Book Review: Murder In Midwinter

Summary (from Goodreads):

Midwinter. As snow falls softly outside and frost sparkles on tree branches, it’s time to curl up before a roaring fire, wrap your hands around a steaming mug of mulled wine, and forget your worries for now.

But as the temperature drops outside, malice is sharpening its claws … and murder walks abroad. In these classic stories of mystery and mayhem, let ten of the great crime writers in history surprise and delight you with twists and turns as shocking as an icicle in the heart.

Featuring stories by Dorothy L. Sayers, Cyril Hare, Anthony Berkeley, Ruth Rendell, Margery Allingham, Ellis Peters … and more.

My Thoughts:

“Murder in Midwinter”, edited by Cecily Gayford, is the fifth anthology in the “Murderous Christmas Stories” series.

I enjoyed this collection of short stories. So much so that I bought another of the books in the series, “A Very Murderous Christmas” (Book 3).

My favourite of the stories had to be “The Man from Nowhere” by Edward D. Hoch, which I hadn’t read before and made reference to one of the most interesting (at least to my mind), historical mysteries. That of Kasper Hauser. Also, “A Present for Ivo” deserves a mention, written by one of my most favourite authors, Ellis Peters. Not only could she write wonderful historical fiction and mysteries, but her more modern stories and mysteries are enjoyably captivating too.

I had thought that all the stories would be set in the midst of the Christmas season (because of Midwinter in the title of the book), but one of them, at least, was set outside the festive period, in February.

Rating:

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