Christmas Mysteries

Have you shoveled out yet from last weekend's storm? At the seashore, we had two feet of snow...unheard of. It took Chris four hours to shovel our driveway! Hello white Christmas!

I've finished a small knitted gift which I'll show after Christmas, and ripped back on the Mr. Greenjeans sweater too. But honestly...I'm not motivated to work on my current projects. I hate to start something new with several WIPs, and yet, it might help to get the inspiration back. Last night I wound yarn for the Lace Twist Mitts in the fall Knitscene, and did the first repeat. I think I'm going to rip it back and change up the pattern a little bit, and then I'll show a photo of that.

I've finished two books, both Christmas mysteries. Of sorts. While they take place around Christmas time, there is very little Christmas detail in them, which was disappointing.

A Christmas Journey by Anne Perry begins with a houseparty several weeks before Christmas. Outspoken Isobel makes a nasty after-dinner comment to nearly engaged Gwendolyn, resulting in her death. At this point, I had expected the future Great-Aunt Vespasia of the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series to discover that the apparent suicide was in fact a murder, but the story takes an entirely different direction. The host, knowing that Isobel has committed social suicide with her comment, proposes a medieval-like penance: if she is willing to make the punishing pilgrimage to the north of Scotland in winter to notify Gwendolyn's mother of her death, and bring the mother back with her for the funeral, all the guests are bound to forgive Isobel and treat her as if the event had never happened. Reluctantly, Isobel agrees to go, with Vespasia accompanying her on the journey. Vespasia is sure there is more to Isobel's comment and Gwendolyn's response than first appears.

The journey, and how it affects the characters, is the focus of the story. When they return from Scotland at the end of this short book, it is Christmas Eve. Talk of forgiveness, redemption and new beginnings echo the themes of Christmas. I would have liked more of a glimpse of the Victorian Christmas celebrations: the food, the decorations, the traditions, and more of the usual mystery story that Perry does so well. This was well-written, but not something I'd want to re-read.

Thanks to Chris and C.J.'s contest, I won two Hamish MacBeth books, one of which takes place at Christmas, Death of a Snob. After the grueling journey to Scotland, I was ready to...return to Scotland and take another grueling trip from west to east to a remote island, Eileencraig?!

Our sniffly hero Hamish is uninvited home for Christmas by his mother, when his nasty aunt decides to visit the MacBeths at the last minute. As Hamish looks for another place to spend his holiday, his long-lost love Priscilla informs him that her friend Jane, owner of a health farm on Eileencraig, feels her life is in danger. Jane asks him to accompany her on the arduous, freezing trip and join her guests for the holiday.

After arriving at the health farm, Hamish quickly discovers that tension is high between the guests, particularly due to Heather, whose tirades against romance novels and capitalism among other subjects wear everyone's patience thin. As Jane and Harriet, a cookbook author, tempt Hamish romantically, he tries to keep the peace among the male and female guests. Soon Heather is found dead, and Hamish is unsure whether or not Jane was the intended target.

Once again, Christmas is a minor detail in this mystery. Harriet cooks the Christmas dinner to give the guests a break from Jane's healthy vegetarian meals, and Jane hands out a present to each guest, most of whom do not offer a gift to her. The mystery could easily stand on its own, however, if it were set at any other time of year. While I enjoyed the puzzle and did not guess the murderer, I was disappointed that there weren't more details about Christmas in modern-day Scotland.

Since we are so close to Christmas, and I am hoping to receive some new books, I haven't started any other fiction. I'm currently reading How to Do it or The Lively Art of Entertaining by Elsa Maxwell. It's a facsimile edition of a book first published in 1957, written by a socialite who was known for her innovative party ideas, managing difficult guests, etc. It's a fun book that gives a glimpse of what high society New York was like in the 1950s, though I could do without the excessive name-dropping in the first few chapters I've read. Maxwell wants to impress her readers, but since most of her guests are no longer alive, and some names are not familiar to me, it is lost on me. Maxwell, who died in 1963, is credited with inventing the scavenger hunt.

What are you reading? Are you ready for Christmas and the new year? And if you're knitting gifts, have you finished them in time?

Comments

[Chris]

Funny - had no idea that one of those was Christmasy (even vaguely!).

Our big evil snowstorm hits tonight...

[Barbara-Kay]

Ooh, you have reminded me that I have several volumes of Christmas mystery short stories. I should pull one out for this evening.

Thanks!

[Pam]

For years, we read the young adult novel "What Child is This" by Caroline Cooney to our kids. I also like reading a collection called Home for Christmas, compiled by Miriam LeBlanc. I think you might like either of these -- They're ALL about Christmas.

If you can find the second book, my favorite story in it is The Riders of St. Nicholas by Jack Schaefer.

[Sara]

Of course, I found a new author - just what i needed right before Christmas! Cause you know what that means...reading becomes number one...

The new author - Charlaine Harris - and it is the Harper Connelly series!

Grave Sight (1)
Grave Surprise (2)
An Ice Cold Grave (3)

[Danielle]

I came SO close to buying that Anne Perry book at the bookstore yesterday but in the end I put it back not wanting to spend so much on a book with only two stories in it ($15!!). I'd definitely get it used, though. We not only get a white Christmas here, but we are getting it (or adding to it anyway) on the actual day. It's due to start tonight and continue through Friday night (maybe even into Saturday morning). I'm afraid I might be snowed in and unable to celebrate with my family. I guess I'll get in some extra reading if that's the case...

Have a lovely holiday! At least all that shoveling means you can have an extra Christmas cookie or two?

[Sydney]

The snow came in the form of lots of rain for us and more is one the way.

I've been slogging through my knitting lately. Even the one small knitted gift is taking forever.

[Dorothy W.]

I don't know if you might be interested in a nonfiction book about Christmas, but I've heard really good things about The Man Who Invented Christmas, which is about Charles Dickens, his book A Christmas Carol, and how it changed how the Victorians celebrated Christmas. It might have more information on Victorian Christmases than the Perry book did. At any rate, it's too bad the books weren't more Christmasy. I hope you are enjoying your new books (and I look forward to hearing about them!).