Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries (British Library Crime Classics) - Softcover

Martin Edwards; Arthur Conan Doyle; Raymund Allen; G.K. Chesterton; Edgar Wallace; H.C. Bailey; J. Jefferson Farjeon; Dorothy L. Sayers; Margery Allingham; Ethel Lina White; Marjorie Bowen; Joseph Shearing; Nicholas Blake; Edmund Crispin; Leo Bruce; Ralph Plummer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 071235610X ISBN 13: 9780712356107

Publisher: The British Library Publishing Division, 2015

Synopsis

Christmas is a mysterious, as well as magical, time of year. Strange things can happen, and this helps to explain the hallowed tradition of telling ghost stories around the fireside as the year draws to a close. Christmas tales of crime and detection have a similar appeal. When television becomes tiresome, and party games pall, the prospect of curling up in the warm with a good mystery is enticing - and much better for the digestion than yet another helping of plum pudding. Crime writers are just as susceptible as readers to the countless attractions of Christmas. Over the years, many distinguished practitioners of the genre have given one or more of their stories a Yuletide setting. The most memorable Christmas mysteries blend a lively storyline with an atmospheric evocation of the season. Getting the mixture right is much harder than it looks.This book introduces readers to some of the finest Christmas detective stories of the past. Martin Edwards' selection blends festive pieces from much-loved authors with one or two stories which are likely to be unfamiliar even to diehard mystery fans. The result is a collection of crime fiction to savour, whatever the season.

About this title

Review:

High marks to Ethel Lina White for giving me the genuine creeps in her yarn about a journalist spending the night in a haunted waxworks and to Nicholas Blake for cramming what must be a record number of cunningly concealed clues into a few pages. --Daily Express

Who better than Martin Edwards, connoisseur of golden-age crime, to put together this collection of Christmas mysteries? ... Of greatest pleasure are stories by authors who have had their moment of fame and are now forgotten. Silent Nights is like a Christmas hamper - packed with delights for every taste. --Daily Mail

It will give a lot of pleasure to many fans of Golden Age crime fiction... We encounter writers who are less celebrated today, but whose stories are absolute crackers... A great selection of unusual crimes and eccentric detectives... Plenty to enjoy here, and a perfect choice for a Christmas present for a vintage crime loving friend or relative. --Shiny New Books

About the Author:

Martin Edwards is an award-winning crime writer best known for his series of novels set in Liverpool and the Lake District. He is also a member of the Murder Squad collective of crime writers, a member of the Crime Writers' Association Committee and Archivist of the Detection Club. The Golden Age of Murder, his study of the Detection Club, is published by HarperCollins in May 2015

About this edition

• Publisher: The British Library Publishing Division
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 071235610X
• ISBN 13: 9780712356107
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Martin Edwards