RHYS BOWEN:
There is something about a mystery novel that lends itself to Christmas. The expectations: the crackling fire logs burning in the hearth, the sound of Christmas carols, the smell of turkey roasting, the mistletoe over the door. Reading about these creates in us that warm and fuzzy remembrances of Christmases past and feeling of goodwill to all. So when a crime occurs it is doubly unnerving, shattering a place of peace and safety at the wrong time.
This makes Christmas mysteries some of the most compelling. Having just finished my fourth Christmas mystery I know how this can play with the reader’s emotions. Actually it plays with mine, writing it. As I create that perfect Christmas Eve scene, knowing what my readers don’t, that evil lurks somewhere nearby, I find that my own heart is racing.
So I’ve compiled a list of what I consider to be classic Christmas mysteries—some for every taste from the very tense to the very cozy. My twelve mysteries of Christmas!
1. Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie. You can’t get more classic cozy mystery than Dame Agatha and this is Poirot at his best. At a country house party with the patriarch of the family murdered in a seemingly impossible way and everyone in the house with a motive. Delicious.
2. Silent Night, Mary Higgins Clark. Another queen of her genre, this is a tale of harrowing suspense on what should be the calmest night of the year. A stolen wallet. A missing child. And a miracle ending. Perfect.
3. A Highland Christmas, M.C. Beaton. This is Hamish Mcbeth at his best in an area of Scotland where strict Calvinist principles decry any merriment. A good eye opener into a different kind of Christmas.
4. A Fatal Grace, Louise Penny. Not exactly a Christmas story but a murder in Three Pines as the town prepares for Christmas and who could have a list without Louise Penny in it?
5. The Christmas Train. David Baldacci. A jaded lawyer on a cross country train learns the meaning of Christmas.
6. Mrs. Jeffries and the Three Wise Women, Emily Brightwell. I love it when three unlikely women get together to solve a murder that has baffled the police.
7. Slay Bells, Kate Kingsbury. A Pennyfoot hotel mystery when the santa is murdered before he can hand out the gifts. Classic cozy with a hotel setting.
8. Lark the Herald Angels Sing, Donna Andrews. The author has several Christmas themed mysteries in her Meg Lanslow bird-titled cozy series. All are over-the-top hilarious and just right to read if you don’t want to be dark and gloomy around the holidays.
9. Six Cats a-slaying. Miranda James. Another ultimate cozy for Christmas with Diesel the library cat. Librarian Charlie and Diesel are in the throes of decoration when a basket of five kittens arrives on his doorstep. Then his nosy neighbor dies at her own party. Can they wrap up the case in time to celebrate?
10. The Twelve Clues of Christmas. Rhys Bowen. I couldn’t finish this list without including some of my own mysteries. This is the ultimate country house puzzle with someone in the village dying every day in the manner of the song. Fun to write, fun to read.
11. Away in a Manger, Rhys Bowen. In New York, 1905, Molly Murphy is preparing for Christmas when she hears a sweet voice and sees an beggar child huddled in a doorway. But the child is English and well-spoken. Who has turned her out at this time?
12. The Ghost of Christmas Past. Rhys Bowen. Molly Murphy and family attend a house party outside New York and immediately feel the tension in the air. Years ago the couple’s young daughter wandered out into the snow and was never seen again. Is this a mystery that can be solved?
I hope you enjoy reading these: I’ve included some for every taste and I hope you’ll add my new book, GOD REST YE ROYAL GENTLEMEN, to your list of favorites. A Royal Spyness book, featuring Lady Georgiana, 35th in line to the throne and a Christmas mystery involving her royal kin at Sandringham House.
Do you have a favorite Christmas mystery you would like to share?
Happy Reading to all, and to all a goodnight!
This is a great list! Here are three of my favorites to add:
ReplyDelete“Holiday in Death” by J. D. Robb . . . Homicide Detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas investigates a series of deaths connected to Personally Yours, a perfectly posh dating service . . . .
“Festive in Death” by J. D. Robb . . . . Homicide Detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas investigates the murder of personal fitness trainer Trey Ziegler . . . .
“Plum Pudding Murder” by Joanne Fluke . . . Hannah Swensen, owner of The Cookie Jar, finds Larry Jaeger, the owner of the Crazy Elf Tree Lot dead and soon the disgruntled list of suspects begins to grow . . . .
Love your list, especially the J.D. Robb books
DeleteI read Craig Johnson's novella, Spirit of Steamboat, every Christmas.
ReplyDeleteLongmire is reading A Christmas Carol when he is interrupted by a ghost of Christmas past, a young woman with a scar asking about his predecessor Lucian Connally. When she meets Lucian, a single word takes him back to a decrepit WWII bomber, a drunk pilot, a young girl and to Steamboat.
That sounds wonderful. I must resd
DeleteLesa Holstine got me hooked on Craig Johnson's Longmire books when we met at LCC2011.
DeleteThis is one of her fave Christmas stories that she reads each year.
That's a great list, Rhys! Several of my Wicked Authors blogmates have Christmas cozies. Purring Around the Christmas Tree by Liz Mugavero, A Christmas Peril by J.A. Hennrikus, and Barbara Ross's novellas in the Yule Log Murder and Eggnog Murder three-novella collections (Barb's are always the best in the set). My Candy Slain Murder came out last year, and I have a novella in the Christmas Cocoa Murder collection.
ReplyDeleteEdith, I liked your Candy Slain Murder and all this series.
DeleteThank you so much!
DeleteEDITH: I enjoyed reading Candy Slain Murder, your novella and Barb's novellas. Have to add these other titles from the Wickeds to my TBR list.
DeleteThank you, Grace!
DeleteThe Twelve Days of Christmas by Donna Andrews
ReplyDeleteHave not read this one yet but Donna has so many good Christmas-based Meg Langslow mysteries.
DeleteWow, what a list, Rhys! I've read your Georgie and your Molly Murphy Christmas books, but none of the others and none on Joan's list either! I'm going to keep a list of all the suggestions and look for them. I have read Christmas themed cozies from Ellen Bryron, Aaron Cajun Christmas Killing, and from JRW's Jenn, On Borrowed Time, too.
ReplyDeleteDeb's Gemma and Duncan celebrate Christmas in two stories. In And Justice There is None, their first Christmas in their new home with Kit and Toby, and then at his parents' home in the country, a very chilling story, Water Like a Stone.
Julia also has a Christmas theme in her first book, In the Bleak Midwinter. I've certainly spent Christmas in Key West thanks to Lucy's Key Lime Crime and Death With All the Trimmings.
There must be more. Hm-m.
A Cajun Christmas Killing. ( gr-r auto correct)
DeleteGreat suggestions, Judy. I have read most of these.
DeleteDefinitely WATER LIKE A STONE. Three years ago I visited Nantwich although not at Christmas. It was just as Debs described it.
DeleteOn my TBV (to be visited) list now, Ann!
DeleteThanks for the great list Judy! I was about to mention DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS:)
DeleteGreat one, Ann, always reminds me of the narrowboat holidays I’ve had.
DeleteThanks for mentioning And Justice There is None and Water Like a Stone, Judy!
DeleteComing out of lurkdom to recommend Marian Babson's Twelve Deaths of Christmas, Stephanie Barron's Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas, and if you're a Sherlock Holmes pastiche fan, Sherlock Holmes and the Twelve Days of Christmas by Roger Riccard. God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen is now on my top ten list! Loved it!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I’ve read the Jane book but not the others. So many yo add
DeleteOh, you beat me to The Twelve Days of Christmas!
DeleteMargaret Maron has at least two in her Deborah Knott series, RITUALS OF THE SEASON and CHRISTMAS MOURNING. In her Sigrid Harold series there is CORPUS CHRISTMAS. Charlotte McLeod had REST YOU MERRY in her first Peter Shandy mystery. These are some oldies but goodies.
ReplyDeleteWe miss both of those brilliant ladies!
DeleteOh yes, I miss reading the Peter Shandy mysteries. I have all her books on my bookshelves.
DeleteCharlotte McLeod! I have been trying to think of her name for 20 minutes. I laughed a lot while reading her Peter Shandy series, especially this one. I'm going to have to dig it out again.
DeleteI love holiday mysteries, but my ultimate favorite is "Rest You Merry" by Charlotte MacLeod.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your list Rhys. I’ve read all of yours and of Louise Penny and most of the Reds with great joy.
ReplyDeleteI love Christmas stories and read many every year. I don’t remember all the titles. For a couple of years Mary Higgins Clark wrote one with her daughter Carol and I liked those.
I just finished Shelton Paige’s novella A Christmas Tartan.
I take notes from everyone and will check on suggestions.
I love the Lady Georgie Christmas mysteries, including the latest. Every year I look forward to the Christmas-themed mysteries by Donna Andrews. There are many more, but I don’t have time to list them! So many books in my life!
ReplyDeleteDebRo
What a wonderful list! Thank you so much, Rhys!
ReplyDeleteGreat list! thanks.
ReplyDeleteLee Child wrote a Jack Reacher short story set in England during a blizzard. I can't find a reference to it.
The Christmas Scorpion? But that blizzard was in California, not England.
Delete"Maybe they have a Tradition," in No Middle Name: Jack Reacher short stories. Found it!
DeleteThis is a fantastic, Rhys!!! Thank you so much - I’ve read most of them, including your latest but you have given me some great gift giving ideas!
ReplyDeleteOff the top of my head, I don't think any to add the ever-growing list. I know of titles and authors, but I just can't I think any right now. I will be back later today to see what I should be adding to my list of potential reads.
ReplyDeleteRhys...you forgot your short story, What Child Is This?....
ReplyDeleteGreat list, Rhys--I've read a few of these (all of yours)--and would like to add Louise Penny's How the Light Gets In--my all-time favorite of her books.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great list, Rhys! Some of these I haven't read and will have to look out for. The Twelve Clues of Christmas is one of my favorites of the Georgie books, and I'm saving God Rest Ye Royal Gentlemen for a Christmas week treat. Meanwhile it is on my coffee table, looking festive!
ReplyDeleteI'm also saving God Rest Ye Royal Gentlemen to read closer to Christmas. And also A Christmas Carol Murder by Heather Redmond. I believe Charles Dickens is the investigator in that one. I would add G.M. Malliet's Max Tudor book, A Fatal Winter to the list. Kaitlyn Dunnett has several mysteries that happen at Christmas for Liss MacCrimmon to solve. Laura Bradford's A Killer Carol.
ReplyDeleteYikes! I had a really long post of books and comments, and, of course, it disappeared on me, and I can't get it back. So, I will just make a list, without comments on the books. In addition to Debs' books and Lucy's book (which took me back to the Christmas I spent in Key West) and Rhys' Lady Georgie and Molly Murphy Christmas reads that I've already read, here are some that I have either read or am looking forward to doing so. There is quite a bit of Golden Age Mystery here, as well as one currently written but taking place in 1938 (Ada Moncrieff's book).
ReplyDeleteGod Rest Ye Royal Gentlemen by Rhys Bowen (my up next book)
Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie
Blue Christmas by Emma Jameson
Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan
Mystery in White by J. Jefferson Farjeon
Silent Night (a Golden Age anthology of Christmas tales, edited by Martin Edwards)
Murder Most Festive by by Ada Moncrieff
Crimson Snow edited by Martin Edwards (another British Library Crime Classics production)
I am Half-Sick of Shadows (Flavia de Luce) by Alan Bradley
A Surprise for Christmas and Other Seasonal Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards (another British Library Crime Classic
A Merry Murder by Kate Kingsberry
I have also been keeping Amy Pershing's second Cape Cod Foodie mystery, AN EGGNOG TO DIE FOR, on my TBR pile for Christmas.
DeleteSome strong choices on the list. I'll have to check out the others.
ReplyDeleteA strong contender for me would be A Killer Carol by Laura Bradford. Such a warm and cozy addition to her Amish Mystery series, which is always warm and cozy.
Anne Perry has a long list of books for Christmas and comes out with a new one every year!
ReplyDeleteI love her Christmas books! Love how she takes a secondary or minor character and fleshes them out for us!
Delete