edited by Otto Penzler [813.08 Pen]
The category of Christmas mysteries within the broader mystery publishing business has been a popular one for decades. So much so that one of the booklists on the libraries' BookGuide site that gets the largest number of comments is our Mistletoe Mysteries list - updated each year. This oversized trade paperback anthology came out in 2013, and I kicked myself for not picking up a copy before it disappeared from local bookstores after the holidays. So, I was thrilled to see it appear again this year, AND to see that the libraries have also added it to our collections. In The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries, editor Otto Penzler gathers a set of 60 of his favorite holiday-themed mysteries, covering over 100 years in publishing. Time periods range from old-style Victorian (Sherlock Holmes) to modern and contemporary. Writing styles range from typical cozies or puzzle stories, to noir, hard-boiled and pulp tales, with stops along the way for comical farces and super natural mysteries (think Dicken's "A Christmas Carol"). Many of these stories are popular and get reprinted regularly in holiday collections, but quite a few are rare, previously hard-to-find tales by authors you might not be familiar with. If you, like me, enjoy reading seasonal mysteries as the year winds down, then I highly recommend that you add this marvelous collection to your end-of-year reading list! -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library [ see Scott's Reviewer Profile and more of his reviews ]
[ official The Mysterious Bookshop web site - the bookstore run by Otto Penzler ]
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