Lee Allen's Blog - Posts Tagged "campion"
Christmastime Book Reviews
It just wouldn't be Christmas without reading a selection of festive mysteries and ghost stories, complete with bloodshed, horror and romance!
Here's my selection for this year:
A Christmas Beginning by Anne Perry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A tale of murder and the hope of a new beginning.
Superintendent Runcorn chooses to spend Christmas in rural Anglesey, an effort to distance himself from a broken heart. Yet, by sheer coincidence, he finds that Melisande, the woman whom he loves, is also on Anglesey - and now engaged to another man. When a murder occurs and her brother is implicated, Melisande turns to Runcorn for help, a request he cannot refuse. Determined to uncover the murderer's identity, Runcorn hopes that finding the solution to the case will bring him closure too.
'A Christmas Beginning' is a truly heartwarming story - the crime is truthfully secondary to Runcorn's attempts to move on from the love of his life, but nevertheless presents a satisfying puzzle to unravel, both elements combining seamlessly in a satisfying Victorian Christmas mystery. Another superb novella from Anne Perry that captures the true essence of Christmas.
The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories: Volume Two by Allen Grove
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
While Charles Dickens made the Christmas ghost story famous and MR James cemented the tradition of telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve, many writers of the Victorian era turned their hand to ghost stories at Christmas, many published in magazines and subsequently lost for decades. Valancourt presents this annual tradition with a volume of ghostly tales from the era.
Amongst my favourites in Volume Two were 'Number Two, Melrose Square', by Dora Havers under the pseudonym Theo Gift, telling the tale of a haunting in an oft-abandoned property; 'The Steel Mirror', by WW Fenn, a tale of Christmas tradition and ill omens; and 'A Terrible Retribution', anonymously published under the name "AS", a tale of passion and murder, which ends the collection on a more hopeful and romantic note than many of its companions.
Overall, 'The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, Volume Two' is a chilling collection of the gothic and the macabre.
A Very Murderous Christmas: Ten Classic Crime Stories for the Festive Season by Cecily Gayford
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Christmas is not complete without some classic crime; and I now make reading a volume in the 'Murder at Christmas' series an annual tradition. Featuring a collection of festive mysteries, with appearances from Campion, Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, Chief Inspector Morse, and Rumpole amongst them, 'A Very Murderous Christmas' (indeed, the whole series) feels like Christmas with old favourites.
Amongst the stories I most enjoyed were Margery Allingham's 'The Man with the Sack', which finds Campion thwarting a Christmas burglary; Anthony Horowitz's tongue-in-cheek 'Camberwell Crackers', investigating the murder of an entrepreneur who recently invested in a cracker-making business; and Ruth Rendell bringing her masterful insight into the criminal mind to the bizarre 'Loopy'.
Overall, 'A Very Murderous Christmas' is an entertaining collection of nostalgia and criminality.
And that's not all! In case you missed my earlier review for Alexandra Benedict's 'The Christmas Murder Game', check it out here.
Today I shall be reading Charles Dickens' second Christmas novella, 'The Chimes'. You can read my review for the classic 'A Christmas Carol' here.
I also have a treat lined up in James Lovegrove's 'Sherlock Holmes and the Three Winter Terrors'. This is the third in this particular series - check out my review of the first, 'The Christmas Demon' here.
I wish all my readers, followers and fellow book lovers a very Merry Christmas!
View all my reviews
Visit me on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter
Follow me on Instagram
Here's my selection for this year:
A Christmas Beginning by Anne PerryMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A tale of murder and the hope of a new beginning.
Superintendent Runcorn chooses to spend Christmas in rural Anglesey, an effort to distance himself from a broken heart. Yet, by sheer coincidence, he finds that Melisande, the woman whom he loves, is also on Anglesey - and now engaged to another man. When a murder occurs and her brother is implicated, Melisande turns to Runcorn for help, a request he cannot refuse. Determined to uncover the murderer's identity, Runcorn hopes that finding the solution to the case will bring him closure too.
'A Christmas Beginning' is a truly heartwarming story - the crime is truthfully secondary to Runcorn's attempts to move on from the love of his life, but nevertheless presents a satisfying puzzle to unravel, both elements combining seamlessly in a satisfying Victorian Christmas mystery. Another superb novella from Anne Perry that captures the true essence of Christmas.
The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories: Volume Two by Allen GroveMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
While Charles Dickens made the Christmas ghost story famous and MR James cemented the tradition of telling ghost stories on Christmas Eve, many writers of the Victorian era turned their hand to ghost stories at Christmas, many published in magazines and subsequently lost for decades. Valancourt presents this annual tradition with a volume of ghostly tales from the era.
Amongst my favourites in Volume Two were 'Number Two, Melrose Square', by Dora Havers under the pseudonym Theo Gift, telling the tale of a haunting in an oft-abandoned property; 'The Steel Mirror', by WW Fenn, a tale of Christmas tradition and ill omens; and 'A Terrible Retribution', anonymously published under the name "AS", a tale of passion and murder, which ends the collection on a more hopeful and romantic note than many of its companions.
Overall, 'The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories, Volume Two' is a chilling collection of the gothic and the macabre.
A Very Murderous Christmas: Ten Classic Crime Stories for the Festive Season by Cecily GayfordMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Christmas is not complete without some classic crime; and I now make reading a volume in the 'Murder at Christmas' series an annual tradition. Featuring a collection of festive mysteries, with appearances from Campion, Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, Chief Inspector Morse, and Rumpole amongst them, 'A Very Murderous Christmas' (indeed, the whole series) feels like Christmas with old favourites.
Amongst the stories I most enjoyed were Margery Allingham's 'The Man with the Sack', which finds Campion thwarting a Christmas burglary; Anthony Horowitz's tongue-in-cheek 'Camberwell Crackers', investigating the murder of an entrepreneur who recently invested in a cracker-making business; and Ruth Rendell bringing her masterful insight into the criminal mind to the bizarre 'Loopy'.
Overall, 'A Very Murderous Christmas' is an entertaining collection of nostalgia and criminality.
And that's not all! In case you missed my earlier review for Alexandra Benedict's 'The Christmas Murder Game', check it out here.
Today I shall be reading Charles Dickens' second Christmas novella, 'The Chimes'. You can read my review for the classic 'A Christmas Carol' here.
I also have a treat lined up in James Lovegrove's 'Sherlock Holmes and the Three Winter Terrors'. This is the third in this particular series - check out my review of the first, 'The Christmas Demon' here.
I wish all my readers, followers and fellow book lovers a very Merry Christmas!
View all my reviews
Visit me on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter
Follow me on Instagram
