Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards

It is not uncommon in anthologies for one or two stories to fall flat, but Silent Night: Christmas Mysteries had good variety and good quality throughout. In addition to well-known authors such as Dorothy Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, and Margery Allingham, there are lesser-known writers such as Marjorie Bowen and Leo Bruce. Edgar Wallace is an author I’ve often seen mentioned, but had never read before. H.C. Bailey, too, has fallen from favor, but Agatha Christie was a big fan of his.

All of the story choices were quite good and most were more suspenseful than I was expecting. Because of my enormous love for all things related to John and Charles Wesley, I got a huge kick out of the mention of their family ghost in Edmund Crispin’s story.

In spite of the title, I would not classify this as a cozy read. I can only remember one story that was light-hearted. An example of the general tone of the stories can be found in this paragraph from “Cambric Tea.” Bevis Holroyd went angrily upstairs; he felt as if an invisible net was being dragged closely round him, something which, from being a cobweb, would become a cable; this air of mystery, of horror in the big house, this sly secretary, these watchful servants, the nervous village doctor ready to credit anything, the lovely agitated woman and the sinister sick man with his diabolic accusations, - a man Bevis had, from the first moment, hated – all these people in these dark surroundings affected the young man with a miasma of apprehension, gloom and dread.

This collection is part of the British Library Crime Classics. Some writers from the golden age of detective fiction have not held up well, but after this anthology I’d be willing to trust any book put together by Martin Edwards.

Blessings,