Silent Nights (British Library Crime Classics)

[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.