Martin Edwards' 7 favourite Christmas murder mysteries
Master of British crime writing, Martin Edwards, joins us to share his top crime fiction to read this winter. In his own twisty murder mystery, Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife, six people with links to the world of crime writing have been invited to play a game. The game is set – but playing fair isn't on everyone's Christmas list...
"Christmas is a time for us to dream of peace on earth and entertain feelings of goodwill towards everyone. It's a magical time – yet it’s also rather mysterious. Outside it is dark and there's a chill in the air. So what better than to curl up in the warm and lose yourself in a good book? After all, it's much better for the digestion than an extra helping of plum pudding.
I've enjoyed reading Christmas crime fiction ever since my teens, so I loved writing my own seasonal puzzle mystery, Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife. Here are some of my other favourites." Martin Edwards
Hercule Poirot's Christmas by Agatha Christie
Classic Christie – and a perfect Poirot for the Yuletide season. The Belgian detective investigates a baffling locked room mystery – the murder of rich but unpleasant Simeon Lee during a tense family reunion at his country house. The clues are ingenious and the solution comes as a genuine surprise.
The White Priory Murders by Carter Dickson
Set in the run-up to Christmas, this is a dazzling 'impossible crime; story written by John Dickson Carr under a pen-name. How could someone be murdered in the Queen's Mirror pavilion, when it is surrounded by snow, and there is just one set of footprints leading to the pavilion, and none leading away? Sir Henry Merrivale investigates.
An English Murder by Cyril Hare
Cyril Hare was the pen-name of a judge who wrote high-calibre detective stories. He was a friend of Agatha Christie and this post-war puzzle is one of his finest books. As the clock chimes midnight in snowbound Warbeck Hall, where a country house party is taking place, murder is done. An elderly professor who happens to be a concentration camp survivor turns detective to identify the criminal.
Mystery in White: A Christmas Crime Story by J. Jefferson Farjeon
This Christmas crime novel from the 1930s became a runaway bestseller when the British Library rescued it from obscurity and launched a new tradition of seasonal books with lovely snow-covered cover artwork. On Christmas Eve, a train gets stuck in a snowdrift and a group of passengers make their way to a nearby mansion. A fire has been lit and the table is set for tea – but the house is deserted. What on earth is going on?
Who Killed Father Christmas?: And Other Seasonal Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards
Just as mince pies make a lovely Christmas treat, so short mystery stories are delightful to snack on, in between novels. The British Library has published several anthologies of seasonal short fiction during the past few years. This collection is the most recent, gathering wonderful tales of murder and mayhem from authors as diverse and talented as the king of the locked room mystery John Dickson Carr and the creator of Brother Cadfael, Ellis Peters.
The Case of the Abominable Snowman by Nicholas Blake
Nicholas Blake was a pen-name for the poet Cecil Day Lewis, who later became Poet Laureate but was also an accomplished detective novelist. In this excellent mystery, his series sleuth Nigel Strangeways, a private investigator, and his wife Georgia, are invited to spend Christmas with an elderly relation who is worried about some strange goings-on in a country house. A good example of a Golden Age puzzle written with wit and flair.
Tied Up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh
Although she was a New Zealander with a Maori first name, Ngaio Marsh wrote impeccably English mysteries featuring a posh Scotland Yard detective, Roderick Alleyn. Although written in the 1970s, it harks back to the Golden Age style of writing, set in a country house called Halberds, and Alleyn trying to fathom the mysterious disappearance of a manservant at Christmas.
About Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife by Martin Edwards
Includes a Cluefinder where you can check the clues you spotted – and missed – along the way.
Can you find the clues and solve the murder first?
Six people with links to the world of crime writing have been invited to play a game this Christmas by the mysterious Midwinter Trust.
Solve the murder of a fictional crime writer in a remote village in north Yorkshire and win a life-changing prize.
Each guest has been meticulously vetted by the shadowy Trust, which has staff on-hand to make sure everyone plays fair. But with the village about to be cut off by a snow storm, they must be extra vigilant.
The game is set – but playing fair isn't on everyone's Christmas list.
And when the prize is to die for, it's so tempting to inject a little murder into the mystery...
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