Charmed by the idea that there would be such a person as Otto Penzler truly running such a bookshop as the Mysterious Bookshop (and there is - in NYC - and he is) who is cleverly commissioning holiday stories for his people to enjoy. . .could there be a better marketing tool? What writer wouldn't feel all the warm fuzzies for that particular honor? And then aforesaid OP to gather some of them into a book for others to read. . .BRILLIANTLY FESTIVE!

There are 12 notable stories in this collection, and as mysteries go. . one really cannot outline the tale for those mystery readers who begin unpuzzling at the title! So, will leave it with my favorite this year as Snowflake Time (reserving the right to change favorites in subsequent reads).

*A sincere thank you to Otto Penzler, HighBridge Audio, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #ChristmasCrimesatTheMysteriousBookshop #NetGalley

A bookstore mystery in Christmas? What could be better! I enjoyed each mini story, with great plots and twists. Perfect to break up the Hallmark style romances!

Sometimes with a multi-author story collection, the overall reader experience is more valuable than the quality of each individual entry, and such is the case here with the Mysterious Bookshop’s Christmas collection.

I love this shop dearly and I love that they give out one of these stories with purchase every year at the holidays, and it’s neat that they decided to pull them all together into a bound collection.

Individually, most of the stories aren’t wonderfully crafted mysteries, but as a complete set it’s fun to read them, and I love that the bookshop itself featured in each story.

The one exception in terms of the individual entries is David Gordon’s contribution, which was a delightful Joe the Bouncer story and would be worth a read on its own.

"Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop" edited by Otto Penzler, is an anthology of the 12 best short stories collected annually over the last 10 years or so by the Mysterious Bookshop in NYC.

The stories must be set at Christmas with at least part of it in the Mysterious Bookshop, and there must be a crime in the story. The winning stories were annually published and printed in limited quantities for the customers of the store.

These stories are great, and I enjoyed most of them very much!

My favorite four stories are as follows:

"Wolfe Trap", a Claudius Lyon Mystery by Loren D. Estlemen, a locked drawer mystery. This one is great for the writing style!

"Here We Come A-Wassailing" by Thomas Perry about regifting in the extreme.

"A Christmas Puzzle" by Ragnar Jónasson about revenge.

"Sergeant Santa" by David Gordon about a criminal pretending to be a police sergeant and taking care of the bullies in town.

Narrators Jennifer Pickens and Graham Rowat did a great job with these stories!

I gave star ratings (out of 5) to each story, and the total was 48. Divided by 12 gives an average of 4 stars. I didn't have any rated lower than 3 stars

It is an easy collection to read one or a few at a time. I highly recommend this for mystery lovers to enjoy around Christmastime!

Thank you to Netgalley, High Bridge Audio, and Otto Penzler for providing this audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Christmas Crimes at The Mysterious Bookshop contains a collection of short stories by various authors, all connected in someway to The Mysterious Bookshop. I enjoyed a couple of the stories, but I found most of the stories to be uninteresting. I was given an ARC of this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

#netgalley
#Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop

This is the perfect holiday gift for mystery lovers. I love books about books and I love a good mystery. the Mysterious Bookshop in New York City is the oldest specialty shop in the world dedicated to mystery books. For many years, they have arranged for an original Christmas mystery story that they give away to their customers. This book is the second collection of some of these stories. This is not your typical Christmas cozy mystery. Some are thrillers, others are dark and depressing, only a few are cute and cozy. They all have three things in common. There is a crime, it is Christmas time, and at least part of the story, but not necessarily the crime, takes place at the store. Fictitious versions of the store owner, and editor of this book, Otto Penzler even appear in some of the stories. I alternated between the eBook and the audiobook and I loved narration. Both Graham Rowat and Jennifer Pickens do a fantastic job. I received advance copies of both formats from the publisher, but this review is voluntary and the opinions stated are my own. I loved most of the stories in this anthology and found a few new mystery authors to add to my must read list. If you love mysteries, you will want to give yourself the gift of reading this collection.

This was a lovely change from the usual Christmas themed rom-coms that takeover bookstore shelves this time of year (although I like those too). I enjoy crime and thriller stories and love Christmas, so reading this (well listening to the audiobook) was an easy sell for me! Bonus points because all of the stories were set in NJ or NY and included the Mysterious Bookshop in the story-a real NY bookstore that gives away a collection of Christmas themed crime stories each year! I wonder if there's a way to read the previous years easily or a list to get on so I can receive the stories in future years as this year I was gifted this collection via NetGalley.

I give this collection of stories a 4/5 because the narrators were engaging and I enjoyed most of the short stories (although some were a bit dark). My favorite by far was The Christmas Puzzle ! I am not going to share any additional details as the stories were short and I want this review to be spoiler free.

A complimentary audiobook copy was provided by via Netgalley and HighBridge in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not usually a short story fan, but this was an enjoyable read. The setting of a mysterious bookstore and Christmas time, added to the enjoyment. I liked the concept of this collection and the different authors writing the stories.

Tired of the Christmas rom-coms, the hallmarkie feel good movies, and the Christmas miracle stories that take over the tv and line the shelves? Then run and buy this book or grab the audio. NOW.

First. The narrators are terrific. I really enjoyed listening to the male narrator change up for the characters and for the different stories. Yes. The stories. Exactly what is needed when all the radio stations are belting out Mariah Carey and everyone one is struggling to get the perfect staged selfie at the Christmas tree farm while drinking hot cocoa that went cold 20 minutes earlier because the lighting wasn't right for the perfect shot of santa in the background. Christmas crimes delivers the humbug when everyone else has their faces frozen with a smile trying to recreate childhood memories to share on bookface. You get what feels like real life stories that aren't staged. But real emotions. And some deadly ones too. Not all stories end with a happy ending, but there are a few that help balance it out. The stories are short enough to listen on my daily commute and intriguing enough to hold my attention. Let your inner scrooge out while reading.

Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop' audiobook offered a fascinating collection of short stories that subverted my expectations – both positively and negatively. Knowing they'd be dark and crime-themed, I anticipated a chilling holiday read; what I got was a mixed bag of intriguing tales.
Some stories masterfully wove Christmas settings with criminal intent, leaving me entertained and invested. Others, unfortunately, fell flat – failing to resonate or deliver satisfying conclusions.
Despite this inconsistency, the collection remains intriguing. If you enjoy darker, crime-themed short stories set against a Christmas backdrop, there's likely something here for you – perhaps a new favorite author or unexpected twist.
Overall, a thought-provoking audiobook for fans of noir holiday tales – just be prepared for varying degrees of darkness and storytelling success.

I really liked the premise of this book! A collection of stories, all somewhat similar but so different. My favorite story in this collection was A Midnight Clear. The writing style was easy for me to follow and I liked the way the author built out the story. I think that my enjoyment of the book was a bit overshadowed by some of the stories that fell flat, hence the average rating.

12 different authors were given a prompt to write a crime book with the mysterious bookshop as a part. It’s interesting to see how 12 different authors choose to portray the stories. All were enjoyable. Such a cool idea for a book.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and editor for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun collection of stories. I enjoyed how short and quick each story was. I also loved that they all centered around a book store and each had their own mysteries.

So the idea behind this book is super fun - a real bookstore where people can submit their short stories and they make this book and distribute during the holidays - pretty genius!
I loved some of the stories and disliked some of the stories - some held my interest and many did not. Not overly surprising since its many authors.

3 stars!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reader copy!

Publish date: 10/22/2024

Thanks to Highbridge Audio and NetGalley for the audiobook!

Narrators: Graham Rowat & Jennifer Pickens

Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop was a delightful Christmas Crime Anthology. A perfect read/listen to cozy up with or, my personal favorite, to work on puzzles to. I especially like that the bookshop is REAL. I love that each tale is written as a little piece of the Bookshop's lore.
Rowat's narration lent a very curmudgeonly air to the voices of various unreliable, and often unlikeable, characters, which I very much enjoyed.
Jennifer Pickens gave a very calming yet shrewd performance, befitting of her characters.
If I ever hit NYC, the Mysterious Bookshop is officially on my list of must visit bookstores!

Multiple short stories all involve the Mysterious Bookshop in some way. They are all short mysteries that are neatly wrapped up. All different and entertaining.

This book wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. It was a solid "eh". I loved the premise and that both The Mysterious Bookshop and Otto Penzler are real, and that these stories have been commissioned and collected by Penzler through the years. I found this one on NetGalley because I was searching for a good Christmas story that wasn't a meet cute or a sappy romance. I also listened to the audiobook, and I'm not sure if that affected my opinion of the book as a whole, but by the end, I was just ready for it to be done. I appreciated the variety of stories included, and the myriad ways the authors wove the setting of the bookstore into the narrative, but there may have just been too many stories altogether. I stopped being fully invested about 3/4 of the way through.

I honestly feel so confused by this book. The beginning was easy to understand and had me interested but about 1/4 the way in I was completely lost as to what was happening to who. I couldn’t figure out if there were time jumps or if it was alternate realities, but I really struggled

This is a lovely collection of short stories with a great narrator, but I felt that a lot of the stories ended a little bit too soon. I think this would’ve been better in a slightly longer format.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC and exchange for an honest review

Christmas Crimes at The Mysterious Bookshop is a series of short stories commissioned by the real Mysterious Bookshop, a specialty bookstore in New York City that has been selling mysteries and crime stories for 45 years. Owner Otto Penzler sends a story to book buyers each Christmas, and now they’ve been collected into this book. Each story has 3 requirements: it must be set at Christmastime, involve a crime of some kind, or the suspicion of one, and be set at least partially in the bookstore.

The stories are all penned by mystery authors whose books are sold at the bookstore. The stories range from serious and literary to funny and clever. They are more literary mysteries than who-dun-its; the body usually drops at the end, not the beginning. I enjoyed many of the stories for their cleverness and endearing, though flawed, characters. It was easy to listen to for 20-40 minutes and catch a good story.

However, some of the stories felt the same, especially in the middle third. I think a better structuring would’ve helped. I found myself listening to a lot of old alcoholic guys bemoaning life and killing someone or being killed, and that got old. I was glad I pushed through, because the last third of the book held great stories.

I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Jennifer Pickens and Graham Rowat. Graham read most of the stories and he has a great narrative voice, but his words had so much intensity that after a while I wished he’d just take a breath and relax. By comparison (a necessity when stories are back-to-back) Jennifer spoke much more slowly. I actually sped up the book because it was such a stark contrast.

That said, the stories were enjoyable, made my morning commutes better, and scratched my itch of wanting a few Christmas mysteries. I liked hearing shorter stories after reading so many novels this year. I hope to go to The Mysterious Bookshop myself someway and meet Otto Penzler. The book is well worth a read (or a listen).

Thank you to HighBridge Audio and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.