Crime Cymru’s Sarah Todd Taylor is already feeling in a festive mood and looking forward to Christmas reading :-

Ah, Christmas is coming and with it the small traditions that we each have, whether it be seeking out matching pyjama sets for Christmas Eve, stirring up the Christmas Pudding or buying a new decoration for the tree. Iceland has the excellent tradition of Jolabokaflod (translated as ‘Christmas book flood’) in which books are exchanged on Christmas Eve and the evening is spent curled up with a new book to read. I heartily approve and wish we would adopt this over here.

One of my own traditions for this time of year is to find a new wintery short story crime collection to read through December. I love a short story, and crime as a genre fits itself so well to the short form, giving authors the pleasing challenge of presenting a clever puzzle to solve in a few pages rather than over the breadth of a novel.  My favourite stories are classic crimes ones and the British Library’s Crime Classics collection, curated and edited by Martin Edwards, has been an absolute treasure chest of these, introducing me to many writers I had not previously heard of. Luckily, the collection includes several wintery and Christmas-based anthologies, so my advents are well stocked with snow-bedecked murders and villains disguised as Father Christmas.

But what is it about a Christmas crime story that appeals so much? I think it comes down to several factors. Firstly, there is something very atmospheric about the settings – cold dark country houses cut off by snow, families gathering reluctantly together and hiding secrets, long journeys across country on trains with strangers. The settings we find ourselves in at Christmas lend themselves to either cosiness or claustrophobia, depending on how much we want to be there – and that makes for a great setting for a crime story.  Then there is the contrast between the merry sparkling jollity of the season and the crimes themselves. Christmas is the season of goodwill and crime cuts across this – could there be any more startling contrast than red blood spilled on crisp snow?  And then again, Christmas is a time for concealment, whether it is in wrapped presents, sixpences hidden in puddings (a key plot point in one of my favourite Poirot stories), disguising oneself as Santa Claus or masked balls, all of this lends itself well to misdirection and duplicity.

So this year I recommend an Advent calendar of Christmas Crime – pick a collection and read a story a day. I wish you all a very merry murder.

Book Recommendations to start you off

British Library Crime Classics Collections:

Who Killed Father Christmas and Other Seasonal Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards

Crimson Snow : Winter Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards

A Surprise for Christmas And Other Seasonal Mysteries, edited by Martin Edwards

Murder on Christmas Eve, edited by Cecily Gayford

Murder under the Christmas Tree, edited by Cecily Gayford

Christmas is Murder : A Chilling Short Story Collection, Val McDermid

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As a bonus to Sarah’s suggestions, our December blogs will hopefully include a couple of Christmas short stories from our own members.

You can read more about Sarah and her books on this link