The oldest mystery specialty bookstore in the world, The Mysterious Bookshop, has for most of its forty-five-year history commissioned an original short story as a holiday gift for its customers. Written exclusively for the store and never published elsewhere, the stories were given as a holiday gift to its customers as a thank you for their business, handed out or mailed between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.
The prompt for the story requires three elements: that it be set at Christmastime, that it involve a crime of some kind, or the suspicion of one, and that it be set at least partially in the bookstore. And from these loose structural guidelines, diverse tales took flight. The dozen tales included in this volume are among the finest to be produced in this annual tradition, sure to charm any reader looking for a holiday-themed escape.
Included herein are the ingenious "Snowflake Time" by Laura Lippman; Lyndsay Faye's tale of vengeance "A Midnight Clear"; the challenging brainteaser, "A Christmas Puzzle," by Ragnar Jó nasson; "Hester's Gift," an impossible crime story by Tom Mead; the suspenseful "The Christmas Party" by Jeffery Deaver; Thomas Perry's hilarious comedy of errors, "Here We Come A-Wassailing;" and other tales appropriate for the season, collected and introduced by Otto Penzler. The result is, objectively speaking, the finest "stocking stuffer" that a mystery fan could hope to find.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
CONTENTS
Introduction by Otto Penzler
- Black Christmas by Jason Starr
- A Midnight Clear by Lyndsay Faye
- Wolfe Trap by Loren D. Estleman
- Secret Santa by Ace Atkins
- The Gift of the Wiseguy by Rob Hart
- Snowflake Time by Laura Lippman
- The Christmas Party by Jeffery Deaver
- Here We Come A-Wassailing by Thomas Perry
- A Christmas Puzzle by Ragnar Jó nasson
- Hester's Gift by Tom Mead
- Sergeant Santa by David Gordon
- End Game by Martin Edwards
