Review: "Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop" ed. by Otto Penzler

 

Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop edited by Otto Penzler Mysterious Press, 2024     For more than thirty years, New York City’s Mysterious Bookshop has commissioned a Christmas story from the genre’s most talented writers. These stories are printed as pamphlets and given out to the Bookshop’s customers during the holiday season. The marvelous Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop collects twelve of the most recent tales—an eclectic cohort ranging from puzzler to hardboiled and whimsical to murderous and always with a good-natured attitude—into a single attractive volume. Lyndsay Faye’s “A Midnight Clear,” is a brilliant and surprising take on loss and vengeance with an ending that stings the reader just right. “Secret Santa,” by Ace Atkins—about a thriller writer long past his prime, visiting New York City for a book signing on Christmas Eve in 1985—is a pleasant stroll, with a little excitement and a touch of irony, down the mean streets of the mid-century mystery world. Rob Hart’s “The Gift of the Wiseguy,” is a slam-bang, atmospheric, and ironic tale about a father’s love and son’s forgiveness. And the ending is perfectly bleak in a heartwarming and Christmasy way. “Snowflake Time,” by Laura Lippman, is a comedic and satirical tale about a deceitful television personality fired for sexual harassment. Its first-person narration, which is from the unreliable tv host, is briming with wit and irony. And even better, everything turns out exactly as it should. Thomas Perry’s “Here We Come A-Wassailing,” is more whimsical than mysterious—although a couple thieves are working the neighborhood around the Mysterious Bookshop—but it is a delightful journey from that first page to the last. Better yet, the entire tale is centered around a bottle of 1962 Bertinollet XO Cognac, which I gather is quite expensive, and that thin line that separates fantasy from fact. “Sergeant Santa,” by David Gordon—the only writer in the collection I was unfamiliar with—is a joyful holiday jig in The City. There is a corrupt cop, an unlucky pick-pocket, and enough holiday cheer to enliven even the most jaded readers. Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop also includes excellent entries from Jason Starr, Loren D. Estleman, Jeffrey Deaver, Ragnar Jónasson, Tom Mead, and Martin Edwards.

Click here for the Kindle edition and here for the hardcover of Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop at Amazon.