Murder in the Falling Snow: Ten Classic Crime Stories (Vintage Murders)

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Unbelievably, this is the seventh seasonal collection in this series of cosy crime short stories edited by Cecily Gayford.

These are mainly set in the last century but I love the old fashioned settings, the way people spoke, the simplicity of life and the hardship of it before the health service, before the welfare state. Ten short stories from the golden age of British crime fiction, not all of which involve murder and precious few of which play out against a backdrop of snow, either falling or settled. Loved the plots and characters, such of which would not look out of place on a television adaptation now. I also liked the Sayers story starring her lesser-known detective, commercial traveller Montague Egg, and the Sherlock Holmes story, though I'd read both of these before.I felt they passed the time nicely, but apart from the Conan Doyle and the Chesterton, I found them tidy but rather workaday. But for shivers down the spine, the opener Haunted House by Gladys Mitchell is well worth reading by candlelight before turning in on Christmas Eve.

I liked the vast majority of this collection and there are some authors in here that I will definitely read from again. By today's standards these stories are quaint but may be worth a read if you are interested in early detective fiction. Though the stories are certainly classics, some of them haven't quite maintained their appeal and intrigue into our modern times. A quick and easy read - while some were interesting most we pretty mediocre, no real twists or turns, they seemed to get more lame as the book went on - the best stories being at the front of the book. There is no information given about the authors or the background to the stories, and some authors are better known than others, e.

I really enjoyed Mr Pontings Alibi by the latter, twistingly clever, designed to fox the reader and just great fun to read!