Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop, Edited by Otto Penzler

This book piqued my interest because I look forward to reading books with holiday themes during the season, especially those written by my favorite mystery authors. This book includes a few of my favorite’s – like Ragnar Jónasson (his is one of my favorite short stories in this collection) and Jeffery Deaver; and also includes authors I was unfamiliar with, like Thomas Perry and David Gordon, whose stories are also my favorites in this collection. Now I have more books on my TBR pile written by several of these "new to me" authors. When I read that The Mysterious Bookshop commissioned these authors to write short stories to gift to their customers during the holiday season, I had to read this one. I had no idea this bookstore existed and is now on my bucket list for a visit!

For each the twelve days of Christmas, we can read a different short story. Each of the stories included in the collection take place to some extent at the bookstore. It is a collection of mysteries – a mix of cozy to detective and police procedural to noir; revenge, and “thoughtful” gift giving (some sarcasm, here) and typical to unusual partaking of traditional holiday festivities. This would be fun to read this during the 12 days of Christmas and so, can be a great Christmas gift for the mystery fan – as a stocking stuffer or Jólabókaflóðið, the Icelandic tradition of book gifting on Christmas Eve (when I learned of this tradition several years ago, I was quick to adopt it for my family).

Thank you to NetGalley, Otto Penzler, Penzler Publishers and the Mysterious Bookshop for an advanced copy of this book. Review posted on Goodreads (link below) and on Amazon when it is published.

It has been my experience that anything with which Otto Penzler is associated is going to be stellar. Penzler, in my opinion, has done more for the mystery and crime writing community than has done any other single person. He has brought back into publications classics from the distant past. He has assembled an astounding number of high quality anthologies, and here he has created an anthology of Christmas stories commissioned by his bookstore, The Mysterious Bookshop. Solely with Christmas and crime in mind, he would annually commission a story from a popular author specifically written for him that he intended to use as a handout during the holiday season to anyone who shops at The Mysterious Bookshop in store or online. The criteria is that each story must take place at Christmas time, include a mystery, and mention the mysterious bookshop. It is a generous and delightful tradition, much anticipated by faithful crime and mystery readers everywhere. Here are but some of those stories that have been commissioned in the past, all assembled in one spot for you to spend your holiday season sitting by the fire and enjoying a good mystery. They are all well written, clever, varied to suit, all tastes, and the perfect way to spend a winter evening while perched in front of the fire.

Here you will find:

Black Christmas by Jason Start (2011)
Wolfe Trap by Loren D, Estleman (?)
Secret Santa by Ace Atkins (2015)
The Gift of the Wiseguy by Rob Hart (2016)
Snowflake Time by Laura Lippmann (2022)
The Christmas Party by Jeffery Deaver (2018) 
Here We Come A-wassailing by Thomas Perry (2019)
Black Christmas by Jason Star (2011)
A Christmas Puzzle by Ragnar Jonasson (2020)
Hester’s Gift by Tom Mead (2022)
Sergeant Santa by David Hordon (2021)
End Game by Martin Edward’s (2023)

This has become a holiday tradition for me, and it should be for you as well. I cannot say enough about this wonderful book.

Thanks to NetGalley, Otto Penzler, and Mysterious Press for providing me with an advanced digital copy of this wonderful book.

There is NEVER a wrong time to read a book about books-or bookstores!

The oldest mystery specialty bookstore in the world, The Mysterious Bookshop, is an actual place, and Otto Penzler is an actual person.

And, for most of its forty-five-year history, he has commissioned an original short story as a holiday gift for its customers, written exclusively for the store and never published elsewhere. The stories were given out to customers as a holiday gift to thank them for their business, and were either handed out or mailed between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.

The prompt for these stories requires three things-that it be set at Christmastime, that it involve a crime of some kind, or the suspicion of one, and that it be set at least partially in the bookstore.

This is a collection of 12 of these short stories, compiled in one book!

Since the Mysterious Bookshop only sells Crime and Mystery books-these aren’t your typical Christmas stories-Hallmark writers need NOT apply. Here is a HINT of what to expect:

Black Christmas by Jason Starr-nothing cozy about this story about “soulmates”.

A Midnight Clear by Lyndsay Faye-In a seedy apartment close to the Mysterious Bookstore, a man mourns a woman.

Wolfe Trap by Loren Estleman-a locked room (locked drawer) mystery.

Secret Santa by Ace Atkins-a “has been” author keeps up the facade of annual book signings at the Mysterious Bookshop on Christmas Eve.

The Gift of the Wiseguy by Rob Hart- a stakeout at the Mysterious Bookshops for an author’s mob father.

Snowflake Time by Laura Lippman-an offensive author’s rant about everything including Goodreads reviews that deduct points for the killing of cats.

The Christmas Party-Jeffrey Deaver-a nurse at an assisted care senior center who really goes the extra mile for her patients.

Here we come A Wassailing by Thomas Perry- Takes “regifting” to a whole new level!

A Christmas Puzzle by Ragnar Johasson-a clerk at the Mysterious Bookshop agrees to help an 80 year old widow solve a puzzle after the shop closes on Christmas Eve.

Hester’s Gift-Tom Mead-an amateur sleuth named Hester Queeg helps Police solve an unusual double murder.

Sergeant Santa by David Gordon-a pickpocket must find a way to return an item!

End Game by Martin Edwards-a ghost story for Christmas that involves “The Mystery of Edwin Drood”.

Who knew a bookstore could be so dangerous?

My favorites were “The Gift of the Wiseguy”, a “Christmas Puzzle” and “Sergeant Santa” (all 4 star) and my only two star story was “Snowflake Time” with most of the others earning 3.5 stars, so I will round up.

AVAILABLE October 22, 2024 if you like to start shopping early for Christmas Stocking Stuffers!

Thank You to the Mysterious Press for the gifted copy provided through NetGalley. As always, these are my candid thoughts.

This is the PERFECT seasonal read. Every story is the perfect blend of humor, suspense, creepiness, and holiday gore. The Mysterious Bookshop is the oldest specialty bookstore in the world. Owner Otto Penzler wanted to give something back to his patrons so he commissioned an original short story as a holiday gift for his customers. The stories required three elements: set at Christmastime, involves a crime of some kind and that it be set at least partially in the bookstore. This may be my favorite anthology book to date. I truly liked every single story and some I loved. They are all original stories. A few of my absolute favorites were The Christmas Party by Jeffery Deaver; Here We Come Wassailing by Thomas Perry; A Christmas Puzzle by Ragnar Jonasson; and End Game by Martin Edwards. I would have loved to have been able to read this in December right before Christmas. This would make the perfect stocking stuffer.

This is a great collection of cozy mysteries with a holiday theme. I really enjoy having short stories that I can read, especially when I don’t have a lot of time to sit down and read a whole book. Each entry is holiday based I’ll leave you satisfied having a complete story in a short time frame.

This was a fun book with twelve different cozy mystery tales. I enjoyed most of them and they will have you feeling all festive inside for sure. Snowflake Time was 100% my favorite of all twelve.