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A review by bgg616
A Surprise For Christmas: And Other Seasonal Mysteries by Martin Edwards
5.0
I started reading the British Crime Library Classics a few years ago. I've learned that my favorites are the volumes of short stories edited by [a:Martin Edwards (Editor)|22038316|Martin Edwards (Editor)|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. This volume includes twelve stories - one is actually a novella. Three of the contributors are women, and two are not native Brits but apparently they get things right as they each- Ngaio Marsh and Carter Dickson - lived in England for years.
There is not a single dud in this collection. I worried that the novella-length story- Give Me a Ring- would be a slog. But this is enough foreshadowing, that we know as soon as the naive, young Gillian HInde, a student nurse, gets turned around in the London fog, and enters a dubious business, something bad is sure to happen. There is a story by Catharine Pirkis, that introduces a "lady detective" who will figure in her future magazine stories. There are stories set in country homes, city department stores, and dive bars, and a country church, and all sorts of places in between. My favorite was the final story - The Turn-Again Bell - about a local legend about the church bell. On Christmas Eve, a single ring of the bell, which happened without anyone touching it, meant that the following year would be the last for the current Rector.
This is a collection that will satisfy readers who grave some Christmas mysteries to read in the waning days of December.
There is not a single dud in this collection. I worried that the novella-length story- Give Me a Ring- would be a slog. But this is enough foreshadowing, that we know as soon as the naive, young Gillian HInde, a student nurse, gets turned around in the London fog, and enters a dubious business, something bad is sure to happen. There is a story by Catharine Pirkis, that introduces a "lady detective" who will figure in her future magazine stories. There are stories set in country homes, city department stores, and dive bars, and a country church, and all sorts of places in between. My favorite was the final story - The Turn-Again Bell - about a local legend about the church bell. On Christmas Eve, a single ring of the bell, which happened without anyone touching it, meant that the following year would be the last for the current Rector.
This is a collection that will satisfy readers who grave some Christmas mysteries to read in the waning days of December.