Sleep No More: Six Murderous Tales

Very enjoyable collection of PD James short stories, all with a twist. I found these much more enjoyable than her novels (which doesn't mean the novels aren't good). The characters are just as unlikeable but seem to work better for me in the shorter form, and the frequent use of first person (and often unreliable) narration sparkles. The themes are murder (obviously) but also power, power's outlet of blackmail, desire and revenge amongst the upper middle classes. Justice is rarely done and if so only extra-judicially. Highly recommended. This is the second volume of James short stories - I'm still waiting on the delivery of the first volume "The mistletoe murder". Thanks to Kemper Donovan of the "All about Agatha" patreon podcast as I'd show more not been aware of the James short stories until he covered "The mistletoe murder" in one episode. show less

Sleep No More by P. D. James contains six short stories which provide hours of fun and laughter and delightful tales of mayhem. One of the stories, A Very Desirable Residence twists and turns so often that the conclusion leaves the reader a little confused. Mr. Millcroft’s Birthday presents a very devious 80-year-old man who plots to have his children transfer him to a better retirement home. The title of this collection, Sleep No More, exposes old crimes that remained unsolved as the now older person prepares to clear his/her conscience. The tales open many questions as to what secrets a person hides and never uncovers.

Some Christmas Murders and More
Review of the Knopf Canada eBook (October 17, 2017) of the Faber & Faber hardcover (October 5, 2017) collecting stories previously published in various anthologies (1973-2006)*.

‘Merry Christmas, Mickledore!
Go to bed and sleep no more.
Take this charm and hold it fast;
This night’s sleep shall be your last.
Christmas bells ring merrily;
Bells of hell shall ring for thee.
Happy Christmas, Mickledore.
Go to bed and sleep no more.’

I wasn't particularly looking for P.D. James' (1920-2014) short stories, but when this popped up recently as a Kindle Deal of the Day I grabbed it immediately. This is a posthumously published collection of stories originally written as far back at 1973. The quality is show more consistently high throughout and you can become quickly absorbed in each tale. All of these are standalones and none of them feature James' regular series character Scotland Yard CID's Inspector Adam Dalgleish.

See cover at https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/...
The front cover of the original Faber & Faber hardcover edition. Image sourced from Goodreads.

I was quickly reminded how great a writer P.D. James was and I realized that I need to get back to finishing the Dalgleish series for which I started a binge read back in 2022 and 2023, but from which I became distracted. I enjoyed all of these "six murderous tales" equally, so the 4 rating stands for all of them.

1. The Yo-Yo (1996) The title toy becomes a crucial piece of evidence in an apparent accidental death during a Christmas journey.
2. The Victim (1973) The spurned first husband of a rising socialite plots his revenge.
3. The Murder of Santa Claus (1984) The source of the book's title is in a threatening rhyme sent to the miserly host of a Christmas gathering. A young boy observes the nocturnal movements in a mansion during Christmas Eve.
4. The Girl Who Loved Graveyards (1983) A young woman gradually awakens to repressed memories as she traces her life back to her childhood.
5. A Very Desirable Residence (1976) A tale of domestic abuse with a twist ending.
6. Mr Millcroft's Birthday (1992) A pair of greedy siblings find out that they have to match wits with their 80-year-old father whom they have packed away to a nursing home.

Footnote
* This is the copyright information as provided in the front matter of the book:
‘The Yo-Yo’ written 1996; revised as ‘Hearing Ghote’ in The Verdict of Us All, ed. Peter Lovesey ©
P. D. James 2006.
‘The Victim’ first published in Winter’s Crimes 5, ed. Virginia Whitaker © P. D. James 1973.
‘The Murder of Santa Claus’ first published in Great Detectives, ed. D. W. McCullough © P. D.
James 1984.
‘The Girl Who Loved Graveyards’ first published in Winter’s Crimes 15, ed. George Hardinge © P.
D. James 1983.
‘A Very Desirable Residence’ first published in Winter’s Crimes 8, ed. Hilary Watson © P. D. James
1976.
‘Mr Millcroft’s Birthday’ first published as ‘The Man Who Was 80’ in The Man Who © P. D. James
1992; revised as ‘Mr Maybrick’s Birthday’ c.2005. show less

I think the ad copy oversells this one somewhat. True, five of the six stories are devoid of traditional "whodunit?" structure, and the one that remains isn't structured to allow readers in on all the clues (although, it must be fair, a lot of Golden Age mysteries are the same way). The idea that we are getting a glimpse of a murderer's mind - the "howdunit?" and the "whydunit?" - isn't as interesting as it sounds, though: three of the stories are first-person narratives of murder, plodding relentlessly and grimly toward their conclusion. They aren't particularly thrilling, although perhaps some readers other than myself will find them cathartic. One of the remaining two unwraps its secrets in the manner of a Gothic novel, or even a show more ghost story - fresh horrors with each new layer of the onion peeled away - and it is grim, grim, grim. The whole collection is, despite being a very quick read, quite dark. That matches up to my fading memories of having read two or three of P.D. James' Dalgliesh mysteries - and may explain why I didn't keep going, to be honest.

"The Murder of Santa Claus" is very engaging, although it takes the most comfortable tropes of a Christie-style mystery and makes them anxious and shrill, and "Mr. Millcroft's Birthday" has a wry sense of humor which I enjoyed. The other stories - if I were to be uncharitable - may have gone uncollected, up til now, for a reason. show less

I needed a short audiobook to fill in a gap while I waited for a hold to become available. I had recently enjoyed a collection of four short stories by crime writer P. D. James, so when I saw another collection of her short stories, I grabbed it. This collection didn’t disappoint, either. My favorite story is “The Murder of Santa Claus,” a World War II era Christmas mystery seemingly inspired by the Golden Age country house mysteries. James proves a worthy successor of the likes of Christie and Sayers.

Each short story includes a clever twist, as well as interesting commentary about personality and society. My favorite is "The Girl Who Loved Graveyards," even though the author euthanizes a (literally bloodthirsty) black cat therein.

Favorite line:
"Marriage is both the most public and the most secret of institutions, its miseries as irritatingly insistent as a hacking cough, its private malaise less easily diagnosed. And nothing is so destructive as unhappiness to social life."

It's funny, I almost didn't read this whole book, short as it is! I really didn't like the first story, "The Yo-Yo", and considered stopping right then. Glad that I didn't! The other 5 stories are pretty good, with lots of twists and turns, and several outright surprises! "The Girl Who Loved Graveyards might very well be my favorite, but like I said, I enjoyed all 5! As for the first one... err...