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kitschbitsch's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
niamhsewell's review against another edition
3.25
☃️ The Man with the Sack by Margery Allingham - 4 stars
☃️ The Adventure of the Red Widow by Arthur Conan Doyle - 5 stars
☃️ Camberwell Crackers by Anthony Horowitz - 3 stars
☃️ The Flying Stars by G.K. Chesterton - 3 stars
☃️ A Problem in White by Nicholas Blake - 3 stars
☃️ Loopy by Ruth Rendell - 3 stars
☃️ Morse’s Greatest Mystery by Colin Dexter - 2 stars
☃️ The Jar of Ginger by Gladys Mitchell - 3 stars
☃️ Rumpole and the Old Familiar Faces by John Mortimer - 2 stars
☃️ The Problem of Santa’s Lighthouse by Edward Hoch - 3 stars
helloitslauren_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I really enjoyed the short stories; apart from Loopy which I felt wasn't anything to do with Christmas.
bookrobin's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyable read. The stories gave a nice taster of different classic murder mystery writers styles, I'm definately going to search for more of their work after this.
thecommonswings's review against another edition
3.0
A lot more hit and miss than the previous Christmas crime collection, mainly because all three modern attempts at the form are absolute stinkers: Colin Dexter’s central idea here is a great one but the Morse story feels like it’s his notes for a proper tale that he submitted in a panic, with most of the story just a précis; Rendell’s contribution feels like a scanty idea for a Vine novel that she realised would’ve been terrible so instead turns it into a terrible short story instead; Horowitz is the worst, with a thin joke of a story trying desperately to feel like a classic crime story but instead sounding like a jocular uncle laughing in a really strained way at you at a Christmas party to cover the fact he’s going through a bitter divorce (plus a really, really weird joke about Estonians that just dribbles out)
All the others? Absolutely great. Blake’s story is a nice touch with a puzzle for the reader; the Allingham story is a bit more conventional than the one in Murder for Christmas but still allows Campion to shine at his best; the Hoch story threatens to get very, very weird but at the last minute just about saves itself despite a decidedly dodgy motive... it just reminds you that the golden age writers were better at short stories because there was a regular audience to hone your skills with them. That’s pretty much gone now (unlike horror, which has a significantly smaller but still thriving short form world tootling along nicely) and it really tells when the modern writers try and apply it
All the others? Absolutely great. Blake’s story is a nice touch with a puzzle for the reader; the Allingham story is a bit more conventional than the one in Murder for Christmas but still allows Campion to shine at his best; the Hoch story threatens to get very, very weird but at the last minute just about saves itself despite a decidedly dodgy motive... it just reminds you that the golden age writers were better at short stories because there was a regular audience to hone your skills with them. That’s pretty much gone now (unlike horror, which has a significantly smaller but still thriving short form world tootling along nicely) and it really tells when the modern writers try and apply it
holly_mc's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
mrdavid205's review against another edition
4.0
This is the third of these Cecily Gayford edited collections that I have read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was great to reacquaint myself with Campion and Father Brown once more, and I now fully intend to seek out more stories featuring the two, and I loved the Morse short story. The only story that let the collection down was Loopy by Ruth Rendell which was borderline unreadable as you are 'treated' to her at her most wilfully obtuse. Otherwise I thoroughly recommend all three of these excellent books. I look forward to rereading them in December!
elsmac19's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
thefinalchapter's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
4/5 🌟 REVIEW
•
I bought this as a Christmas gift for a friend and may have added an extra copy to my cart for myself. I started and finished this very quickly, I was eager to read more!
•
Ten short, festive crime stories, all written by different authors, each with their own unique writing styles. It happened to be snowing whilst I was reading this, which helped to really set the scene for many of these tales.
•
My favourite was “A Problem in White” closely followed by the amusing “Camberwell Crackers”
•
I definitely recommend this enjoyable collection of crime and Christmas. I have the other books in this series and can’t wait to read them next December.
•
I bought this as a Christmas gift for a friend and may have added an extra copy to my cart for myself. I started and finished this very quickly, I was eager to read more!
•
Ten short, festive crime stories, all written by different authors, each with their own unique writing styles. It happened to be snowing whilst I was reading this, which helped to really set the scene for many of these tales.
•
My favourite was “A Problem in White” closely followed by the amusing “Camberwell Crackers”
•
I definitely recommend this enjoyable collection of crime and Christmas. I have the other books in this series and can’t wait to read them next December.
secretbookcase's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? N/A
3.0