Murder for Christmas

By: Thomas Godfrey, John Collier, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Marjorie Bowen, Margery Allingham

Narrated by: David Birney

Ah, the pleasures of Christmas: the hanging of lights, the traditional feasts, the gathering of families, and...a bit of murder, conspiracy, and theft. The holiday season seems to inspire the imagination of the best mystery writers, and their talents shine here in these delightful tales of Yuletide crime. In this busiest of seasons, seize a few hours to enjoy a sleigh—or slay--full of mysterious treasures, served with the finest of flair.

• “Death on Christmas Eve” by Stanley Ellin: A lawyer visits his reclusive clients on Christmas Eve.
• “The Necklace of Pearls” by Dorothy L. Sayers: Traditional party games in a fine old manor house are interrupted by the disappearance of family treasures.
• “The Case Is Altered” by Margery Allingham: In the shadows of a country estate aquiver with Christmas bustle, Mr. Albert Campion discerns activity that could be young love...or blackmail.
• “Cambric Tea” by Marjorie Bowen: An unpleasant aristocrat swears that his wife is poisoning him—and demands the intervention of a young doctor.
• “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The game is afoot! And the world's greatest consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes, is on the trail of the diamond thief who's hidden his booty in a Christmas goose.
• “The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding” by Agatha Christie: Persuaded to enjoy the pleasures of an old-fashioned English country Christmas, Hercule Poirot soon goes on the trail of a rare and priceless ruby.
• “Death on Air” by Ngaio Marsh: Septimus Tonks has been found dead of electrocution on Christmas morning. Chief Detective, Inspector Roderick Alleyn, must determine whether it's an accident, a suicide...or murder.
• “Back for Christmas” by John Collier: Hermione Carpenter manages everything beautifully and has promised to bring her husband, the doctor, back to England for Christmas—but he has other plans....

©1982 Thomas Godfrey (P)1989 Phoenix Books, Inc.

Most engaging, a few drag

It took me quite a while to get through this because I had to listen a few of them multiple times. there were others that kept my interest the entire time.

Worth the credit

Some good some bad, but still worth it. I found it interesting for the style of the different authors. So I found a couple that I liked and would read a whole book by.

mystery for Christmas

enjoyed the mysteries and felt a part of the story and will listen again. bye

A Yearly Favorite!

I 'be owned the written book for years and have enjoyed it every year. Now, with this, it accompanies my Christmas cookie baking each year!

Treat for classic mystery lovers

I don’t think this collection of short stories by classic mystery lovers is for everyone. Short stories tend to be challenging for mysteries, because they don’t have a lot of time to set out clues, explain the characters and really draw the reader in. (Though good ones, and some in this collection) are skillful writing just for these reasons. Some of these work better than others in that regard. Also, because they are short, it helps to know the main writers and the typical characteristics of the detectives ahead of time (Campion, Poirot, etc).

That said, I enjoyed this collection just because is is a piece of writing from some of my favorite British classic writers (Sayers, Christie, Allingham, et al). A couple writers I was unfamiliar with. Each is distinctive, and it was fun to listen to the differences between them, and get a little flavor of their writing, side by side. Some of the stories didn’t work very well in my opinion—especially the first. Another reviewer commented on bad audio quality. I think that also varied—with the first story being least easy to listen to. But overall, I’d urge lovers of classic mysteries to give this a shot, at least if you want to round out your knowledge of their works.

A Go To Book

Have been reading this book over and over for many years and now we can listen to it ! We usually get it out at the beginning of the holiday season. It has classic favorite short stories which never get old. Easy listening by great narrators is always a pleasure !

Christmas Mysteries

Some were good. Some were too predictable. Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Bah Humbug!

This is an abridged version

I was a bit disappointed that this did not contain all the stories in the print version.

The audio quality is terrible

The awful audio quality ruined the book for me. I wish I could return it.

Awful Book!

This book was awful. I will not recommend this waste of time to anyone looking for literally promise. I am truly sorry I purchased this holiday book.