect of curling up in the warm with a good mystery is enticing - and much better for the digestion than yet another helping of plum pudding. Crime writers are just as susceptible as readers to the countless attractions of Christmas. Over the years, many distinguished practitioners of the genre have given one or more of their stories a Yuletide setting. The most memorable Christmas mysteries blend a lively storyline with an atmospheric evocation of the season. Getting the mixture right is much harder than it looks.This book introduces readers to some of the finest Christmas detective stories of the past. Martin Edwards' selection blends festive pieces from much-loved authors with one or two stories which are likely to be unfamiliar even to diehard mystery fans. The result is a collection of crime fiction to savour, whatever the season.

• ISBN10: 071235610X
• ISBN13: 9780712356107
• Publish Date: 1 October 2015
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: British Library Publishing
• Imprint: The British Library Publishing Division
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

My 4 stars is a sorta/kinda average of the three stories, which I've rated individually below.   I skipped The Blue Carbuncle - well, I skimmed it, because it's one of my favourite ACD/Holmes stories - as I've read it several times before and I like to save it for re-read right at Christmas.  But if you've never read it and would like to experience Sherlock Holmes, and want something seasonally appropriate, start with this one; it's fun and an excellent mystery!   Parlour Tricks by Ralph Plummer - ★★★  Edwards (the editor of this anthology) believes this is the first time this short story has ever been reprinted after it's first appearance in a Christmas Annual of 1930.  Nothing is known of the author.  It's a short story and it has a suggestion of cleverness to it, but mostly I found it just o.k.  It's very short and one of those stories that start in the middle of things, leaving the reader to struggle to figure out who is who and what is happening.  Just about the time that's all sorted, the story is over.     A Happy Solution by Raymond Allen - ★★★★  I admit, when I saw in the introduction that the story used chess as a plot point I expected to be bored.  Because like all things space related, chess is one of those things I should like, but don't.  I get bored.  I suspect if I'd been taught to play speed chess I'd like it better, but never mind.  The point is, I was wrong - this story was pretty good!  Chess figured in, but other factors play into the plot too; factors that are much more interesting to me.  Allen also does a very good job drawing the characters, making this a much more satisfying short story.   The Flying Stars by G.K. Chesterton - ★★★★½  Confession:  a few months ago I announced I could not read any more Chesterton because I'd read two of his works and both left me feeling like he was just entirely too flowery and verbose for my tastes.  But something felt a bit... off, after I wrote that and I soon figured out why:  I'd mentally conflated him and Christopher Morley.  Which is absolutely as embarrassing as you'd imagine it would be.  It would be nice to take the easy out and blame it on age, but honestly I've always done this - someone in the mists of my adolescence tried to teach me memory tricks and it backfired, and now I get odd connections 'stuck' in my head.    Knowing this, I was sheepish, but determined to read this story, and I'm glad I did.  It's my first Father Brown story, and even though I did not like the other short story of his I'd read, The White Pillars Murder (and yes, I'm certain that one was his - I checked), I did like this one.  It was all the things White Pillars wasn't: focused, concise, well-plotted, and interesting.  Father Brown's presence is subtle, but never sidelined, and the plot was really well done.  Even though I felt like the characterisations spotlighted the guilty party, the story never felt predictable.  I'll gladly read more of Chesterton's Father Brown.  Although I'm still not going near Morley's other stuff.

[brokentune]

3.5*

Like any collection of short stories, this one is a mixed bag. Martin Edwards is, of course, an expert in the stories and authors selected here, but as with his other selections, and indeed any other selection, his tastes and favourites are somewhat different to mine.

And, let's not forget that some authors are better at writing short stories than others. The authors selected for this collection seem to represent some of the big names of mystery writing, but not necessarily the ones who were good at shorts.

The Blue Carbuncle (Arthur Conan Doyle) - 5*
One of my all-time favourites.

Parlour Tricks (Ralph Plummer) - 3*
Quick and fun but not difficult to solve.

A Happy Solution (Raymond Allen) - 2.5*
Convoluted.

The Flying Stars (G.K. Chesterton) - 3.5*
Ah, Father Brown, you observer of human frailty. Far superior to old biddy Marple but quite quaint ... unless you happen to catch the BBC tv series or the 1960s German adaptation.

Stuffing (Edgar Wallace) - 4*
Typical Wallace humour, I'd say.

The Unknown Murderer (H.C. Bailey) - 3.5*
Dark and unsettlingly evil.

The Absconding Treasurer (J. Jefferson Farjeon) - 2*
This one just felt like a rushed listing of plot points and character names.

The Necklace of Pearls (Dorothy L. Sayers) - 4*
A fun Christmas country house jewel theft story.

The Case if Altered (Margery Allingham) - 3.5*
A fun Christmas country house espionage story.

Waxworks (Ethel Lina White) - 4.5*
Waxworks turned out to be brilliant, tho probably better at home in a horror collection.

Cambric Tea (Marjorie Bowen) - 2.5*
Meh. Great concept but too drawn out. I guess, the length meant to give time for the suspicions to develop and linger, but it didn't quite work for me. Also, I had predicted the ending rather early on.

The Chinese Apple (Joseph Shearing) - 2*
This one just did not grab me at all. In fact, I had to read several paragraphs two or three times, and still managed to fall asleep.

A Problem in White (Nicholas Blake) - 2.5*
I should have enjoyed this one more than I did - we had a number of clues to solve the puzzle and I loved the setting: starting on a train and with a background story of a great train robbery. (And I actually had to imagine P.D. with the voice of Sean Connery - until he said he was "English on the outside, Scotch on the inside"...).
However, this one struck me as one where the author wanted to let us know how incredibly clever he is, and that dampened my enjoyment.

The Name on the Window (Edmund Crispin) - 3*
This was an interesting one, but then I do love a locked room mystery.

Beef for Christmas (Leo Bruce) - 3*
Much like The Name on the Window, this one was fun, even tho it bears a remarkable resemblance to a certain story featuring a certain Belgian gent.