2023 mystery anthology, fifth of the British Library's series of
seasonal mysteries.
I've talked before about the oddity that is the short mystery
story: with no time to develop either deep characters or a challenging
puzzle, both of which I at least would want in a novel, the writer has
to choose carefully what little can be made to fit the space.
"On the Irish Mail" (Garnett Radcliffe) has good atmosphere, of a lad
travelling to catch the last boat to Ireland before Christmas and one
of you in this compartment must be the disguised robber… but nasty
cynical Roger found it too immediately obvious what was going on.
"The Christmas Thief" (Frank Howel Evans): two Good Lads fallen on
Hard Times save a stranger and find themselves rewarded. Oh, and
there's a daring escape from an airtight room. All the rage in 1911.
"The Christmas Spirit" (Anthony Gilbert) has a years-old mystery, and
an isolated pub over Christmas, and drifts more to the supernatural
than I was expecting in a mystery anthology… but it's not at all bad.
"Among Those Present Was Santa Claus" (Vincent Cornier) has the former
police inspector playing Father Christmas. The detection is almost
trivial; there has to be some room left for a sketched-in romance too,
after all. Slight but fun.
"Gold, Frankincense, and Murder" (Catherine Aird) rests perhaps too
firmly on its technical trick but has its moments of interesting
people too.
"Secrets in the Snow" (J. Jefferson Farjeon) has floundering in the
snow and a killer on the run. It's all right as far as it goes, but it
doesn't go far.
"Who Killed Father Christmas?" (Patricia Moyes) is the reason I read
the anthology at all. It's not as good as her novel-length work, and
plays a technical trick that while I must grudgingly acknowledge it as
legitimate is not one that's ever found favour with me.
"Death at Christmas" (Glyn Daniel) is another story of
supernaturalism, and if you accept that (as you're clearly meant to)
there's no mystery, more a lightweight horror. Which I suppose is fair
enough.
"Scotland Yard's Christmas" (John Dickson Carr) rests as usual on his
technnical setup. The only surviving manuscript, used here, needs an
insertion by another hand to explain the trick.
"The Bird of Dawning" (Michael Gilbert) plays in politics in an oddly
non-specific way, and as a result leaves itself un-anchored to
reality. It has its moments but it's hard to love.
"The Christmas Train" (Will Scott) has a crook practically asking to
be caught… for a reason, of course. In the style of Simon Templar or
Raffles, but it gets the light touch right.
"The Grey Monk" (Gerald Verner) asks: even if the ghost of a mad monk
has killed someone, why would it have used a modern pistol? Fine setup
resolved too quickly.
"Who Suspects the Postman?" (Michael Innes) relies on a bit of a
forced setup, but does at least offer an actual mystery to solve.
"Herlock Sholmes' Christmas Case" (Peter Todd) is one of the parodies
of Sherlock Holmes. A little heavy-handed, perhaps, but perhaps I
wasn't in the mood.
"A Present for Ivo" (Edith Pargeter/Ellis Peters) was a surprise: a
late 1950s story, thus relatively early in her mystery-writing career,
with some characters who may be in the recognisable Peters style but
still manage to have some originality. And a precocious small boy who
manages not to be hugely annoying. I shall have to track down more of
Peters' short material; it wasn't anthologised in her lifetime..
Very few masterpieces here overall, but I did enjoy it.
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