Short Story Wednesday: More Christmas Stories

I have now read 17 of the 26 stories in Murder for Christmas, edited by Thomas Godfrey. I did not read all of those this month; some of them I had read previously in other anthologies.

These are the last four stories I read in this book.

"Back for Christmas" by John Collier 

This is a short but effective story with a very clever ending. Dr. Carpenter and his wife are going to America for a lecture tour. Mrs. Carpenter has told all her friends that they will be back in England for Christmas, but he has other plans.  This story was broadcast on television in 1956 as part of the first season of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

"A Christmas Tragedy" by Baroness Orczy 

This is the first piece of writing by Orczy that I have read. This short story tells how Lady Molly solves the mystery of murder of Major Ceely on Christmas Eve. She and her maid Mary were staying at Major Ceely's home, Clevere Hall, when the murder occurs. The introduction to the story by Thomas Godfrey indicates that there are a series of Lady Molly of Scotland Yard stories; the stories are told by Mary, her faithful maid. Twelve stories in the series were published in Lady Molly of Scotland Yard in 1910.

"Dancing Dan's Christmas" by Damon Runyon

This story was a lot of fun and had a great ending, but as usual when I am reading Damon Runyon's prose, I was confused by the street talk and many quirky characters. The story was originally published in Collier's Magazine in 1932.

"Christmas Party" by Rex Stout

I have read all of the mystery fiction by Rex Stout, multiple times, and this story was no exception. But it has been nine years since I read it last, and I have always enjoyed it. "Christmas Party" features Nero Wolfe and his assistant, Archie and is one of four stories in And Four to Go by Rex Stout. The story is 70 pages long, so it is really a novella.

The story starts with Archie refusing to accompany Wolfe to a meeting with a well-known horticulturalist because he already has plans to attend a Christmas party at a ex-client's business. I reviewed "Christmas Party" in 2014 in this blog post. 

If you are interested in a list of all the stories in Murder for Christmas, check out George Kelley's review at his blog. 

I do have a bonus Christmas story, from the Guardian. My husband sent me a link to the story and I read it immediately. It was just the right length.

"Yankee Swap" by Jonathan Escoffery

This story is set during the Christmas season, on a snowy day in Boston. The main character, Nathan, occasionally drives his car for a rideshare company, and on this day he does it because he needs extra money to fund his airplane flight to South Florida to visit his family for Christmas. The person who called the car for a ride is his ex-fiancee’s husband. Nathan is curious about this man, the man he blames for blowing up his world nearly three years earlier. I loved the way the story is told, how more about each of the characters is revealed during the ride. A very nice story, and a good story to read any time of the year.

The link to this story is here.

Short Story Wednesday: Murder for Christmas, edited by Thomas Godfrey

This is the book that I will be reading Christmas short stories from this year...

The book was edited by Thomas Godfrey, with illustrations and cartoons by Gahan Wilson included. Godfrey provides an introduction for each story.

Two paragraphs from the dust jacket:

It has been said that Christmas brings out the best in everyone, and this has been especially true of mystery writers who seem to have been inspired to their best work by the holiday season.

So come to a unique yuletide celebration and rub elbows with such greats as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Dame Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, and Ellery Queen, while Georges Simenon and Dame Ngaio Marsh drop a few hot coals into your stocking. Masters of suspense John Collier and Stanley Ellin will be on hand with a few terrifying tales to send shivers up your spine. Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, and Baroness Orczy also will be present with some surprise contributions. There will be a few laughs, too, with Damon Runyon, Wyndham Lewis, and Woody Allen, as well as visits with old and new masters of the genre such as Margery Allingham, Dorothy L. Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, Edward D. Hoch, and H.R.F. Keating. John Dickson Carr will favor us with a locked room story, while O. Henry contributes some Christmas criminality from the Old West. We'll even go Christmas shopping with Robert Louis Stevenson.

George Kelley reviewed Murder for Christmas at his blog. He lists all the stories in his post.

Reading Summary for February 2020

February was a strange reading month. It took me close to 3 weeks to read Bleak House. I also read a good number of short stories, most of them in the two short story books I have already reviewed. All of the books I read were published before 1990. One of the books from the 1980s featured a nun as the main character and was written by a nun.

Fiction

Bleak House (1853) by Charles Dickens

This is one of Dickens' longest novels. Some readers consider it his best novel. I have only read A Christmas Carol by this author, so I can make no comparison. I feel ambivalent about the novel. I enjoyed reading much of it, but it was a very difficult read, and seemed too long to me. It was first published in 20 monthly installments. 

Grand Hotel (1929) by Vicki Baum
Translated from the German by Basil Creighton with revisions by Margot Bettauer Dembo

Several disparate people stay in the Grand Hotel in Berlin over several days. For almost all of them, the people they meet and the things they do there effect changes in their lives. This was a remarkable book, thought-provoking and entertaining. 

Crime Fiction

The Saint Valentine's Day Murders (1984) by Ruth Dudley Edwards

This is book 2 in the Robert Amiss series. The first two books in the series feature office settings, and focus on bureaucracy and office politics. See my thoughts here.

Seven Days in May (1962) by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II

After Kirk Douglas died earlier this month, we watched Seven Days in May, a film he had starred in. It was directed by John Frankenheimer, and Burt Lancaster also had a major role. We have watched it many times but it had been a while. The book it was based on had been on my shelves since 2014, so I decided it was time to read it. It is a fast-paced thriller about the attempt by military leaders in the US to take over the government and remove the President from power. A very good read.

A Novena For Murder (1984) by Sister Carol Anne O'Marie

This is a very cozy mystery starring a nun as amateur sleuth. Sister Mary Helen has retired at 75 and is sent to Mt. Saint Francis College for Women in San Francisco. Shortly after she arrives the body of a professor at the school is found, following an earthquake. The police blame the wrong person, in Sister Mary Helen's opinion, so it is up to her to find out what happened. I liked the setting and the characters; it was the perfect read for me at the time.

Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens (1982) by Michael Gilbert

This is one of two books of short stories about two middle-aged spies, working for a secret government group in the UK called the Joint Services Standing Intelligence Committee (JSSIC). See my thoughts here.

English Country House Murders (1988) ed. by Thomas Godfrey

A short story anthology edited by Thomas Godfrey. The volume begins with a charming introduction by Godfrey; he also introduces each story. See my thoughts here.