Somewhat disappointing volume of detective stories from the 1930s to modern times. Despite the title, two of the stories, including the longest, are not even about murder. And some of those which are, lack something - there's an Ellis Peters story which is very unconvincing, and a Val McDermid story which is not believable in many respects but strains to be 'with it.' The best written is probably the Ian Rankin story, although he is not a writer whose subjects and characters I care for much. ( )

As you would expect with a collection of short stories it's a mixed bag: some memorable and easy to read and others much less so. ( )

It is the time of the year for wintery,Christmas stories and short stories are well adapted to represent the different aspects of the Christmas spirit.
There are ten stories in this edition and I found perhaps two of them less attractive. Not too bad for an anthology. They are or charming and very Christmas minded or dark and very wintery.
There is a lovely story by Ellis Peters(The Trinity Cat),a rather sad one by Margery Allingham(On Christmas Day in the Morning),a closed room mystery by Julian Symons (the Santa Claus Club),a classic golden age one by John Dickson Carr (The Footprints in the Sky) and some stories by " newer" authors (Ian Ranking,Val Mcdermid...).
All in all a very good compilation of Christmas mysteries. ( )