Overview

The oldest mystery specialty bookstore in the world, The Mysterious Bookshop, has for most of its forty-five-year history commissioned an original short story as a holiday gift for its customers. Written exclusively for the store, the stories were given as a holiday gift to its customers as a thank you for their business, handed out or mailed between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. 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. And from these loose structural guidelines, diverse tales took flight. The thirteen tales included in this volume are among the finest to be produced in this annual tradition. Included herein are the ingenious ""Snowflake Time"" by Laura Lippman; Lyndsay Faye's tale of vengeance ""A Midnight Clear""; the challenging brainteaser, ""A Christmas Puzzle,"" by Ragnar Jónasson; ""Hester's Gift,"" an impossible crime story by Tom Mead; the suspenseful ""The Christmas Party"" by Jeffery Deaver; Thomas Perry's hilarious comedy of errors, ""Here We Come A-Wassailing;"" and other tales appropriate for the season, collected and introduced by Otto Penzler. The result is, objectively speaking, the finest ""stocking stuffer"" that a mystery fan could hope to find.

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Otto Penzler, the creator of American Mystery Classics, is also the founder of The Mysterious Press; mysteriouspress.com; and New York City's Mysterious Bookshop. He has won a Raven, the Ellery Queen Award, two Edgars, and lifetime achievement awards from NoirCon and the Strand Magazine. Otto Penzler, the creator of American Mystery Classics, is also the founder of The Mysterious Press; mysteriouspress.com; and New York City's Mysterious Bookshop. He has won a Raven, the Ellery Queen Award, two Edgars, and lifetime achievement awards from NoirCon and the Strand Magazine. Jennifer Pickens is an experienced audiobook narrator. A storyteller since childhood, she now uses her smooth tone and confident grasp of character and pacing to bring authors' words to life. A resident of Oregon, she can often be found reading, drinking tea, metalsmithing, quilting, or playing the mountain dulcimer. Graham Rowat is an award-winning narrator who has appeared in numerous television shows and stage productions. He has had roles on Broadway in Meteor Shower, Sunset Boulevard, Mamma Mia, Guys and Dolls, LoveMusik, Dracula, and Beauty and the Beast, and his Off-Broadway credits include The Blue Flower (Second Stage) and The Boys in the Band (Transport Group). Nationally, he has appeared in productions of White Christmas and Les Miserables, and his regional credits include Arsenic and Old Lace, Constellations (Berkshire Theatre Festival), and A Funny Thing . . . Forum (Two River Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival). His television credits include Elementary and The Good Wife.

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