Who Killed Father Christmas?: And Other Seasonal Mysteries: 119 (British Library Crime Classics)

The British Library Crime Classics series is always a guarantee of a good read and this is no exception. The perfect collection to read as the nights draw in and Christmas approaches.

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Who Killed Father Christmas is a fabulous collection of short stories for the season. When time starts to get squeezed at this time of year, I love to be able to read a little winter gem of an evening. This contains tales of festive fraud, poisoned pies, ghostly goings on and cold comeuppances.I have really enjoyed it and the variety of stories, all beautifully neat and tidy; and the titular killer? Well you shall have to read to find out... I didn't guess!

The latest in the British Library’s Crime Classics anthologies of vintage short stories, the title gives away that this one has a Christmas theme. Christmas always puts me in the mood for murder somehow, so this is the perfect reading to fit in between wrapping, decorating and food preparation. Or to get lost in and forget that all those things should be being done! There are 15 stories in this one. A couple of them are from a later date than we usually think of for vintage mysteries – I wondered if perhaps the well is finally running dry after years of these collections from the BL and other publishers. However, the later ones fitted in well and it’s nice to see some fresh faces in amongst the series regulars. There’s some humour, occasional touches of spookiness, darker tales, and lots of snow! There were only a couple of stories that I thought were a bit weak, while several got the full five stars from me. So overall this is a solid collection with plenty of highlights that make it an entertaining seasonal read.Here’s a brief idea of some of the stories I enjoyed most, which will give you some idea of the variety in the collection:Secrets in the Snow by J. Jefferson Farjeon – A coach gets caught in a snowdrift. Our heroine, Janet, is on the way to visit people for Christmas and she knows it’s not far, so she decides to get out and walk. She doesn’t know the way but she’s heard another passenger say he’s heading to the same village, so she follows him. But it’s cold and dark and the snow is deep and still falling, and the man is an unpleasant sort. After being rude to her, he manages to lose her. She takes refuge in a cottage whose only occupant is a strange little man who says he’s the caretaker. But then the caretaker disappears… and then the man from the bus turns up… Lots of suspense in this one and a good plot, and Janet is a very likeable heroine. A true woman in peril but this woman has spirit!Who Killed Father Christmas? by Patricia Moyes – Our narrator, Mr Borrowdale, is a student who has taken a job over the Christmas holidays working in the toy department in Barnum’s department store. So he’s first on the spot when Santa is discovered in his grotto, murdered! (I swear I have an alibi!) Inspector Armitage is given the investigation, and it transpires that Santa was actually an undercover cop looking into suspected hanky-panky at the store. The plot is quite simple, but it’s a lot of fun, especially the narrator’s rather snobby outlook on his fellow workers, and I do feel murdering Santa in his grotto is the perfect way to start the holiday! Bwahaha!Death at Christmas by Glyn Daniel – Told by Dilwyn Rees, a don at one of the big universities, Oxford or Cambridge, unspecified. His college has its Christmas dinner, during which a colleague, Peter Dickson, tells Rees of how he feels haunted at Christmastime, because that’s the time of year his wife died. After dinner, Dickson insists on driving home despite the snow that is making the roads treacherous. Next day Rees learns that he is dead. This is more of a spooky ghost story than a traditional mystery, but it does have a crime element to it. Very well written, quite dark and atmospheric – excellent!A Present for Ivo by Ellis Peters – The star of the show for me! Our heroine Sara is a primary school teacher and when we meet her she is organising the annual Christmas party for the village children. Every year presents for the children are left under the big open-air tree – no one in the village would ever dream of stealing them. But this year something else is stolen – a precious manuscript, the only item of value owned by the local museum. The Ivo of the title is a young boy that Sara has grown fond of – an orphan, fostered out to an elderly woman in the village. Sara herself is torn between two men – both suitable, both attractive. So with the search for the stolen manuscript which turns into a thrilling chase, a lovely heroine with a romantic dilemma, and an endearing little boy with a sad story (but a happy ending!) – come on! How could you get a better Christmas story than that? Even I felt like singing carols by the time I’d finished it!