Review: 
As I am writing this, I have only read about half of the 59 short stories in this collection – and it is likely that I will only finish reading the other stories next year.
However, I love the collection of stories in this volume. Sure, some are better than others, but the editors have made an effort to select stories with a variety of themes and grouped them into sections to cater for different moods:
A Traditional Little Christmas
A Funny Little Christmas
A Sherlockian Little Christmas
A Pulpy Little Christmas
An Uncanny Little Christmas
A Scary Little Christmas
A Surprising Little Christmas
A Modern Little Christmas
A Puzzling Little Christmas
A Classic Little Christmas
Some of the stories are more well-known than others, some overlap with other collections, but overall, this is exactly the kind of collection I love to dip in and out of for a little seasonal reading.
A Note on Format: I started this book on the kindle, but am awaiting a paperback copy because I love to jump from theme to theme rather than try and read this collection from cover to cover – and as much as I love my kindle, it is rather useless at flipping back and forth between sections.
Full list of contents:
A Traditional Little Christmas
THE ADVENTURE OF THE CHRISTMAS PUDDING – Agatha Christie
GOLD, FRANKINCENSE AND MURDER – Catherine Aird
BOXING UNCLEVER – Robert Barnard
THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING – Peter Lovesey
THE ADVENTURE OF THE DAUPHIN’S DOLL – Ellery Queen
MORSE’S GREATEST MYSTERY – Colin Dexter
MORE THAN FLESH AND BLOOD – Susan Moody
THE BUTLER’S CHRISTMAS EVE – Mary Roberts Rinehart
THE TRINITY CAT – Ellis Peters
A Funny Little Christmas
THE BURGLAR AND THE WHATSIT – Donald E. Westlake
DANCING DAN’S CHRISTMAS – Damon Runyon
A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS – Ron Goulart
THE THIEVES WHO COULDN’T HELP SNEEZING – Thomas Hardy
RUMPOLE AND THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS – John Mortimer
A REVERSIBLE SANTA CLAUS – Meredith Nicholson
A Sherlockian Little Christmas
A SCANDAL IN WINTER – Gillian Linscott
THE CHRISTMAS CLIENT – Edward D. Hoch
THE SECRET IN THE PUDDING BAG & HERLOCK SHOLMES’S CHRISTMAS CASE – Peter Todd
CHRISTMAS EVE – S. C. Roberts
THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE – Arthur Conan Doyle
A Pulpy Little Christmas
DEAD ON CHRISTMAS STREET – John D. MacDonald
CRIME’S CHRISTMAS CAROL – Norvell
SERENADE TO A KILLER – Joseph Commings
An Uncanny Little Christmas
THE HAUNTED CRESCENT – Peter Lovesey
A CHRISTMAS IN CAMP – Edmund Cox
THE CHRISTMAS BOGEY – Pat Frank
THE KILLER CHRISTIAN – Andrew Klavan
THE GHOST’S TOUCH – Fergus Hume
A WREATH FOR MARLEY – Max Allan Collins
A Scary Little Christmas
THE CAROL SINGERS – Josephine Bell
WAXWORKS – Ethel Lina White
CAMBRIC TEA – Marjorie Bowen
THE 74TH TALE – Jonathan Santlofer
THE UNINNOCENT – Bradford Morrow
BLUE CHRISTMAS – Peter Robinson
A Surprising Little Christmas
NOEL, NOEL – Barry Perowne
DEATH ON CHRISTMAS EVE – Stanley Ellin
THE CHINESE APPLE – Joseph Shearing
A Modern Little Christmas
AND ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE – Ed McBain
AN EARLY CHRISTMAS – Doug Allyn
THE LIVE TREE – John Lutz
THREE-DOT PO – Sara Paretsky
MAD DOG – Dick Lochte
A Puzzling Little Christmas
SISTER BESSIE – Cyril Hare
THAT’S THE TICKET – Mary Higgins Clark
DEATH ON THE AIR – Ngaio Marsh
THE THIRTEENTH DAY OF CHRISTMAS – Isaac Asimov
THE CHRISTMAS KITTEN – Ed Gorman
THE SANTA CLAUS CLUB – Julian Symons
A Classic Little Christmas
THE FLYING STARS – G. K. Chesterton
CHRISTMAS PARTY – Rex Stout
THE RAFFLES RELICS – E. W. Hornung
THE PRICE OF LIGHT – Ellis Peters
A PRESENT FOR SANTA SAHIB – H. R. F. Keating
THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN – Will Scott
MARKHEIM – Robert Louis Stevenson
A CHAPARRAL CHRISTMAS GIFT – O. Henry
THE CHOPHAM AFFAIR – Edgar Wallace
A CHRISTMAS TRAGEDY – Agatha Christie
Original post:
BrokenTune.booklikes.com/post/1624633/the-big-book-of-christmas-mysteries
