The British Library series of resurrected crime classics, with its elegant retro covers and splendid revivals has proven one of the publishing hits of the last few years, with long out of print authors surprisingly outselling many modern genre practitioners. Edwards, one the leading experts on Golden Age crime and an adviser to the series has brought together a fascinating selection of Christmas mysteries that combine nostalgia and meticulous detection. With tales from Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Edgar Wallace, Margery Allingham, Dorothy L. Sayers, Nicholas Blake, Edmund Crispin and many other lesser names that deserve renewed attention, this is the perfect gift book if you enjoy your crime served the traditional way. Atmosphere, intrigue, old-fashioned sleuthing, a dagger or a drop of poison by the Yuletide tree, what is there not to like? ~ Maxim Jakubowski
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.
Martin Edwards is an award-winning crime novelist whose Lake District Mysteries have been optioned by ITV. Elected to the Detection Club in 2008, he became the first Archivist of the Club, and is also Archivist of the Crime Writers' Association. In addition to 17 crime novels, he has published eight non-fiction books and is a noted commentator on the genre. Renowned as the leading expert on the history of Golden Age detective fiction, he won the Crimefest Mastermind Quiz three times, and possesses one of Britain's finest collections of Golden Age novels, including unique inscribed books and manuscripts, notably the previously unknown handwritten study made by Dorothy L. Sayers of the case of Constance Kent and Inspector Whicher.
