Golden Age Christmas Mysteries

Edgar Award-winning anthologist Otto Penzler selects Christmas-themed mysteries from the genre's Golden Age, including stories by Mary Roberts Rinehart, John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen, and more. Christmas has served as a fertile background for mystery fiction for a very long time, perhaps because it has the appearance of a time of peace and love while being so at odds with violence, crime, and even murder. This delightful seasonal anthology includes holiday tales from some of the greatest Golden Age mystery authors. It offers such giants of the genre as Ellery Queen, Mary Roberts Rinehart, John D. MacDonald, and John Dickson Carr while introducing lesser-known writers such as Norvell Page, Meredith Nicholson, and Pat Frank. With chronicles that range from truly chilling to heart-warming to hilarious to puzzling, this volume highlights a variety of subjects and styles as each author brings their own approach to the most wonderful time of the year. Featuring fourteen outstanding stories of Yuletide mystery selected and introduced by Edgar-winning anthologist Otto Penzler, Golden Age Christmas Mysteries offers hours of cozy reading, best enjoyed on a cold, snowy night, in a comfortable chair near a blazing fire.

Otto Penzler, the creator of American Mystery Classics, is also the founder of The Mysterious Press (1975); MysteriousPress.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 70 anthologies and written extensively about mystery fiction.

CONTENTS
Anthony Boucher..................................................................Mystery for Christmas
Lillian de la Torre..............................................................The Stolen Christmas Box
Carter Dickson...............................................................Person or Things Unknown
Stanley Ellin......................................................................Death on Christmas Eve
Steve Fisher............................................................................If Christmas Comes
Pat Frank.............................................................................The Christmas Bogey
Baynard Kendrick.............................................................................Silent Night
John D. MacDonald..........................................................Dead on Christmas Street
Meredith Nicholson..........................................................A Reversible Santa Claus
Norvell Page...................................................................Crime's Christmas Carol
Ellery Queen........................................................................The Dauphin's Doll
Mary Roberts Rinehart....................................................The Butler's Christmas Eve
Damon Runyon...............................................................Dancing Dan's Christmas