"Ooh, my feet, my poor, poor feet." Do your tootsies hurt after a day spent looking for the perfect gift? Are your arms aching? Do you want to stretch out on your bed and read? It's the time of year for Christmas mysteries and many have been written by our favorite authors.
Silent Night by Mary Higgins Clark takes place in New York when the Catherine Dornan's family comes to the city for her husband's surgery. When a light-fingered thief picks Catherine pocket, one of her sons sees and follows him into the subway and faces danger.
Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas begins in a locked bedroom when Simeon Lee's body is found. His throat has been slit. Will the murderer be caught by Poirot before he repeats his dastardly deed?
Claire Mallow is present at a fete celebrating the winter soltice. One of the attendees is murdered. Will Claire find the culprit in A Holly Jolly Murder by Joan Hess?
Charlotte Macleod's anthology titled Mistletoe Mysteries: Tales of Yuletide Murder presents stories by Marcia Muller, Isaac Asimov and a treasure trove of other prominent authors.
In Jerusalem Inn, a Richard Jury mystery by Martha Grimes, Jury contemplates a dull holiday until he meets an attractive woman. Unfortunately, the woman departs our world but the death does liven up the holidays for Jury.
Many other writers have turned to the holidays for suspense and intrique and murder. Amongst them are Rita Mae Brown, Lee Child, Patricia Cornwell, Colin Dexter, Carter Dickson, Reginald Hill, J.A. Jance,Ed McBain, Elizabeth Peters, Ellery Queen, and Dorothy L. Sayers.
I've never written a Christmas Mystery but I have written a play. How about you? Have you ever written a mystery that takes place during a holiday?
Bests and Happy Holidays and a bright, shiny New Year.
Elise
I've never written a Christmas mystery but have noticed that most of mine are set in December or January.
ReplyDeleteHave a very happy Christmas, Elise. All the best for 2013.
It's interesting when you think of the discoveries we sometimes make about ourselves after we write a piece. Merry Christmas to you and your family and a happy and productive New Year.
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