The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories is a new anthology in the British Library Crime Classics series edited by Martin Edwards. Released 1st Oct 2019 by Poisoned Pen Press, it's 240 pages and available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats.

This anthology includes stories by giants of the golden age: E.C.R. Lorac, Cyril Hare, Francis Durbridge, John Dickson Carr, and others. There are 11 stories and they're all solidly written and entertaining. There were several with which I was not previously familiar and they all have a winter setting in common, though their use of winter and the holidays is as varied as the authors themselves were.

For me, one of the biggest draws of these anthologies is the erudite and always interesting introductions by editor Martin Edwards, both to the anthology itself and to each of the individual stories. Mr. Edwards has a prodigious knowledge of the genre and writes engagingly and well.

It's unclear from the publishing info available online, but the eARC I received has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references. I hope the ebook release version does also. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately. Presumably that feature will carry through to the final release version.

Well written, this entry and the series as a whole are well worth seeking out. This would make a superlative selection for readers of the genre as well as an introduction to classic crime fiction from the golden age.

Five stars.

This collection of stories edited by Martin Edwards was a enjoyable read. I did not find any of them truly outstanding., but I did enjoy Carr's story where a young couple arrives late for a house party and is entertained by a very odd young woman while they await the return of their hosts and fellow guests from Christmas Eve church services. And it is always nice to read a Cyril Hare story and this one about a rather unpleasant gentleman who is being blackmailed at Christmas by a member of his family shows his skill at choosing the most unlikely suspect.
A pleasant few hours await the reader fond of Golden Age puzzles.

A mix of the very best of classic mystery murders, this was a wonderful set of stories set during the heart of winter. Freezing conditions, some harsh, some not so but all with winter as its backdrop and snow and winter played a great role in some of the murders.

From the Christmas Card one with two halves of a card held to solve a murder, to the jewellery heist which was discovered only through the shoe shine man who recognised a pair of shoes, from a party where a murder is expected and takes place right in front of a detective's very own eyes the stories from a collection of both well known and lesser known writers this was such a good collection to get one into the holiday mood despite the mayhem and scheming that went into murders!

Classic Crime stories never fail to make me very happy and this collection was no exception.

This is a great read for autumn - chiristmas and mystery mixed! I liked that it was a series of short stories and read many in one sitting on the first really cold autumn day. Especially enjoyed the story about the amateur lady detective.

British Detective Short Stories From The Golden Age
This is a wonderful collection of British Detective short stories written during the Golden Age. These include stories by Baroness Orczy, John Bude, and E.C.R. Lorac as well as lesser-known authors. Each story includes a short, yet fascinating biography. Besides being neat detective stories, they give a marvelous glimpse into the daily life of the times. One could easily imagine these stories as episodes of either Thriller! Or Alfred Hitchcock Presents. What a fun book to snuggle up with on these cold and snowy nights! They are just long enough to be great bed-time reading. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

Another great selection of eleven British golden-age mystery stories is found in the Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories.

From Blind Man’s Hood from the great John Dickson Carr to ‘Twist the Cup and the Lip by Julian Symons, many of the authors will be familiar to those who love golden-age mysteries. Even better, some are complete unknowns to a modern audience though they were famous in their day. The introductions to each story explain each author’s place in the universe as well as their most famous characters.

I love these British Library Crime Classics Christmas anthologies. The stories are excellent. All have some sort of a twist on the Christmas setting, either a ghost story of murder on Christmas Eve or a mysterious woman on a train with a trio of policemen who are heading to Christmas dinner. Each story has aged well with no blatant racism or sexism in sight. But I am sure that you, as do I, read these tales for the puzzles. The game is afoot, indeed, with some clever misdirection so famous in British golden-age plots.

Whether you want to get into the Christmas mood without all the saccharine carols, or as a perfect gift for the mystery fan in your life, the Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories will meet, and exceed, your expectations. 5 stars!

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

This collection of short stories by masters of the crime genre is interesting as a sampler of writers from the late Golden Age. While somewhat uneven in execution, the stories are classics of the locked room, impossible murder type of mystery typical of their era. They are an enjoyable read, and will lead you to other books now being published as part of the British Crime Classics series.

Eleven short stories each with the theme or connection to the Christmas period. On the whole (10 of them were 4 stars) I enjoyed them all, they were well-written and a delight to read.

A delightful vintage read about Christmas crimes. "The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories" is a collection of 11 interesting stories and all are quite intriguing in their own ways. The pieces are less dated in this collection which enhances the level of enjoyment. I personally have never been a fan of short stories yet I have had a blast reading through all of them. Some of the authors in this collection should not be foreign to lovers of vintage mysteries like John Bude, E.C.R. Lorac, Julian Symons, Baroness Orczy or Cyril Hare whose works have been republished while the rest I have little knowledge about. Editor Martin Edwards consistently provides insightful historical backgrounds which are helpful to get acquainted with some of the forgotten authors and their once-popular works.

"The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories" is another winner from the British Library Crime Classics. And this compilation is a great intro book to readers who want to try their hands at reading vintage crime fiction yet are afraid of the outdated writing style. I highly recommend this book to those who are interested in vintage mysteries. Definitely one of the best reads in the series!

I think that I've become a convert to the world of short stories, particularly crime short stories. This is the third anthology that I've read in the last couple of months and I really enjoyed it. The stories here all relate in some way to Christmas. It's a bit early for that yet, but that didn't diminish my enjoyment.
One of the great things about this particular collection is that although all of the stories are what you could call crime stories, they are all very different. It also gives you a great chance to experience authors that you might not have come across before. It's quite surprising how different stories which are essentially in the same genre can be. Some of them deal with the crime from the point of view of the murderer or criminal while others are slightly more traditional in the telling of the tale.
I'm not sure if I have a favourite or not. The story that gives the collection its name was an interesting one, but the same could be said for all of the others.
This is a great little collection of mystery stories.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

As in most collections, some stories are better than others.

"A Christmas Tragedy" by Baroness Orczy
Although occurring at Christmas, the story is not Christmas-y. It’s a rather boring story in which Lady Molly identifies the killer of Major Ceely. Suspicion fell to his daughter’s secret boyfriend who maintained his innocence.

"By the Sword" by Selwyn Jepson
I didn’t like this one. I was distracted while reading it, but I didn’t like it well enough to go back and read the rest of it.

"The Christmas Card Crime" by Donald Stuart
Interesting story involving passengers on a train impeded by snow with the focus being on a girl with a partial Christmas card.

"The Motive" by Ronald Knox
Westmacott waits for Robinson to board the train. Although Robinson had not shown up, Westmacott boards after receiving a message when seems to ease his mind. Robinson boards near departure time. The two men share adjoining compartments. Robinson asks for a “wake up” call. When it is time for him to leave the train, he is not there. What happened to him?

"Blind Man’s Hood" by Carter Dickson
Rodney and Muriel Hunter arrive late at “Clearlawns,” and their hosts are out. However, a woman tells them the story of an unsolved murder that occurred years ago at the castle while they await their hosts to return from a church function.

"Paul Temple’s White Christmas" by Francis Durbridge
Kind of resembles a very short spy story. Other than the references to snow and Christmas, it could have been set any time.

"Sister Bessie or Your Old Leech" by Cyril Hare
Rather boring and not much mystery to this tale. Bessie feigns death, and Timothy rifles through her things in search of the letter before being confronted by Bessie herself. He kills Bessie but then learns a lesson.

"A Bit of Wire-Pulling" by E. C. R. Lorac
An inspector recalls an account of a man who was shot while he was in the room. The solution was obvious from the moment the inspector told his observations of that night.

"Pattern of Revenge" by John Bude
The wrong man is sent to prison for a murder. The evidence pointed to him because of his peg leg, but three years later another man confesses to the crime on his death bed.

"Crime at Lark Cottage" by John Bingham
John Bradley stops at a home near Skandale where a woman and her daughter reside. It is nearing Christmas as they are decorating the Christmas tree. The woman seems frightened. Bradley sees a wedding photo of the woman and a report of her husband’s escape from jail. As noises are heard, the woman becomes more frightened, and Bradley suggests he should go on to town. <spoiler>He finally gets her to confess to her part in planting evidence against her husband to protect her lover from incarceration and then reveals his Scotland Yard affiliation.</spoiler>

"‘Twixt the Cup and the Lip" by Julian Symons
Thieves plan a heist of Russian jewels, but it doesn’t go exactly according to their plans.

Best story: "The Christmas Card Crime" by Donald Stuart
Worst story: "By the Sword" by Selwyn Jepson

Usually, I unreservedly like the British Library Crime Classics collections of short stories as edited by Martin Edwards. They always include tried and true favorites by authors such as Doyle and Orczy and gems by little known or forgotten authors. The last are always my favorite part because they have introduced me to some really wonderful authors. I also appreciate Edwards’ editorial notes. They never spoil the mystery and give you information about other works by the authors if you would like to read more.
This one was different though. I still liked most of the stories. They had delightful twists, clever crooks, and determined detectives. Several stories were written in the ’40s, ’50s, or even as late as the ’60s, and they just don’t have the same feel as the rest of the stories. Those also tend to have more foul language. The final story though was a deal-breaker for me. It was way to descriptive of the immoral lifestyle of the characters for me to count it as a cozy mystery.
I received this as a free ARC through NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press. No favorable review was required. It was my pleasure to provide my honest opinions.

I received an ARC of this collection of short British mysteries. I found it rather difficult to get through. I will not be publishing a review on Amazon or other websites.

This was a great read! Most of the stories were really great and made for a quick read. I really hadn't read any short stories before but really enjoyed them. I loved how they can pack so much mystery and suspense in such a short read!

This one was okay for me it wasn't quite my cup of tea I liked the fact that it was a short story collection but the old fashioned writing style was hard for me to get in to which really surprised me because Agatha Christie is my favorite author of all time but I just didn't feel any of the belovedness of her style amd characters in these stories and wasn't able to finish it all. Anyone who enjoys old timey british writing would I believe love this though it just wasn't for me!

This anthology is a lovely collection on British short story mysteries mostly set in winter or at Christmas time.
The introductions before each story gave some back story on the author and the various societies of mystery writers of the time.
I thoroughly enjoyed almost every story, especially the title story - The Christmas Card Crime - along with By The Sword, ‘Twixt the Cup and the Lip. and Blind Man's Hood.

*I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher and I am required to disclose that in my review in compliance with federal law.*

This is another excellent set of short stories published as part of the British Library Crime Classics series. And, once again, the preface to the book is by Martin Edwards, who also introduces each of the eleven short stories. The stories are (obviously, given the title of the anthology!) set in December and are by:
- Baroness Orczy (1909) - one of her Lady Molly series
- Selwyn Jepson (1930)
- Donald Stuart (1934) – this was another pseudonym of John Pringle, who also published as Gerald Verner
- Ronald Knox (1937) – with a splendid twist at the end
- Carter Dickson (1937)
- Francis Durbridge (1946)
- Cyril Hare (1949)
- E C R Lorac (1950)
- John Bude (1954)
- John Bingham (1954) – Martin Edwards tells us that John Le Carre has acknowledged Bingham as a key inspiration for George Smiley
- Julian Symons (1965)

I was familiar with the Orczy and the Hare stories but all the others were new to me and I read the book in a single sitting. I know that was greedy and I should have rationed the pleasure, but the stories were so good and Edward’s introductions so informative, I just couldn’t stop.

I hadn’t heard of Selwyn Jepson, although I have got a couple of books by his father, Edgar (but none by his niece, Fay Weldon). The story in this volume, “By the Sword”, starts slowly but becomes gripping as we watch the murder performed with intelligence and excellent planning. How can the murderer be caught with apparently no evidence left at the scene?

The Donald Stuart story features the amateur detective, Trevor Lowe, who appears in many of his Gerald Verner novels. With its pre-war country railway, it’s very much of its period, complete with a guard calling Lowe “Sir”.

I loved the first sentence of the Knox story: “A certain amount of dust is good for a juryman’s eyes.”! I defy anyone to stop reading after that opening. And the last sentence is even better, but I can’t quote it as it deserves to be read in context: providing closure to the story.

I could wax lyrical about the other stories, but I’ll leave you to enjoy them for yourself.

#ChristmasCardCrime #NetGalley

This is a short story collection of 11 mysteries set in England and written from 1909 to 1965. The mysteries were set at Christmas time, or at least in winter. Some of the stories had the detective as the point of view character, but some were from the villain's point of view. Most were told as they happened, but a few were the detective telling about the case after it was finished. While whodunit in most of the mysteries was either obvious or not guessable (due to lack of necessary clues until the reveal), a few of these had clues and were guessable. The enjoyment mainly came from watching a detective work through a tough mystery to solve it. There was no sex. There was some bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable mystery collection.

The included mysteries:
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

It was with the greatest of pleasure that I downloaded my advanced reader’s copy of “The Christmas Card Crime.” I have read a number of these British Library Crime Classics books, and every one of them, this book being no exception, has been great fun. The British Library Crime Classics series is made up of wonderful crime novels and short stories from the past which have been allowed to languish in obscurity until now. Some of the works are by people whose names are still famous, while others are from writers who are lesser known in the twenty-first century. There is always an interesting and informative introduction by Martin Edwards who is a mystery writer himself.

This book is an anthology of stories revolving around Christmas. There are eleven stories in this book, each from a different author. The original publication dates range from 1909 to 1965. I enjoyed all of the stories save one, and that is because I have a particular dislike of that kind of story, not because it was not well written and interesting. I do not like spoilers, so I am not going to give any. I will say that I particularly liked the stories by Selwyn Jepson, Cyril Hare, John Bingham and Julian Symonds.

If you like mystery short stories you cannot do better than this beguiling anthology. I highly recommend this book, and do yourself a favor, take a look at others in the British Library Crime Classics collection. There are a lot of terrific books which should not be forgotten.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

I have two things to get off my chest. In the interest of full disclosure, The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories proves not as good as editor Martin Edwards’ previous holiday anthology, Silent Night (2015). Also, I received this book from NetGalley, British Library and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.

Still, Edwards has compiled some real gems in his latest anthology: “By the Sword” by Selwyn Jepson, “Sister Bessie or Your Old Leech” by Cyril Hare, and the final, lengthy short story, “Twixt the Cup and the Lip” by Julian Symons. The best of all was Carter Dickson’s “Blind Man’s Hood”; sadly, I read (and reviewed) Dickson’s The Mad Hatter Mystery, and I was not impressed by his renowned sleuth, Dr. Gideon Fell.

On the other hand, “Crime at Lark Cottage” impressed me so much that I will seek out other works by John Bingham. So did “Paul Temple’s White Christmas” by Francis Durbridge; I definitely want to read more Paul Temple book, although the stories may only exist as radio shows. John Bude contributed “Pattern of Revenge”; I have adored Bude’s series featuring the dogged Inspector William Meredith, and I have read each one as they have been re-released. (Thank you, British Library and Poison Pen Press!) Bude did not disappoint with the short story in this wonderful anthology.

The eponymous “The Christmas Card Crimes” by Donald Stuart, “A Bit of Wire-Pulling” by E.C.R. Lorac, and “The Motive” by Ronald Knox were pleasing but nothing special. Even so, without a single dud in the bunch, Edwards has compiled an anthology that will make your holiday merry and bright.