A Surprise for Christmas and Other Seasonal Mysteries (British Library Crime Classics) Paperback – October 12, 2021

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This was a good collection with 12 short stories. I'd come across four of them in other seasonal collections. I enjoyed most and quite a few have jewellery theft at the center of the mystery. I recall another collection where that happened so maybe it's a common theme for these seasonal short stories. As usual, I'm not so much for ghost stories but there wasn't much of that so I was pretty happy. There are snow, cold winds and Christmas decorations here so I was satisfied. I even picked up a crossword word: burthened - archaic for burden.A great quote from the consistently well-done forward by Martin Edwards that really set the theme and my whole vibe this time of year: In recent years bookshop shelves have overflowed with Christmas mysteries, their covers invariably blanketed with enough snow to cover a multitude of criminal sins.My thoughts on each story follow:The Black Bag Left on a Doorstep by Catherine Louisa Pirkis - A good story with a jewellery heist at the center and a female detective.The Hole in the Wall by G.K. Chesterton - Not a favourite.Death on the Air by Ngaio Marsh - A very good story that I first read in Murder Under the Christmas Tree: Ten Classic Crime Stories for the Festive Season by Cecily Gayford. Points for clever method and also family members completely unapologetic about their lack of grief over the tyrannical and abusive murder victim. Elements reminded me of Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.Persons or Things Unknown by Carter Dickson - Just okay for me. I first read this in Murder Under the Christmas Tree: Ten Classic Crime Stories for the Festive Season by Cecily Gayford.Dead Man's Hand by E.R. Punshon - A jewel theft with murder and the truth comes out quite dramatically with no prodding at all. I mean absolutely none.The Christmas Eve Ghost by Ernest Dudley - Not a favourite.Dick Whittington's Cat by Victor Canning - A jewellery theft at the theatre made this an enjoyable and short tale.A Surprise for Christmas by Cyril Hare - A long-ago murder is unearthed in this titular tale. A very neat story I'd read previously in Murder on a Winter's Night: Ten Classic Crime Stories for Christmas by Cecily Gayford.On A Christmas Day in the Morning by Margery Allingham -A postman dies but there's a heartwarming thread in the story just the same. Overall a good little mystery that I first read in Murder on Christmas Eve: Classic Mysteries for the Festive Season by Cecily Gayford.Give Me A Ring by Anthony Gilbert - Not a favourite.Father Christmas Comes to Orbins by Julian Symons - A bookseller plans a jewel heist from a department store and the plan goes very wrong. He's undone by a very unlikely (but obvious in this story) source. Well done.Favourite quote: "Stacey had two faults which had prevented him from rising high in his profession. One was that he drank too much, the other that he was stupid.The Turn-Again Bell by Barry Perowne - A good story to end on. It felt more like a ghost/haunting story at first but there's a very good and sweet turn it takes at the end that was heartwarming and felt apropos for a seasonal read.Recommended.

The stories are from the golden age of crime writing. Many out of print until now.

These stories are a bit like Christmas cards: great craftsmanship, bringer of positive feeling, but totally inconsequential and forgettable.I especially disliked the very-very-very long “short stories” in the book.

Always enjoyable, these anthologies from writers of the Golden age of mysteries. Some I have read before, but always wonderful to revisit time again

This is a collection of Christmas-themed, short story mysteries that were first published between 1933 and 1963. Many of the stories were clued-based puzzles where the detective gathered clues and gave the solution. A few were from the murderer's viewpoint, so we're told how they did it and see how they're discovered. And, of course, there were some stories where we're told the action as it happened but they weren't puzzles for the reader to solve. I've read a couple of these mysteries before, but I enjoyed all of them. There was no sex. There was some bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting collection of short story mysteries.The stories include:The Black Bag Left on a Doorstep by Caharie Louisa PirkisThe Hole in the Wall by G. K. ChestertonDeath on the Air by Ngaio MarshPersons or Things Unknown by Carter DicksonDead Man's Hand by E. R. PunshonThe Christmas Eve Ghost By Ernest DudleyDick Whittington's Cat By Victor CanningA Surprise for Christmas by Cyril HareOn Christmas Day in the Morning by Margery AllinghamGive Me a Ring by Anthony GilbertFather Christmas Comes to Orbins by Julian SymonsThe Turn-Again Bell by Barry PerowneI received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

Some absolute genius thought of reissuing forgotten mysteries under the imprint of the British Library Crime Classics. Some of these are novels, others, like this book, anthologies of short stories. They are all edited by the mystery writer Martin Edwards, who pens an introduction to each volume.What a pleasure these books are, and this one is no different. Because it is an anthology, and a seasonal one at that, some of the short stories will appeal to individual readers more than others. I especially liked the stories by Ngaio Marsh, Cyril Hare, and Margery Allingham.I am so glad that these stories have been brought back for contemporary readers to enjoy. I am always curious about what will be unearthed next!Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

An interesting read. Enjoyed the preface for each story. Historical notes on the history of each writer. I found the tales themselves uneven in interest and understandability, about 40%.

A really wonderful anthology of Christmas and seasonal stories, perfect for Winter evenings and Betwixtmas. I particularly enjoyed the outing of Roderick Alleyn in Death On The Air and The Black Bag Left On The Doorstep. I find short stories all the more clever for being able to wrap everything up in such a short amount of time, yet still being able to fool the reader, it takes huge skill. Some of these writers you will know, others you will not, all are a joy to read!

A nice selection of short crime stories that are fun, light hearted and really a joy to read.The chosen authors are all of a very high caliber and show what good writing can accomplish.I found it very entertaining… like most books of this series.

The well for these BLCC short story anthologies seems to be running dry, or perhaps the enthusiasm of the editors is waning. In any case this is an uninspiring selection. The words ‘thin’ and ‘pedestrian’ and their ilk suggest themselves in relation to many of the stories.‘The Black Bag Left on a Doorstep’ (1893) is by Catherine Louisa Pirkis. Although not a very well-written story, it is, one of the more interesting ones in the collection due to its historical significance. It is the first in a series of stories featuring a female detective, Loveday Brooke. The series ran in The Ludgate Monthly from Feb to Jul 1893, and the stories were collected in book form in Experiences of Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective (1894). Loveday Brooke appears at the end of Pirkis’s career as a writer of fiction, which had begun in the late 1870s. She devoted most of the rest of her life to animal welfare.The Brooke stories show the heavy influence of ‘new woman’ fiction, which was becoming popular at the time with its emphasis on opportunities for women beyond domestic concerns. This story also shows the class based assumptions of the movement. Brooke, more than an equal for her self-satisfied male colleagues, is solidly middle class. The other two female characters, both of whom are in domestic service, are ineffectual and heavily typecast. One, being French, is also painted as prone to the usual emotional traits assumed by the English to be typical of her race. Readers will note that Brooke herself is in fact no less stereotyped, although in her case the stereotyping is positive.In most of the stories Brooke goes undercover, identifies a suspect and lays a trap for them. Here she masquerades as the niece of the housekeeper of a country house from which jewels have been stolen. She is supposedly on a visit convalescing from illness. She in fact behaves in a free and high-handed manner completely unlike the guest of a servant (unlikely as that thing is in itself). In the event the personation as written is not only unconvincing but is also unnecessary. It is a cheap bit of narrative ornamentation. The story is also slightly atypical in that there is no trap: Brooke solves the mystery through deductive means. Fair play should not however be expected. A clue in Brooke’s possession is gratuitously kept from the reader, although its revelation seems called for by the flow of the narrative. Probably this is because to reveal it would give the game away. The game itself is highly implausible. A person well-known to all the members of the household visits it openly and undisguised, except insofar as they are dressed as a clergyman, and passes unrecognised.‘The Hole in the Wall’ (1921) by GK Chesterton is a Horne Fisher story. These were collected in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1922). Although he offers no support for the assertion, Martin Edwards claims in his introduction to it that the story is highly regarded. It certainly contains engaging elements and much typical of Chesterton but, atypically, it lacks what might be called artistic unity – the composition is ungainly. Chesterton seems to be making a number of points which cut across one another in the narrative, and the supposed motive for the crime is not apparently related to any of them.‘Death on the Air’, (1937) by Ngaio Marsh has the structure of all Marsh narratives. A crime occurs, the setting is described, and Allen investigates by interviewing everyone on hand. The mystery is fairly lean and the treatment is prosaic.‘Persons or Things Unknown’ (1938) by Carter Dickson (John Dickson Carr) provides an early example of Carr’s late career interest in clothing detection with period detail. In this case the period is the early Restoration. The story, which is a threadbare locked room mystery, certainly needs some diversion, but there is little to be had from Carr’s superficial historical overlay, and the story is too long for its content. Consequently, it is dreary reading. Contrary to what Martin Edwards says in his introduction, the story it is not an inverted mystery, an uncharacteristic error.‘Dead Man’s Hand’(1953) by ER Punshon is a slight thriller – slight in terms of both thrills and plot - but at least it does not overstay its welcome. It relies on a tired device into which Punshon infuses no new life at all.‘The Christmas Eve Ghost’ (1948) is by Ernest Dudley (the pseudonym of Vivian Coltman- Allen). As its title suggests, it involves the unmasking of a fake ghost. It is a piece of pulp fiction, written in a watered down Chandleresque style, and an insult to the intelligence of anyone more than 13 years old. (Dudley is chiefly remembered today as the creator of the very popular BBC radio crime series Dr Morelle of the 1940s and 50s. Dudley also wrote short stories about Dr Morelle, but this is not one.)‘Dick Whittington’s Cat’ (1950) is by Victor Canning. This is a name previously unknown to me, although it seems Canning was fairly well-known from the 50s to the 70s, mainly as a (prolific) writer of thrillers, but also for work in other genres. This story shows more potential than it manages to deliver. It is mechanically written and the clues are obvious.‘A Surprise for Christmas’ (1956) by Cyril Hare is a short piece that has deft characterisation and ends with an enjoyable, if predictable, piece of irony. It can be found in the Best Detective Stories of Cyril Hare (1959), a collection I heartily recommend. There it is one of the lesser stories. It says something that here it is one of the better ones.‘On Christmas Day in the Morning’, (1950) by Margery Allingham is also a short affair. Campion features, possibly merely as a matter of habit as the detective could be anyone. The character Mrs Fyson and the incidental event she generates and which is the key to the solution of the mystery provide more marrow than the mystery itself.‘Give Me a Ring’ (1955) is by Anthony Gilbert (a pseudonym of Lucy Beatrice Malleson, who also wrote as Anne Meredith and J Kilmeny Keith). It features Gilbert’s best known sleuth, the shrewd, vulgar, and over-weight solicitor Arthur Crook, who had made his first appearance in 1936. He seems to derive from HC Bailey’s, Joshua Clunk, although he is somewhat less rascally. Here, as is typical in the Crook stories, Crook is not the protagonist, merely an unlikely good Samaritan who comes to someone’s aid when they find themselves in peril - the agent of resolution.It is the longest story here, occupying about 25% of the total length of the collection. It is a straightforward thriller. There is very little in the way of detection.The kidnapping which is at its centre makes little sense. Irritating stylistic quirks obtrude, such as frequent mention of what Crook would have said or observed if he were present, and what characters would have done had they but known what they later learnt. There is too much cringe-worthy prose and trite dialogue: ‘She understood this was Trouble with a capital T’, ‘You’ve got a pretty face ... It would be a pity to get it spoiled’, “It’s not healthy to know too much’, and ‘Crook’s the name ... Arthur Crook, and trouble is my business’, are fair samples. Crook speaks in an affected Americanese cockney cross. These things apart, the story is just dull.‘Father Christmas Comes to Orbins’ (1963) is by Julian Symons. It differs from the Symons story ‘’Twixt the Cup and the Lip’ which appeared in the 2018 BLCC anthology The Christmas Card Crime only in its title. I can only explain its inclusion here as due to an editorial lapse. And I can do no better than repeat here what I said of it in my review of that earlier collection. ‘[This] is a thriller / inverted mystery told in Symons’ usual economical style. The conclusion is slightly anti-climactic, and telegraphed a little too obviously to the reader. As well as irony there are elements of poignancy and tragedy and with further character development the story could well have been profitably worked up into a novel.’‘The Turn-Again Bell’ (1959) is by Barry Perowne (the pseudonym of Philip Atkey) who is chiefly remembered as the author of Raffles’ pastiches which he wrote by agreement with EW Hornung’s estate. This is not one of those tales. In fact it is not a crime story at all, and its presence in this collection is puzzling. It is a piece of supernatural fiction which, however, despite its sentimentality, is relatively effective.

Heavy going

As ever ,a thought provoking selection from maestro Edwards. It is doubtless becoming slightly trickier to spring a lot more " rabbits out of the hat " at Xmas ; so many other publishers jumping in and finding " new oldies " to reissue. However ,there are some excellent stories in this selection .It is bookended by Catharine Pirkis and Barry Perone ..two new writers to me . In between are some very well known ones by Ngaio Marsh and Julian Symons ; but they are excellent stories for all that . For me the real standout winner was a short story from Cyril Hare ...a total winner and an object lesson in how to write a short but powerful crime tale.Not too many duds but this reviewer dreads " historical " stuff from John Dickson Carr and this offering didn't work at all for me. Although the very long story form Antony Gilbert was quite good ,I did wonder if I might have preferred two stories from other authors instead . Overall another bargain choice .