In December, don't most readers' thoughts turn to Christmas?
My oldest favourite: Tied Up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh
Coming very late in her Roderick Alleyn detective series (#27, published in 1972) this novel has all the classic elements of a Golden Age mystery from the isolated English manor house to the arrogant owner and the small cast of suspects with a plethora of motives among them. It's also textured, theatrical, and (now) historical in the sense of exploring a few very old, very localized holiday traditions. If you're interested, check out this much more detailed write-up at
https://www.classicmysteries.net/2016/12/from-the-vault-tied-up-in-tinsel.html
Leaping ahead to 1999 we visit an snow-dusted Cotswold village in 'Aunt Dimity's Christmas' by Nancy Atherton. Transplanted American Lori is barely settled into her marriage and motherhood when a stranger stumbles into her driveway and collapses into a drifted-over hedge. As the holiday season unfolds Lori juggles the domestic duties and decorations while visiting the unknown in hospital and trying to retrace the stranger's wanderings to learn his identity and his purpose in coming to her cottage.
For more see https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nancy-atherton/aunt-dimitys-christmas/
A decade later and across the ocean to Canada, we stop off in Quebec for a bone-chilling tale of family secrets and snowstorms in 'Beautiful Lie the Dead' by Barbara Fradkin. Police Inspector Green is searching for a missing fiance amid the blizzard of the decade when a body turns up, literally, in the tumbled track of a snowplow's blade.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7933224-beautiful-lie-the-dead
2019's entry is from the Alberta Rockies. 'Where the Ice Falls' by J.E. Barnard is set in the foothills hamlet of Bragg Creek, west of Calgary. Following the discovery of a dead intern at an elite private winter playground, a young ex-RCMP officer investigates oil company fraud while struggling with PTSD and the question of whether the dead can communicate with the living.
More at https://www.vanessa-westermann.info/barnard-where-the-ice-falls-review
Stocking Stuffer Suggestion
by Sisters in Crime Canada West
This sassy little collection by crime authors from the prairies to Vancouver Island includes police procedurals, comic gems, a diamond heist, some extreme winter sporting, and a holiday hot tub homicide.
Now to a new crop of novels for 2020, all thanks to #Netgalley:
Mrs. Morris and the Ghost of Christmas Past by Traci Wilton is a gentle cosy mystery set at a B&B in Salem, Massachussetts .It has pretty decorations, a resident ghost, tourist highlights, and some romance. Very low-conflict if this year's held more than enought troubles for you already. The title character's spats with her mom seem more contrived than credible, and neither advance nor detract from the plot. #MrsMorrisandtheGhostofChristmasPast
The Christmas Swap by Sandy Barker is an expanded angle on the movie 'The Holiday' with Kate Winslet & Cameron Diaz. This cheery tale has three house swappers, all friends: one in an Oxfordshire village, one from an Australian beach town, and one high in the Colorado mountains. Great escape in this armchair-travel-only year, following Lucy, Chloe, and Jules as they learn about life, love, and friendship. #TheChristmasSwap
Winter Wishes at Swallowtail Bay by Katie Ginger follows Nell, proprietor of Holly Lodge, as she scrambles to stage the perfect wedding for guests while a fancy new hotel is stealing most of her business. Her best friend is in love with her but will she see it in time? #WinterWishesatSwallowtailBay
A Christmas Carol Murder by Heather Redmond lays credible claim to Victorian Christmas in this re-imagining of Dickens' famous tale. We follow Charles Dickens himself through the sooty streets and aged alehouses as he follows up an abandoned baby along with several suspicious deaths. There's a cast list, much needed to sort out the historical characters, those lifted from Dickens' fiction, and those newly-created by Redmond. #AChristmasCarolMurder
Possibly the most decorative Hallmark movie of 2020
A Timeless Christmas with Erin Cahill and Ryan Paevey
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