I always enjoy these anthologies and this one did not disappoint. There are always a few new to me authors as well as old favorites. I enjoyed almost all the stories. Enjoy these on a cold winter's night

This is a collection of mysteries from the Golden Age of mysteries. The anthology contains short stories from both well-known authors such as Cyril Hare and Carter Dickson. But there are also some largely unknown authors.
This collection, as the title says, are written with a Christmas theme and the stories do not disappoint.
I’ve collected quite a few in this Christmas themed series and I am not ashamed to admit it’s largely due to the covers – aren’t they great?

Another excellent selection of classical mysteries by Martin Edwards. Especially good to read at busier times during the Christmas period, when you might not have the time for more than a perfectly formed short story. Also nice to see an appearance by Paul Temple, best known from the radio series.

I love Golden Age Mysteries and also love Christmas-themed mysteries so what could be better than this?

This is a nice collection with a good variety of Golden Age Christmas-themed mystery short stories.

Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC to review. I'm loving all the books being republished. Finding so many great hidden jems. Looking forward to reading and collecting them all.

Thak you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for a review. Here is my review:

This was a wonderful Christmas read - quick and light and very entertaining. It is a compilation of short stories set around or having to do with the Christmas holidays. The authors are mostly lesser-known writers of novels who only dabbled in short stories. The introduction of each story explains who the author was and tells something about their other works.

A collection of golden age novellas with a Christmas theme republished by British Library Crime Classics. A gunshot at a holiday party, a perfect jewel heist, a train stranded by a blizzard--all were well written, atmospheric, and very enjoyable. I'm so happy with this British Library Crime Classics line; it has introduced me to several authors who should never have been forgotten and who I am so glad I was able to read, including now Martin Edwards. The perfect short story collection for a brief respite during the holiday madness, best enjoyed with a cup of tea.

The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories is a holiday-themed short story collection featuring eleven vintage mystery stories.

A Christmas Tragedy by Baroness Orczy
First sentence: It was a fairly merry Christmas party, although the surliness of our host somewhat marred the festivities. But imagine two such beautiful young women as my own dear lady and Margaret Ceely, and a Christmas Eve Cinderella in the beautiful ball-room at Clevere Hall, and you will understand that even Major Ceely’s well-known cantankerous temper could not altogether spoil the merriment of a good, old-fashioned festive gathering.

Premise/plot: A holiday gathering at a country home goes awry when a murder is committed on Christmas Eve. It is up to Lady Molly to find the real murderer and free the man who has been set up to take the fall.

My thoughts: I'd give this one three stars. It was just okay.

By the Sword by Swelwyn Jepson
First sentence: Alfred Caithness stayed on for Christmas for two reasons, quite apart from the cold weather, which he found easier to support at Dingle House than alone in his Baker Street flat.

Premise/plot: A family holiday gathering goes horribly wrong when a murder is committed...it has to have been a family member...but who and why?!

My thoughts: I'd give this one two stars. I liked it even less than the first one in the story.

The Christmas Card Crime by Donald Stuart
First sentence: With a long hiss of escaping steam that sounded like light relief the Western Express came to a halt beside the platform at Bodmin Station. From a first class compartment a tall, thin man alighted, and turned to assist a middle-aged lady, whose ample proportions were enveloped in a voluminous coat of some mysterious black, furry material. “I hope there’s a waiting room,” she remarked, shivering violently as a blast of icy wind came whistling along the platform. “This weather is bad for them what’s got rheumatics.”

Premise/plot: When a train is stalled by the weather, the travelers set out on foot to search for a warm place to stay the night...but someone on the train has less than pure motives...will all the travelers reach their destination alive?!

My thoughts: I LOVED this story. I'd give it 5 stars.

The Motive by Ronald Knox
First sentence: “A certain amount of dust is good for a juryman’s eyes. It prevents him going to sleep.” Sir Leonard Huntercombe is probably responsible for more scoundrels being at large than any other man in England.

Premise/plot: The narrator is weaving quite a story...but is it a true story or the work of his imagination?

My thoughts: I liked this one. I'd give it three stars.

Blind Man's Hood by Carter Dickson (aka John Dickson Carr)
First sentence: Although one snowflake had already sifted past the lights, the great doors of the house stood open. It seemed less a snowflake than a shadow; for a bitter wind whipped after it, and the doors creaked.


Premise/plot: I wish I could tell you about what makes this atmospheric story so delightful....but the less you know the better. But think Twilight Zone.

My thoughts: I LOVED this one. I'd give it 5 stars.

Paul Temple's White Christmas by Francis Durbridge
First sentence: Steve stopped talking about Switzerland, tore up the Winter Sports brochure, and went out shopping. She said that she would meet Temple at the Penguin Club at a quarter past four. “I shan’t be a minute later than four-fifteen,” she said gaily. That was two hours ago.


Premise/plot: Paul Temple is married to a woman named Steve...and they have an unexpected white Christmas.

My thoughts: This is the most disappointing of the bunch. It was so SHORT that it was confusing and pointless. Like why even include it if the characterization, the plot, the story was so short it was stunted?! I'd give it one star.

Sister Bessie Or Your Old Leech
First sentence: Hilda Trent turned the Christmas card over with her carefully manicured fingers as she read the idiotic lines aloud. “Did you ever hear anything so completely palsied?” she asked her husband. “I wonder who on earth they can get to write the stuff. Timothy, do you know anybody called Leech?” “Leech?” “Yes—that’s what it says: ‘From your old Leech.’ Must be a friend of yours. The only Leach I ever knew spelt her name with an a and this one has two e’s.”

Premise/plot: Timothy, the narrator, is trying desperately to figure out which family member is blackmailing him...and he'll do anything to stop it...

My thoughts: I did NOT like this one. Though I suppose I liked it more than Paul Temple's White Christmas. I'd give this one two stars.

A Bit of Wire Pulling by E.C.R. Lorac.
First sentence: “It’s a very rare thing for a murder to be committed actually in the presence of a police officer,” said Inspector Lang, the old C.I.D. man. “I should think it’s unique,” growled Dr Walton, and Harland (a rising young barrister) put in: “Tell us the yarn, Inspector. We’re a safe audience, and it’s just the night for a yarn.”

Premise/plot: An Inspector tells an eager audience a story...

My thoughts: I definitely liked this one. Three stars.

Pattern of Revenge by John Bude
First sentence: Thord Jensen was the finest man on skis in Levendal. Englishmen of the pre-war era, holidaying in our Norwegian mountains, may remember Thord—for after the tragedy he set up as a ski-ing instructor and did exceeding well for himself. So well, in fact, that when he died in 1945 as the result of an accident, Thord was in a position to leave over three thousand pounds to his hated rival, Olaf Kinck. That, of course, was by way of compensation for what he’d done to Olaf—for when the poor fellow was released from an Oslo jail, three months after Thord’s confession, it was not only his heart that was broken but his faith in his fellow-men.


Premise/plot: A dying man regrets taking revenge on a rival....

My thoughts: It was short but thought-provoking. 4 stars.

Crime at Lark Cottage by John Bingham
First sentence: The weather was foul. It had been snowing, off and on, for some days, but during the last few hours the temperature had suddenly risen, and with the departure of the cold had come the rain, pitting the smooth snow, causing it to fall with soft rustles and sighs from the branches in the coppice which surrounded the cottage on three sides.
Premise/plot: This is a great example of a case where the LESS you know going in...the better the story reads.
My thoughts: I LOVED this one. 5 stars.
'Twixt the Cup and the Lip by Julian Symons
First sentence: “A beautiful morning, Miss Oliphant. I shall take a short constitutional.” “Very well, Mr Payne.” Mr Rossiter Payne put on his good thick Melton overcoat, took his bowler hat off its peg, carefully brushed it, and put it on. He looked at himself in a small glass and nodded approvingly at what he saw.
Premise/plot: Appearances can be deceiving...
My thoughts: I don't know how to talk about this one without spoiling it. I really enjoyed how it was written...and it was quite satisfying...even if it was a bit predictable after the initial surprise. 5 stars.
Overall thoughts: I enjoyed these stories. The earliest appeared in 1909 and the latest circa 1965. I didn't love, love, love all the stories--at least not equally. But the week I spent reading this one--several stories each day--it was enjoyable, satisfying, FUN picking this one up to see what was next.
I would recommend this one.

Delightful to curl up with on a winter's day! As always, the introductions from Martin Edwards give important context, and have expanded my to-read list.

This is a splendid selection of Christmas-themed murder mystery short stories. It gets off to a particularly strong start with a trio of robust seasonal murder mysteries. For example, the anthology's namesake "The Christmas Card Crime "starts like Christie's "Murder on the Orient Express "-- a group of train passengers marooned in a snowstorm and left to their own devices as a murder is committed. Of course, one or more of the passengers are not who they say they are. The next story, "By the Sword" is an excellent country house mystery. A story of a daring daylight jewelry robbery by a pair of thieves disguised as Santa Claus is the end piece of the anthology.

It's a collection of eleven short stories of even quality by well-regarded golden age of mystery authors. Several of them rarely wrote short stories. There's even a "ghost story" which may send shivers down a reader's spine. Others are "howdunits", where the story is about how the nasty deed was done, more than who actually did it (e.g. Lorac's "A Bit of Wire-Pulling").

This anthology shares a feature with the other British Library Crime Classics: a fine Introduction written by its editor, Martin Edwards, for the collection as a whole, which is in turn supplemented by one for each individual story. These provide interesting and helpful background on each author and their selected short story.

It's a solid collection of readable crime fiction and is a worthy potential travelling companion on a Christmas junket. The cover art is a bright winter scene that brings cheer to the season. Highly recommended by this reader.

I received an advance readers copy of this book from Poisoned Pen Press via Netgalley. The comments about it are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed the storied in The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories. Each short story/mystery is set around Christmas, but aside from that one connecting feature, it’s a great variety, from typical whodunnits, to spy stories, to a ghost story.

The stories are as follows:
“A Christmas Tragedy” by Baroness Orczy
“By the Sword” by Selwyn Jepson
“The Christmas Card Crime” by Donald Stuart
“The Motive” by Ronald Knox
“Blind Man’s Hood” by Carter Dickson
“Paul Temple’s White Christmas” by Francis Durbridge
“Sister Bessie” or “Your Old Leech” by Cyril Hare
“A Bit of Wire Pulling” by E.C.R. Lorac
“Pattern of Revenge” by John Bude
“Crime at Lark Cottage” by John Bingham
“‘Twixt the Cup and the Lip” by Julian Symons

Most of the authors were new to me, but there wasn’t really a bad one in the bunch. Granted, some are better than others, as in any collection, but there’s none that I felt should have been left out. To be honest, I’d be happy to find any of the British Library’s Crime anthologies under the Christmas tree.

The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories
Edited by Martin Edwards, compilation 2019 (US release)

New Release! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review.

Premise: A new collection of little-known stories with a holiday twist from the classic age of crime fiction from British Library Crime Classics.

Like most short fiction collections, this one is hit and miss. Some of these stories are fun, but none of them are exceptional. Several introductions mention that the author rarely wrote short stories or seldom wrote mysteries. Apparently, this is the third collection from this publisher collecting unknown British crime stories on a wintry theme. What I'm trying to say is, they might be scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point.

The first story is by Baroness Orczy of Scarlet Pimpernel fame, and the characters are a lot of fun, although the plot is somewhat lacking. Two of the best stories in the volume follow: “By the Sword,” a tale in which a murderer is undone by fate, and “The Christmas Card Crime,” a solid story with a good balance between character, mystery, and action.

“The Motive” features a cute puzzle, but the ending is lame and the story has too much extraneous material for how thin the plot is. “Blind Man’s Hood” is a gruesome ghost story with a nice style. “Paul Temple’s White Christmas” felt unfinished, a vignette without a true ending. “Sister Bessie” (Also published as “Your Old Leech”) is a dark noirish tale of bad people behaving badly.

The two that follow that are too simplistic in both plot and style to be worth much (I thought the second would be an admirable student project, but that's all). Finally, “Crime at Lark Cottage" features some good red herrings before the end, and "’Twixt the Cup and the Lip" was a fun caper story about a misadventure of venal men.

Overall I was left diverted, but not ever transported. The stories ranged from okay to quite good, never breaking into great.

2 Stars - An Okay Book

There are eleven stories all set during the Christmas season in this collection and an introduction by Martin Edwards. In it he points out the differences between a short story and a novel. It’s not just the length, but it is also the fact that in a short story there is little space to develop the characters in depth or for lengthy descriptions, so ‘every word must be made to earn its keep‘. He has also prefaced each story with a biographical note, which I found useful as some of the authors were new to me.

The mysteries range in date of publication from 1909 up to 1965. I’ve read stories by some of the authors before, such as Baroness Orczy, John Dixon Carr, Ronald Knox, E C R Lorac, John Bude and Julian Symons, but others were new to me. The ones I enjoyed the most are:

The Motive Ronald Knox. This story first appeared in The London Illustrated News in November 1937 and is about an attempted murder in a smart hotel on the English Riviera, by a character named ‘Westmacott’ (a pen name used by Agatha Christie).. On Christmas Day after a party the guests decided to play a version of ‘blind man’s buff’ in the swimming pool, which didn’t go as planned.

Another version of ‘blind man’s buff‘, this time called ‘blind man’s bluff‘, is played in the next story also with disastrous consequences.

Blind Man’s Hood by John Dickson Carr writing as Carter Dickson. This first appeared in the Christmas edition of The Sketch in 1937 and is a story inspired by the unsolved Peasonhall murder case of 1902. It is a strange tale about a young couple arriving to spend Christmas with friends, only to find the house empty – except that is for a young woman carrying a white bag, who tells them about a game of ‘Blind Man’s Bluff’ that went very wrong, years ago. It’s a variation on a locked room mystery, with a touch of the supernatural.

Crime at Lark Cottage by John Bingham – this first appeared in the 1954 Christmas Number of The London Illustrated News. Bingham was the 7th Earl of Clanmorris, a journalist who was recruited into MI5, where he worked with David Cornwell, who later wrote spy novels under the name of John Le Carré. This story and the next are my two favourites in the book. It is the story of an escaped convict and an isolated country cottage occupied by a young woman and her little daughter one snowy Christmas. Very atmospheric and tense with an unexpected ending. I’d like to read more of John Bingham’s work.

‘Twixt the Cup and the Lip by Julian Symons – this first appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in January 1965). Longer than the other stories in this collection it is the tale of Mr Rossiter Payne, a meticulous bookseller who plans a perfect robbery – to steal the jewels, that had once belonged to the Russian royal family, on display in a London department store at Christmas. But Mr Payne had made an uncharacteristic error …

Overall, I enjoyed reading this collection, with a mix of excellent short stories and some that I thought were too short and had disappointing or predictable endings.

My thanks to the publishers for my review copy via NetGalley.

When I was younger, I read a lot of mysteries from the Golden Age and before but it was mostly Christies, Sayers, Marsh, and Doyle. When I saw this anthology on Netgalley, it seemed like a good way to satisfy both my Christmas tradition of reading holiday mystery cosies while meeting some of the other early writers. Like in any collection, I like some stories better than others - my favourite was the title story - but, overall, I enjoyed the book and I will likely seek out some of these authors later. If you are looking for an anthology of Christmas tales that provide some pretty decent mysteries while giving a glimpse into a different era, this is definitely one to consider.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

A Perfect Christmas Selection Box....
A perfect Christmas selection box of Golden Age crime. Following the usual interesting and informative introduction from Martin Edwards we are treated to eleven tales of classic crime - a mixed bag but I enjoyed each and every one. An ideal book to curl up with next to a roaring fire over the festive season and what a perfect Christmas gift for a booklover. Highly recommended.

Classic detectives, solving crimes in the Christmas season. Good fun! This would make a great Christmas present for the mystery lover in your life.

Another good winter/Christmas collection of mystery stories from the British Library Crime Classics, edited and with brief author biographies by Martin Edwards. This is an almost universally interesting collection, with only one story that I found only ok. The others ranged from good to clever to great.

The authors range from some who are well known to mystery readers, such as John Dickson Carr here writing as Carter Dickson, Cyril Hare or E.C.R. Lorac, others previously unknown to me, such as Selwyn Jepson and Donald Stuart. Of these eleven stories I was able to identify four as favorites: Sister Bessie or Your Old Leech by Cyril Hare, The Blind Man’s Hood by Carter Dickson (may be my favorite of all), A Bit of Wire Pulling by E.C.R.Lorac, and lastly, Crime at Lark Cottage by John Bingham. There are various types of crimes, planned and more accidental murders, crimes of passion, crime planned under cover of the decorations of the Christmas season.

Another good entry in this series which just keeps finding more to keep us mystery readers happy!

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

While this enjoyable anthology was released to UK readers in 2018, the Poisoned Pen Press is making The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories available to American classic mystery fans this holiday season. Curator and series editor Martin Edwards has been delivering consistently wonderful collections of forgotten or overlooked short stories for the British Library Crime Classics imprint, and this entry proves an engaging addition. As a veteran reader of Golden Age Detective fiction and its authors, I think the most entertaining aspect of each anthology is the way that established and unknown writers alike shine when given their place, side by side, in the themed gallery.

In fact, two writers whose work I know only passingly proved the most impressive to me here. Ronald Knox, a founding member of The Detection Club and, eventually, a Catholic priest, delivers "The Motive", a twisty, cerebral tale related by a clever defense counsel as an after-hours anecdote. Stripped almost to the abstract, the barrister's story of a would-be murderer's quixotic behavior keeps changing in its perspective with new information, and although its logic and dénouement may be ultimately unrealistic, it nevertheless captures and holds the reader's attention.

Cyril Hare, a mystery novelist and lawyer himself, contributes "Sister Bessie or Your Old Leech", a bruise-black comic story about an amoral businessman who tries to identify and dispatch at a family Christmas party whichever relative is blackmailing him. I've read two of Hare's mystery novels, Tenant for Death and Suicide Excepted, and this stinging short piece reminds me that I must return to his output and read more.

The eleven stories in the anthology are arranged chronologically, which also allows us to see how styles and storylines change through the decades. Baroness Orczy begins the collection with "A Christmas Tragedy", where Lady Molly of the Yard investigates the murder of Major Ceely on Christmas Eve. The story is told by Lady Molly's admiring maid Mary, as she watches her employer gather evidence to prove a hot-tempered suitor's innocence. The tale carries a fun mix of trailblazing and traditional gender expectations, and receives extra points for including this rather surprising sentence: "It is a far cry from a Christmas Eve party to a series of cattle-maiming outrages, yet I am forced to mention these now…"

The title story by Donald Stuart is agreeable and full of incident: there's a snowbound train from Paddington, a girl passenger in jeopardy, and a murdered man with a torn Christmas card in his hand. Dramatist Trevor Lowe investigates, and his Scotland Yard friend Inspector Shadgold serves as his Watson. The mystery is not especially complicated (and the murderer falls into the most elementary trap imaginable) but "The Christmas Card Crime" is well-paced and cinematic, if slight.

John Dickson Carr, writing as Carter Dickson, provides a successful winter ghost story and a completely superfluous locked-room mystery, but the latter is what his reputation is built upon. In "Blind Man's Hood", a woman is found alone in her house with her throat cut and her lower torso badly burned. It's an alarming image that evokes genuine bafflement, which is why the "solution" lands even less satisfactorily than it would otherwise have done. The ghost revenge thread that provides the climax, however, is both compelling and eerie.

It was nice to read a short story by John Bude, as I come fresh from my first Bude mystery novel experience with 1936's The Sussex Downs Murder. "Pattern of Revenge", collected here, actually benefits from its smaller, tighter canvas. In this brief tale, a man on his deathbed confesses to murder and to framing his rival in love. E.C.R. Lorac tips her hand with her story's title "A Bit of Wire-Pulling", which concerns how an assassin could shoot a man through a snow-frosted window and then vanish. (To be fair, as Martin Edwards informs us, the story's title when first published in The Evening Standard was the less clue-pointed "Death at the Bridge Table".)

The other stories here are uniformly good. Selwyn Jepson relates "By the Sword", exploring an ancestral curse about the way the men in a family will die; it proves true literally for the victim and more figuratively for the murderer. "Crime at Lark Cottage" by John Bingham is a moody and suspenseful story of a woman (with a young daughter) waiting for her escaped convict husband to return. And genre critic and modern crime writer Julian Symons is represented by "'Twixt the Cup and the Lip", a tale about a multi-person plan to steal loaned jewels on display at a department store. Its tone and fragmented character perspective while the robbery is occurring reminded me greatly of Donald Westlake's crime stories yet to come, and the ending moment will find its spiritual kin within the Walter Matthau movie The Taking of Pelham One Two Three released nine years later.

If you're looking for a great sampling of holiday-themed mystery stories from the start of the 20th century into the 1960s, look no further. I received an advance reading copy of the Poisoned Pen Press edition through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this short story collection of golden era mysteries that all take place during the holiday season. A great mix of psychological thrills and classic whodunnits; this is a perfect read for mystery fans who are looking to read something exploring the darker side of the festive season. I'll be reading more in the British Library Crime Classics collections!

This volume of British crime classics has 11 short stories that all take place on or near Christmas. It's one of their best collections. There's a great variety of authors, crime, and settings, with plenty of old favorites and new discoveries.