Christmas becomes the scene of crime in this selection of classic intrigue novels.
Christmas, hated or adored, leaves no one indifferent and this is demonstrated by the great crime novel writers who could not resist setting one or more of their novels at Christmas time.
Determined not to give rest to detectives or murderers, almost all of them insensitive to the Christmas spirit, they let in the atmosphere of the time and sneak into every corner of their stories. Christmas yes, comes out stained with blood, after going through the pages of the best authors of the genre.
Any of them, perfect to reread at these parties.
Tragic Christmas, by Agatha Christie
Starring Poirot, it is one of the bloodiest stories of the Great Lady of Crime. He dedicated it to his brother-in-law James who complained that the murders in his novels were becoming more and more refined. A millionaire, Mr. Lee, is murdered on Christmas Eve. Her five children, gathered at the house for the holidays, become suspects.
The Past Returns to Connemara, by Anne Perry
The plans by Emily Radley, Inspector Thomas Pitt's sister-in-law, By Christmas they go to pieces when the news reaches him that his Aunt Susannah is dying. Although they did not have much relationship, Emily decides to go to Ireland to accompany her in her last days. However, when she arrives in Connemara, it becomes clear that Susannah has concerns greater than her health.
Things take a turn for the worse when Daniel, the sole survivor of a shipwreck caused by one of the heavy storms ravaging the region, seeks shelter in Susannah's home. He's not very welcome in town, and Emily realizes this as she discovers strange parallels between her case and the unsolved death of another young man, Connor, several years ago.
Susannah, desperate to find out what happened to Connor before he died, asks Emily to investigate. A) Yes, You will discover that some of the townspeople are willing to do anything to keep their secrets safe.
Silent NightMary Higgins Clark
Catherine Dornan and her two children prepare to spend a very bitter Christmas in New York, as her husband and father must face a delicate surgery. But what they do not imagine is that Christmas Eve will turn into a nightmare from the moment you, innocently, yesThey stop at a corner to listen to Christmas carols and find themselves involved in a chain of crimes including the kidnapping of a child, a bloody escape, and a desperate race against time ...
Will the killers of the Christmas spirit catch? According to the greats of the crime novel, the answer is: No.
The christmas thiefby Mary Higgins Clark
Written with her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark.
A tree will be cut down in Vermont, to later decked out Rockefeller Center at Christmas. But the chosen tree contains a valuable old enigma involving thieves, vigilantes and millionaires. An increasingly dangerous tangle, on the trail of valuable diamonds.
The adventures of the blue carbuncle, by Arthur Conan Doyle
In this story, Watson visits his friend Sherlock Holmes to congratulate him on Christmas.
“Two days after Christmas, I stopped by to visit my friend Sherlock Holmes with the intention of passing on the congratulations typical of the time. I found him lying on the sofa, with a purple robe, the pipe rack to his right, and a pile of crumpled newspapers, which he had evidently just studied, close at hand. Next to the sofa was a wooden chair, and from one corner of its back hung a worn and grimy felt hat, very worn with use and broken in several places. A magnifying glass and tweezers left on the seat indicated that the hat had been hung there for examination. "
And he finds him immersed in the investigation of a case simple and clear. Apparently without any interest.
«- Exactly, on December 22, five days ago. John Horner, a plumber, was accused of having taken it from the lady's jewelry box. The evidence against him was so strong that the case has now gone to court. "
The Lady of the Lake, by Raymond Chandler,
In this novel, one of Chandler's greatest successes, the detective Philip Marlowe investigates the disappearance of two women: Crystal Kingsley, wife of a wealthy businessman, and Muriel Chess, wife of the caretaker of the Kingsley estate on Little Fawn Lake.
Marlowe doesn't care what happened to them, but discovering the truth will be imperative when he realizes that your life is at stake.
Maigret's Christmasby Georges Simemon
One morning of Christmas in which Maigret and his wife were preparing to spend it together and in the afternoon go to the movies, two young men of dubious profession come to his house and They raise an absurd case in which Santa Claus showed up at night and gave the daughter of one of them, a doll.
A Different Christmas, by John Grisham
Imagine a year without Christmas.
No crowded malls.
No company dinners.
No fruit cakes.
No ridiculous gifts.
That's what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide to skip the celebrations for once. Theirs will be the only house on Hemlock Street that doesn't have a Santa Claus on the roof, they won't host a Christmas Eve gathering, they won't even put a tree in the living room. Nor will they need it, because on December 25 they will embark on a Caribbean cruise.
Yet this troubled couple You are going to discover that skipping Christmas has enormous consequences that you can't even glimpse half of.