Thank you to NetGalley and Soho Press for the ARC.

There are 18 stories in this , each with a brief biographical and bibliographical introduction. The Foreword and final story are by the well-respected Peter Lovesey and, at the end, there is a list of titles in the Soho Crime Series.

There are 3 sections, “Acts of Kindness at Christmas”, “Darkest of Holiday Noir” and “I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”, each with six stories.

The settings are international and the historical periods range from Italy at the time of the Borgias to contemporary Scandinavia.

As with most collections, especially themed ones, there are a few plums, and a few duds, but, on the whole, this is solidly interesting and good value.

The stand-out stories were, “An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmas”, “The Usual Santas”, “The Prince (of Peace)” and “Supper with Miss Shivers”.

The middle section of “noir” stories appealed least to me.

Some of the stories were too long.One story did not appear to fit the Santa/Christmas/Holidays theme.Three of those with historic settings were marred by mistakes either of history or language.

These stories are not, in the main, for those seeking “cosiness” as many of them are very serious and some quite disturbing. However this is within tradition, as many of Dickens’ and M.R. James’ “Christmas” tales are very unsettling.

3.5 twinkling stars!

I love anthologies like this. When your schedule is crazy & you find it difficult to make any progress on a full-meal book, these provide the perfect snack. Here we have 18 stories with an interesting theme. All are set around the Xmas season. But that’s about all they have in common as the authors took the brief & ran with it.

Some are funny, some are gritty. Settings include different centuries & locales such as Seoul, Bangkok, Ireland, America & Cuba. And genres run the gamut from psychological to full on action. There are even a few names you’ll recognize such as Jane Austen & Sherlock Holmes.

Like most collections some are great, most are good & a couple are meh. But what falls into those categories will vary from reader to reader. My favourites were those by Helene Tursten (do NOT mess with a Swedish granny), Teresa Dovalpage (great characters, set in Cuba), Tod Goldberg (poignant tale of a lonely sheriff’s final days on the job) & Martin Limón (American military police in 1970’s Korea). Two of these authors I’d never read before & therein lies the gift. It’s great chance to try out new (to you) authors & editor Peter Lovesey has included each writer’s back list at the end so you can easily select something meatier by whoever catches your fancy.

It’s a great book to take on your daily commute or leave on the bedside table. Just keep it handy for those times when you have a few minutes to escape to another time or country.

With any anthology, there are good and bad - this collection I did not enjoy, as most stories were noir, although well written. They would be enjoyed very much by readers of this type of fiction. I like my crime with a nice puzzle and wrapped up ending. All based on a Santa theme, they make good holiday reading.

Loving a holiday story and being a fan of anthologies, I requested this ARC from NetGalley. It is, as described, an eclectic mix of sixteen stories that span the subgenres of mystery from noir to cozy. There are stories with Santas but some without but all take place at the Christmas season. It is a nice collection with authors that were mostly new to me. There really are stories from around the world including England, France, Vietnam, China to name a few. There are also several time periods covered, early 1800s, early 1900s, 1970s, 1980s, present day.
An enjoyable collection.

Four stars
This book comes out October 24

A solid collection of enticing stories.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.