Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from the Mysterious Pressi via #Edelweissplus, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it. All opinions are my own
Eighteen puzzling Christmas tales set in New York City’s beloved mystery bookstore
Synopsis
Synopsis
In 1993, The Mysterious Bookshop—the oldest mystery specialty bookstore in the world—began an annual tradition by inviting bestselling author Donald E. Westlake to write an original short story set in the bookshop during the holiday season. Each year since then, The Mysterious Bookshop commissions a new short story from a leading author to give out as a holiday gift for its customers.
The prompt for the story requires three elements: that it be set at Christmastime, that it involve a crime of some kind, or the suspicion of one, and that it be set at least partially in the bookstore. Beyond these guidelines, authors had free rein to take the story in whatever direction they chose. This volume collects the first eighteen stories commissioned by the bookshop from 1993 to 2010.
Included are tales by Megan Abbott, Rupert Holmes, Mary Higgins Clark, Andrew Klavan, and Ed McBain, plus an updated introduction by Mysterious Bookshop proprietor Otto Penzler. Some of the stories are humorous, others thrilling, and still others are takes of pure detection. But all are guaranteed to put you in the holiday spirit.
Originally published as Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop.
The prompt for the story requires three elements: that it be set at Christmastime, that it involve a crime of some kind, or the suspicion of one, and that it be set at least partially in the bookstore. Beyond these guidelines, authors had free rein to take the story in whatever direction they chose. This volume collects the first eighteen stories commissioned by the bookshop from 1993 to 2010.
Included are tales by Megan Abbott, Rupert Holmes, Mary Higgins Clark, Andrew Klavan, and Ed McBain, plus an updated introduction by Mysterious Bookshop proprietor Otto Penzler. Some of the stories are humorous, others thrilling, and still others are takes of pure detection. But all are guaranteed to put you in the holiday spirit.
Originally published as Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop.
Review
What a great idea to have famous authors write a short story involving a mystery that occurred at the Bookshop at Christmas , and then have the compilation available to the Bookshop patrons who signed up for it. Obviously that would be a book we would all want to grab, and now a couple years later we can! It's interesting to see how different authors ran with that short scenario. Obviously every writer has their niche that they write under and this scenario allows them either to stay within the niche or to do something totally different. And they're within the interest --how will they handle it? I found myself skipping around and reading my favorite authors first and enjoying their stories immensely. Then I went back and read the ones I did not know. I was actually surprised to find some of those were my favorites from the book. Each one of the stories is a short read and it'd be great to give to someone you know who loves mysteries, as a holiday hostess/host gift or as a white elephant present. It's a book that can keep on giving!
About the Editor
Otto Penzler, the creator of American Mystery Classics, is also the founder of the Mysterious Press (1975); Mysterious Press.com (2011), an electronic-book publishing company; and New York City’s Mysterious Bookshop (1979). He has won a Raven, the Ellery Queen Award, two Edgars (for the Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection, 1977, and The Lineup, 2010), and lifetime achievement awards from Noircon and The Strand Magazine. He has edited more than 80 anthologies and written extensively about mystery fiction.
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