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Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop by Otto Penzler

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Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop

Otto Penzler, Jason Starr, Lyndsay Faye

The Mysterious Press · Hardcover · October 22, 2024

Reading lane: Mystery Anthologies

The oldest mystery specialty bookstore in the world, The Mysterious Bookshop, has for most of its forty-five-year history commissioned an original short story as a holiday gift for its customers.

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At a Glance

Who It's For

Good for readers interested in short storiesGood for fans of ChristmasGood for readers who enjoy Mystery Anthologies and Cozy Mystery.

Book Details

Authors
Otto Penzler, Jason Starr, Lyndsay Faye
Publisher
The Mysterious Press
Published
October 22, 2024
Format
Hardcover
Theme
Mystery Anthologies · Cozy Mystery
Reading lane
Mystery Anthologies

Affinity

Publisher Categories

  • Traditional British Mystery

  • Mystery Anthologies

  • Amateur Sleuths

About This Book

The oldest mystery specialty bookstore in the world, The Mysterious Bookshop, has for most of its forty-five-year history commissioned an original short story as a holiday gift for its customers. Written exclusively for the store and never published elsewhere, the stories were given as a holiday gift to its customers as a thank you for their business, handed out or mailed between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. The prompt for the story requires three elements: that it be se...

Read full description

The oldest mystery specialty bookstore in the world, The Mysterious Bookshop, has for most of its forty-five-year history commissioned an original short story as a holiday gift for its customers. Written exclusively for the store and never published elsewhere, the stories were given as a holiday gift to its customers as a thank you for their business, handed out or mailed between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. The prompt for the story requires three elements: that it be set at Christmastime, that it involve a crime of some kind, or the suspicion of one, and that it be set at least partially in the bookstore. And from these loose structural guidelines, diverse tales took flight. The dozen tales included in this volume are among the finest to be produced in this annual tradition, sure to charm any reader looking for a holiday-themed escape. Included herein are the ingenious "Snowflake Time" by Laura Lippman; Lyndsay Faye's tale of vengeance "A Midnight Clear"; the challenging brainteaser, "A Christmas Puzzle," by Ragnar Jónasson; "Hester's Gift," an impossible crime story by Tom Mead; the suspenseful "The Christmas Party" by Jeffery Deaver; Thomas Perry's hilarious comedy of errors, "Here We Come A-Wassailing;" and other tales appropriate for the season, collected and introduced by Otto Penzler. The result is, objectively speaking, the finest "stocking stuffer" that a mystery fan could hope to find.

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