Christmas crime books to read in 2026

Reading lists

12 Christmas murder mystery books to get you feeling festive

Golden Age Christmas Mysteries

Curl up by the fire this Christmas with the masters of cosy and seasonal crime fiction – the perfect stocking-filler for fans of Agatha Christie and the British Library Crime Classics! 
 
A collection of Christmas-themed mysteries, written by some of the greatest Golden Age authors, including Ellery Queen, Mary Roberts Rinehart, John D. MacDonald, and John Dickson Carr, as well as such undiscovered writers as Norvell Page, Meredith Nicholson, and Pat Frank. 
 
The range of subjects and styles may be surprising, ranging from truly chilling to heart-warming to hilarious to puzzling. This is no accident, of course, since genuinely talented authors have their own voices and, like snowflakes, no two are alike. Golden Age Christmas Mysteries is the perfect gift for the season, to be read on a cold, snowy night, in a comfortable chair near a blazing fire. 
 
'For fans of classic detective fiction [...] this anthology offers a mixture of chilling plots, clever puzzles and atmospheric settings' – Crime Fiction Lover

For fans of classic detective fiction, especially those who enjoy the contrast between holiday cheer and crime, this anthology offers a mixture of chilling plots, clever puzzles and atmospheric settings.

Otto Penzler (Author) Otto Penzler owns The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and founded the Mysterious Press and Otto Penzler Books. He has written and edited several books, including the Edgar Award-winning Encyclopaedia of Mystery and Detection, and is the series editor of the annual Best American Mystery Stories of the Year. Anthony Boucher (Contributor) Anthony Boucher (1911-1968) was an American author, editor, and critic, perhaps best known today as the namesake of the annual Bouchercon convention, an international meeting of mystery writers, fans, critics, and publishers. Born William Anthony Parker White, he wrote under various pseudonyms and published fiction in a number of genres outside of mystery, including fantasy and science fiction. Lillian De La Torre (Contributor) Lillian De La Torre (1902-1993) began her literary career with well-researched narratives of famous murder cases of the past, such as Elizabeth Is Missing (1945) about the notorious Elizabeth Canning Case; Villainy Detected (1947), an anthology of eighteenth-century crime; The Heir of Douglas (1952), a study of one of the greatest scandals of eighteenth-century England; and The Truth about Belle Gunness (1955), unveiling an American serial killer for modern readers Carter Dickson (Contributor) Carter Dickson (1906–1977) , otherwise known as John Dickson Carr, was one of the greatest writers of the American Golden Age mystery, and one of the only American authors to be included in England’s legendary Detection Club. Though he was born and died in the United States, Carr began his writing career while living in England, where he remained for nearly twenty years. Under his own name and various pseudonyms, he wrote more than seventy novels and numerous short stories, and is best known today for his locked-room mysteries. His beloved series character, Dr. Gideon Fell, was based on author G. K. Chesterton and appeared in twenty-four novels. Stanley Ellin (Contributor) Stanley Bernard Ellin (1916–1986) was an American mystery writer born in Brooklyn, New York. His first book, a collection of short stories titled “The Specialty of the House” appeared in 1948 in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. He was a three-time winner of the Edgar Allen Poe Award, for his short stories “The House Party” in 1954 and “The Blessington Method” in 1956, and for his novel The Eighth Circle in 1959. His novels Dreadful Summit, House of Cards, and The Bind were each adapted into feature films. A longtime member of the Mystery Writers of America, Ellin was awarded the group’s Grand Master Award in 1981. Baynard Kendrick (Contributor) Baynard Kendrick (1894–1977) was one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America, later named a Grand Master by the organization. After returning from military service in World War I, Kendrick wrote for pulp magazines such as Black Mask and Dime Detective under various pseudonyms before creating the Duncan Maclain character for which he is now known. The blind detective appeared in twelve novels, several short stories, and three films. John D. MacDonald (Contributor) John D. MacDonald (1916-1986) was an American writer of novels and short stories, known for his thrillers. His works include the highly influential and iconic Travis McGee series and the novel The Executioners, which was adapted into the film Cape Fear. In 1972, MacDonald was named a grandmaster of the Mystery Writers of America, and he won a 1980 U.S. National Book Award in the one-year category Mystery for the Travis McGee title, The Green Ripper. Ellery Queen (Contributor) Ellery Queen was a pen name created and shared by two cousins, Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905–1971), as well as the name of their most famous detective. Born in Brooklyn, they spent forty-two years writing the greatest puzzle-mysteries of their time, gaining the duo a reputation as the foremost American authors of the Golden Age “fair play” mystery. Eventually famous on television and radio, Queen’s first appearance came in 1928 when the cousins won a mystery-writing contest with the book that would eventually be published as The Roman Hat Mystery. Besides co-writing the Queen novels, Dannay founded Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential crime publications of all time. Although Dannay outlived his cousin by nine years, he retired the fictional Queen upon Lee’s death. Mary Roberts Rinehart (Contributor) Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958) was the most beloved and best-selling mystery writer in America in the first half of the twentieth century. Born in Pittsburgh to the owner of a sewing machine factory, she wrote fiction in her spare time until a stock market crash sent her and her husband into debt, forcing her to lean on her writing to pay the bills. Her first two novels, The Circular Staircase (1908) and The Man in Lower Ten (1909), established her as a bright young talent, and it wasn’t long before she was a regular on bestseller lists. Among her dozens of novels were The Amazing Adventures of Letitia Carberry (1911) and The Bat (1932), which was among the inspirations for Bob Kane’s Batman. Today, Rinehart is often called an American Agatha Christie, even though she was much more popular than Christie during her heyday. Vincent Starrett (Contributor) Vincent Starrett (1886–1974) was a Chicago journalist who became one of the world’s foremost experts on Sherlock Holmes. A books columnist for the Chicago Tribune, he also wrote biographies of authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson and Ambrose Bierce, various books on books and book collecting, plus Sherlockian pastiches and numerous short stories and novels. A founding member of the Baker Street Irregulars, he is perhaps known best today for The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, an imaginative biography of the great detective.

Golden Age Whodunits

A unique collection of the finest Golden Age mysteries – puzzling whodunnits that have entertained and delighted readers for centuries. 
 
With Edgar Award-winning Otto Penzler as guide, delve into an irresistible collection of the finest Golden Age American whodunits, including household names and master storytellers, such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ellery Queen and Mary Roberts Rinehart, as well as Ring Lardner, Melville Davisson Post and Helen Reilly. 
 
Featuring a murder so baffling that only a stage magician could solve it, a barber who slowly reveals his dark past over the course of a deadly haircut, and an investigation impeded by too many detectives, this anthology features the very best puzzling whodunnits that put the reader's crime-solving skills to the test.

Golden Age Bibliomysteries

In this collection of Golden Age mysteries, crime strikes in the world of books... 
 
'If much of the action is set in a bookshop or a library, it is a bibliomystery, just as it is if a major character is a bookseller or a librarian' – Otto Penzler 
 
Of crime fiction's many sub-genres, none is as intriguing as the ‘bibliomystery’: stories that involve crimes set in the world of books. 
 
This volume collects the finest of such stories. From the murder of a bookseller and the disappearance of a local author, to a killer stalking the shelves of the New York Public Library, these vintage mysteries show the enjoyable and unexpected ways in which crime writers have used the literary world as their theme. 
 
Selected by Edgar-Award-winning anthologist Otto Penzler, this collection includes stories from household names such as Ellery Queen and Cornell Woolrich, as well as authors who are less well known today. These unforgettable mysteries are sure to entertain book lovers and crime fiction fans alike. 
 
'A real treat for bibliophiles' – Kirkus

Otto Penzler (Author) Otto Penzler owns The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and founded the Mysterious Press and Otto Penzler Books. He has written and edited several books, including the Edgar Award-winning Encyclopaedia of Mystery and Detection, and is the series editor of the annual Best American Mystery Stories of the Year. Frederick Irving Anderson (Contributor) Frederick Irving Anderson (1877-1947) has been largely forgotten by modern readers, having produced only three books of mystery and crime during his lifetime; many additional stories were published only in magazines, mainly The Saturday Evening Post, some being collected in only one recent book, Lawrence G. Blochman (Contributor) Lawrence G Blochman (1900-1975) was born, educated, and began his writing career in California, earning a certificate in forensic pathology. He was a reporter for San Diego newspapers before becoming a journalist in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Calcutta, and then moving to Paris, where he met and married Marguerite Mailliard, in 1926. During World War II he served in the US Office of War Information. He eventually moved to New York and was elected the fourth president of the Mystery Writers of America in 1948-1949. Anthony Boucher (Contributor) Anthony Boucher (1911-1968) was an American author, editor, and critic, perhaps best known today as the namesake of the annual Bouchercon convention, an international meeting of mystery writers, fans, critics, and publishers. Born William Anthony Parker White, he wrote under various pseudonyms and published fiction in a number of genres outside of mystery, including fantasy and science fiction. James Gould Cozzens (Contributor) James Gould Cozzens (1903-1978) grew up on New York’s Staten Island, then attending the Kent School in Connecticut before going to Harvard, from which he dropped out after his first book, Confusion (1924), was published during his sophomore year. He quit to write his second novel, then spent a year in Cuba teaching the children of Americans working there. He moved to New Jersey where he spent most of the rest of his life, apart from service in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. Lillian De La Torre (Contributor) Lillian De La Torre (1902-1993) began her literary career with well-researched narratives of famous murder cases of the past, such as Elizabeth Is Missing (1945) about the notorious Elizabeth Canning Case; Villainy Detected (1947), an anthology of eighteenth-century crime; The Heir of Douglas (1952), a study of one of the greatest scandals of eighteenth-century England; and The Truth about Belle Gunness (1955), unveiling an American serial killer for modern readers Frank Gruber (Contributor) Frank Gruber (1904-1969) at the peak of his career, produced three or four full-length novels a year, numerous short stories, and screenplays, including such near classics as The Mask of Dimitrios, Terror by Night and, with Steve Fisher, Johnny Angel. He also wrote two dozen western novels C. Daly King (Contributor) C. Daly King (1895-1963) was an American psychologist and detective story writer. He was born in New York City and educated at Yale University. After fighting in World War I, he worked in textiles and in advertising before returning to school to study psychology, with a particular focus on sleep and consciousness. In the 1930s, King published nine books that quickly established him as a master of the Golden Age mystery, but ceased writing fiction with the advent of World War II. Ellery Queen (Contributor) Ellery Queen was a pen name created and shared by two cousins, Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905–1971), as well as the name of their most famous detective. Born in Brooklyn, they spent forty-two years writing the greatest puzzle-mysteries of their time, gaining the duo a reputation as the foremost American authors of the Golden Age “fair play” mystery. Eventually famous on television and radio, Queen’s first appearance came in 1928 when the cousins won a mystery-writing contest with the book that would eventually be published as The Roman Hat Mystery. Besides co-writing the Queen novels, Dannay founded Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential crime publications of all time. Although Dannay outlived his cousin by nine years, he retired the fictional Queen upon Lee’s death. Vincent Starrett (Contributor) Vincent Starrett (1886–1974) was a Chicago journalist who became one of the world’s foremost experts on Sherlock Holmes. A books columnist for the Chicago Tribune, he also wrote biographies of authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson and Ambrose Bierce, various books on books and book collecting, plus Sherlockian pastiches and numerous short stories and novels. A founding member of the Baker Street Irregulars, he is perhaps known best today for The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, an imaginative biography of the great detective. Carolyn Wells (Contributor) Carolyn Wells (1869-1942) wrote and edited one hundred seventy books, of which eighty-two are mysteries. As famous as she was for her mystery novels, sixty-one of which featured the scholarly, book-loving Fleming Stone, she was equally noted in her time for such anthologies as Nonsense Anthology (1902), considered a classic of its kind, and her Parody Anthology (1904), which remained in print for more than a half-century. Wells also wrote the first instructional manual in the detective fiction genre, The Technique of the Mystery Story (1913). Cornell Woolrich (Contributor) Cornell Woolrich (1903-68) was one of the most admired and influential of all 20th century American crime writers. His work inspired many films, including most famously Rear Window, The Leopard Man, Phantom Lady, The Bride Wore Black, Mississippi Mermaid and Union City. He led a strange and often very unhappy life, latterly as a recluse in a Manhattan hotel. Lassiter Wren (Contributor) Lassiter Wren (pseudonym of John T. Colter), with co-author Randle McKay, launched the concept of the “puzzle book”—in which the reader becomes the detective—into a Golden Age phenomenon with The Baffle Book in 1928. The Baffle Book became instantly popular and it was soon followed by The Second Baffle Book (1929) and The Third Baffle Book (1930). Little else is known about John T. Colter. Randle McKay (Contributor) Randle McKay (pseudonym of Richard Rowan), with co-author Lassiter Wren, launched the concept of the “puzzle book”—in which the reader becomes the detective—into a Golden Age phenomenon with The Baffle Book in 1928. The Baffle Book became instantly popular and it was soon followed by The Second Baffle Book (1929) and The Third Baffle Book (1930). Richard Rowan was educated at Brown and Columbia and served in the US Army Chemical Warfare Service during World War I. Apart from the Baffle books, he also published a number of nonfiction books about the history of espionage under his own name.

In this collection of Golden Age mysteries, crime strikes in the world of books... 
 
'If much of the action is set in a bookshop or a library, it is a bibliomystery, just as it is if a major character is a bookseller or a librarian' – Otto Penzler 
 
Of crime fiction's many sub-genres, none is as intriguing as the ‘bibliomystery’: stories that involve crimes set in the world of books. 
 
This volume collects the finest of such stories. From the murder of a bookseller and the disappearance of a local author, to a killer stalking the shelves of the New York Public Library, these vintage mysteries show the enjoyable and unexpected ways in which crime writers have used the literary world as their theme. 
 
Selected by Edgar-Award-winning anthologist Otto Penzler, this collection includes stories from household names such as Ellery Queen and Cornell Woolrich, as well as authors who are less well known today. These unforgettable mysteries are sure to entertain book lovers and crime fiction fans alike. 
 
'A real treat for bibliophiles' – Kirkus

Golden Age Locked Room Mysteries

Fourteen impossible mysteries from the masters of the Golden Age detective story. 
 
‘Lock your door and enjoy’ – Kirkus 
 
Locked-room mysteries have baffled and delighted readers for generations. They present the reader with a seemingly impossible crime – a body found inside a windowless room that’s been locked from the inside, for example – before revealing an ingenious and satisfying solution. 
 
This unique collection features fourteen of the most puzzling locked-room mysteries from some of the finest writers in the genre, including household names like John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen, and Cornell Woolrich. 
 
Selected by Edgar Award-winning anthologist Otto Penzler, this book takes the reader on an unforgettable journey into the Golden Age of mystery writing, promising hours of entertainment for armchair detectives young and old. 
 
‘Superb . . . This is a perfect introduction for those new to this particular subgenre’ – Publishers Weekly

Otto Penzler (Author) 
Otto Penzler owns The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and founded the Mysterious Press and Otto Penzler Books. He has written and edited several books, including the Edgar Award-winning Encyclopaedia of Mystery and Detection, and is the series editor of the annual Best American Mystery Stories of the Year. 
 
Anthony Boucher (Contributor) 
Anthony Boucher (1911-1968) was an American author, editor, and critic, perhaps best known today as the namesake of the annual Bouchercon convention, an international meeting of mystery writers, fans, critics, and publishers. Born William Anthony Parker White, he wrote under various pseudonyms and published fiction in a number of genres outside of mystery, including fantasy and science fiction. 
 
Fredric Brown (Contributor) 
Fredric Brown was a prolific writer of multiple genres, including mystery, sci-fi, poetry, and non-fiction, whose work has been championed by Stephen King, Philip K. Dick, Umberto Eco, and many more literary luminaries. In the mystery world, he is best remembered today for his long-running series of mysteries featuring Ed and Am Hunter, who made their first appearance in the Edgar Award winner, The Fabulous Clipjoint. 
 
John Dickson Carr (Contributor) 
John Dickson Carr (1906–1977) was one of the greatest writers of the American Golden Age mystery, and one of the only American authors to be included in England’s legendary Detection Club. Though he was born and died in the United States, Carr began his writing career while living in England, where he remained for nearly twenty years. Under his own name and various pseudonyms, he wrote more than seventy novels and numerous short stories, and is best known today for his locked-room mysteries. His beloved series character, Dr. Gideon Fell, was based on author G. K. Chesterton and appeared in twenty-four novels. 
 
Mignon G. Eberhart (Contributor) 
Mignon G. Eberhart (1899–1996) wrote dozens of mystery novels over nearly sixty years. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, she published her first novel, The Patient in Room 18, in 1929 and by the end of the 1930s she was one of the most popular mystery writers on the planet. Eight of her books—including Murder by an Aristocrat—were adapted for film; later in her career, she was awarded the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America for lifetime achievement. 
 
Erle Stanley Gardner (Contributor) 
Erle Stanley Gardner (1889–1970) was a prolific American author best known for his works centred on the lawyer-detective Perry Mason. At the time of his death in March of 1970, in Ventura, California, Gardner was “the most widely read of all American writers” and “the most widely translated author in the world,” according to social historian Russell Nye. The first Perry Mason novel, The Case of The Velvet Claws, published in 1933, had sold twenty-eight million copies in its first fifteen years. In the mid-1950s, the Perry Mason novels were selling at the rate of twenty thousand copies a day. There have been six motion pictures based on his work and the hugely popular Perry Mason television series starring Raymond Burr, which aired for nine years and 271 episodes. 
 
C. Daly King (Contributor) 
C. Daly King (1895-1963) was an American psychologist and detective story writer. He was born in New York City and educated at Yale University. After fighting in World War I, he worked in textiles and in advertising before returning to school to study psychology, with a particular focus on sleep and consciousness. In the 1930s, King published nine books that quickly established him as a master of the Golden Age mystery, but ceased writing fiction with the advent of World War II. 
 
Stuart Palmer (Contributor) 
Stuart Palmer (1905–1968) was an American author of mysteries. Born in Baraboo, Wisconsin, Palmer worked a number of odd jobs - including apple picking, journalism, and copywriting - before publishing his first novel, the crime drama Ace of Jades, in 1931. It was with his second novel, however, that he established his writing career: The Penguin Pool Murder introduced Hildegarde Withers, a schoolmarm who, on a field trip to the New York Aquarium, discovers a dead body in the pool. Withers was an immensely popular character, and went on to star in thirteen more novels, including Miss Withers Regrets (1947) and Nipped in the Bud (1951). A master of intricate plotting, Palmer found success writing for Hollywood, where several of his books, including The Penguin Pool Murder, were filmed by RKO Pictures Inc. 
 
Ellery Queen (Contributor) 
Ellery Queen was a pen name created and shared by two cousins, Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905–1971), as well as the name of their most famous detective. Born in Brooklyn, they spent forty-two years writing the greatest puzzle-mysteries of their time, gaining the duo a reputation as the foremost American authors of the Golden Age “fair play” mystery. Eventually famous on television and radio, Queen’s first appearance came in 1928 when the cousins won a mystery-writing contest with the book that would eventually be published as The Roman Hat Mystery. Besides co-writing the Queen novels, Dannay founded Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential crime publications of all time. Although Dannay outlived his cousin by nine years, he retired the fictional Queen upon Lee’s death. 
 
Clayton Rawson (Contributor) 
Clayton Rawson (1906–1971) was a novelist, editor, and magician. He is best known for creating the Great Merlini, an illusionist and amateur sleuth introduced in Death from a Top Hat (1938). Rawson followed the character through three more novels, concluding the series with No Coffin for the Corpse (1942). In 1941 and 1943 he published the short-story collections Death out of Thin Air and Death from Nowhere, starring Don Diavolo, an escape artist introduced in the Merlini series. 
 
Craig Rice (Contributor) 
Craig Rice (1908–1957), born Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig, was an American author of mystery novels and short stories. In 1946, she became the first mystery writer to appear on the cover of Time magazine. Best known for her character John J. Malone, a rumpled Chicago lawyer, Rice’s writing style was unique in its ability to mix gritty, hard-boiled writing with the entertainment of a screwball comedy. She also collaborated with mystery writer Stuart Palmer on screenplays and short stories, and ghost-wrote several titles published under the by-line of actor George Sanders. 
 
Cornell Woolrich (Contributor) 
Cornell Woolrich (1903-68) was one of the most admired and influential of all 20th century American crime writers. His work inspired many films, including most famously Rear Window, The Leopard Man, Phantom Lady, The Bride Wore Black, Mississippi Mermaid and Union City. He led a strange and often very unhappy life, latterly as a recluse in a Manhattan hotel.

Golden Age Detective Stories

'This new series makes available again, in some cases for the first time in nearly a century, the best crime fiction you've never heard of.' A J Finn 
 
In this collection of mysteries, the greatest detectives of the Golden Age investigate the most puzzling crimes of the era. 
 
The investigators in these stories are from all walks of life – retired magicians to schoolteachers, Broadway producers to nuns. Whether professional or amateur, these keen-eyed detectives must get to the bottom of the most baffling cases of their careers. 
 
Edgar Award-winning Otto Penzler has hand-picked some of the most illustrious writers of the classic detective story from the Golden Age of mystery fiction. With authors including Ellery Queen, Cornell Woolrich and Erle Stanley Gardner, this gripping collection is sure to delight and entertain mystery fans. 
 
Praise for Golden Age Detective Stories: 
 
‘In addition to well-known contributors, such as Ellery Queen and Erle Stanley Gardner, Penzler presents memorable tales from the lesser-known’ – Publishers Weekly 
 
‘Belongs on the shelf of any true mystery fan, and in the collection of every library’s mystery section’ – Booklist 
 
‘Exemplary’ – Kirkus

'This new series makes available again, in some cases for the first time in nearly a century, the best crime fiction you've never heard of'

It's a must for any fan of the detective genre to have a few of Otto Penzler's collections on your shelf, and this is a great addition. Open up, dive in and lose yourself for a while. An absolute delight.

An eclectic and wonderfully entertaining collection which proves that vintage American detective stories are just as diverse and ingenious as their British counterparts.

‘In addition to well-known contributors, such as Ellery Queen and Erle Stanley Gardner, Penzler presents memorable tales from the lesser-known’

‘Belongs on the shelf of any true mystery fan, and in the collection of every library’s mystery section.’

Otto Penzler (Author) 
Otto Penzler owns The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and founded the Mysterious Press and Otto Penzler Books. He has written and edited several books, including the Edgar Award-winning Encyclopaedia of Mystery and Detection, and is the series editor of the annual Best American Mystery Stories of the Year. 
 
Charlotte Armstrong (Contributor) 
Charlotte Armstrong (1905–1969) was an Edgar Award-winning American author of mystery short stories and novels. Born and raised in the mining region of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, she moved to New York and received a B.A. degree from Barnard in 1925. She had two plays produced on Broadway but neither was successful, so she turned to writing mystery fiction, beginning with Lay On, MacDuff (1942), the first of three detective novels featuring Professor MacDougal Duff. Several of her novels were adapted for film, including The Unsuspected, The Chocolate Cobweb, and Mischief. 
 
Anthony Boucher (Contributor) 
Anthony Boucher (1911-1968) was an American author, editor, and critic, perhaps best known today as the namesake of the annual Bouchercon convention, an international meeting of mystery writers, fans, critics, and publishers. Born William Anthony Parker White, he wrote under various pseudonyms and published fiction in a number of genres outside of mystery, including fantasy and science fiction. 
 
Mignon G. Eberhart (Contributor) 
Mignon G. Eberhart (1899–1996) wrote dozens of mystery novels over nearly sixty years. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, she published her first novel, The Patient in Room 18, in 1929 and by the end of the 1930s she was one of the most popular mystery writers on the planet. Eight of her books—including Murder by an Aristocrat—were adapted for film; later in her career, she was awarded the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America for lifetime achievement. 
 
Erle Stanley Gardner (Contributor) 
Erle Stanley Gardner (1889–1970) was a prolific American author best known for his works centred on the lawyer-detective Perry Mason. At the time of his death in March of 1970, in Ventura, California, Gardner was “the most widely read of all American writers” and “the most widely translated author in the world,” according to social historian Russell Nye. The first Perry Mason novel, The Case of The Velvet Claws, published in 1933, had sold twenty-eight million copies in its first fifteen years. In the mid-1950s, the Perry Mason novels were selling at the rate of twenty thousand copies a day. There have been six motion pictures based on his work and the hugely popular Perry Mason television series starring Raymond Burr, which aired for nine years and 271 episodes. 
 
H. F. Heard (Contributor) 
The English social historian and author of science and mystery fiction Henry Fitzgerald Heard (1889–1971) was born in London, studied at Cambridge University, then turned to writing essays and books on historical, scientific, religious, mystical, cultural, and social subjects, signing them Gerald Heard, the name under which all his non-fiction appeared. He moved to the United States in 1937, accompanied by his friend Aldous Huxley, and soon afterwards founded a college to teach meditation and other spiritual practices. Heard wrote three detective novels featuring the character Mr Mycroft: A Taste for Honey (1941), Reply Paid (1942), and The Notched Hairpin (1949). Among Heard’s other science fiction and mystery novels, perhaps his best-known work is the short story “The President of the U. S. A., Detective,” which won the first prize in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine’s contest in 1947. 
 
Baynard Kendrick (Contributor) 
Baynard Kendrick (1894–1977) was one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America, later named a Grand Master by the organization. After returning from military service in World War I, Kendrick wrote for pulp magazines such as Black Mask and Dime Detective under various pseudonyms before creating the Duncan Maclain character for which he is now known. The blind detective appeared in twelve novels, several short stories, and three films. 
 
Frances Lockridge (Contributor) 
Frances and Richard Lockridge were two of the most popular names in mystery during the forties and fifties. Inspired by Richard’s series of non-mystery stories for The New Yorker about a publisher and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. North, the Lockridge husband-and-wife duo collaborated successfully to write twenty-six mystery novels about the couple, which, in turn, became the subject of a Broadway play, a movie (starring Gracie Allen), and series for both radio and television. After Frances’s death in 1963, Richard discontinued the Mr. and Mrs. North series but continued to write until his own death in 1982. 
 
Richard Lockridge (Contributor) 
Frances and Richard Lockridge were two of the most popular names in mystery during the forties and fifties. Inspired by Richard’s series of non-mystery stories for The New Yorker about a publisher and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. North, the Lockridge husband-and-wife duo collaborated successfully to write twenty-six mystery novels about the couple, which, in turn, became the subject of a Broadway play, a movie (starring Gracie Allen), and series for both radio and television. After Frances’s death in 1963, Richard discontinued the Mr. and Mrs. North series but continued to write until his own death in 1982. 
 
Stuart Palmer (Contributor) 
Stuart Palmer (1905–1968) was an American author of mysteries. Born in Baraboo, Wisconsin, Palmer worked a number of odd jobs - including apple picking, journalism, and copywriting - before publishing his first novel, the crime drama Ace of Jades, in 1931. It was with his second novel, however, that he established his writing career: The Penguin Pool Murder introduced Hildegarde Withers, a schoolmarm who, on a field trip to the New York Aquarium, discovers a dead body in the pool. Withers was an immensely popular character, and went on to star in thirteen more novels, including Miss Withers Regrets (1947) and Nipped in the Bud (1951). A master of intricate plotting, Palmer found success writing for Hollywood, where several of his books, including The Penguin Pool Murder, were filmed by RKO Pictures Inc. 
 
Ellery Queen (Contributor) 
Ellery Queen was a pen name created and shared by two cousins, Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred B. Lee (1905–1971), as well as the name of their most famous detective. Born in Brooklyn, they spent forty-two years writing the greatest puzzle-mysteries of their time, gaining the duo a reputation as the foremost American authors of the Golden Age “fair play” mystery. Eventually famous on television and radio, Queen’s first appearance came in 1928 when the cousins won a mystery-writing contest with the book that would eventually be published as The Roman Hat Mystery. Besides co-writing the Queen novels, Dannay founded Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential crime publications of all time. Although Dannay outlived his cousin by nine years, he retired the fictional Queen upon Lee’s death. 
 
Patrick Quentin (Contributor) 
Patrick Quentin is one of the pseudonyms of Hugh Callingham Wheeler (1912–1987), who collaborated with several other authors on the books written as by Q. Patrick and Jonathan Stagge. Wheeler was born in London but moved to the United States in 1934 and became a U.S. citizen, as did one of his writing partners, Richard Wilson Webb; he also collaborated with Martha (Patsy) Mott Kelly. After producing more than 30 mystery novels, Wheeler gravitated to the stage and wrote the book for A Little Night Music, Candide, and Sweeney Todd, all of which earned him Tony awards. Two Peter Duluth novels inspired films: Homicide for Three (1948) and Black Widow (1954), which starred Van Heflin, Gene Tierney, Ginger Rogers and George Raft. 
 
Clayton Rawson (Contributor) 
Clayton Rawson (1906–1971) was a novelist, editor, and magician. He is best known for creating the Great Merlini, an illusionist and amateur sleuth introduced in Death from a Top Hat (1938). Rawson followed the character through three more novels, concluding the series with No Coffin for the Corpse (1942). In 1941 and 1943 he published the short-story collections Death out of Thin Air and Death from Nowhere, starring Don Diavolo, an escape artist introduced in the Merlini series. 
 
Craig Rice (Contributor) 
Craig Rice (1908–1957), born Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig, was an American author of mystery novels and short stories. In 1946, she became the first mystery writer to appear on the cover of Time magazine. Best known for her character John J. Malone, a rumpled Chicago lawyer, Rice’s writing style was unique in its ability to mix gritty, hard-boiled writing with the entertainment of a screwball comedy. She also collaborated with mystery writer Stuart Palmer on screenplays and short stories, and ghost-wrote several titles published under the by-line of actor George Sanders. 
 
Mary Roberts Rinehart (Contributor) 
Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876–1958) was the most beloved and best-selling mystery writer in America in the first half of the twentieth century. Born in Pittsburgh to the owner of a sewing machine factory, she wrote fiction in her spare time until a stock market crash sent her and her husband into debt, forcing her to lean on her writing to pay the bills. Her first two novels, The Circular Staircase (1908) and The Man in Lower Ten (1909), established her as a bright young talent, and it wasn’t long before she was a regular on bestseller lists. Among her dozens of novels were The Amazing Adventures of Letitia Carberry (1911) and The Bat (1932), which was among the inspirations for Bob Kane’s Batman. Today, Rinehart is often called an American Agatha Christie, even though she was much more popular than Christie during her heyday. 
 
Cornell Woolrich (Contributor) 
Cornell Woolrich (1903-68) was one of the most admired and influential of all 20th century American crime writers. His work inspired many films, including most famously Rear Window, The Leopard Man, Phantom Lady, The Bride Wore Black, Mississippi Mermaid and Union City. He led a strange and often very unhappy life, latterly as a recluse in a Manhattan hotel.

'This new series makes available again, in some cases for the first time in nearly a century, the best crime fiction you've never heard of.' A J Finn 
 
In this collection of mysteries, the greatest detectives of the Golden Age investigate the most puzzling crimes of the era. 
 
The investigators in these stories are from all walks of life – retired magicians to schoolteachers, Broadway producers to nuns. Whether professional or amateur, these keen-eyed detectives must get to the bottom of the most baffling cases of their careers. 
 
Edgar Award-winning Otto Penzler has hand-picked some of the most illustrious writers of the classic detective story from the Golden Age of mystery fiction. With authors including Ellery Queen, Cornell Woolrich and Erle Stanley Gardner, this gripping collection is sure to delight and entertain mystery fans. 
 
Praise for Golden Age Detective Stories: 
 
‘In addition to well-known contributors, such as Ellery Queen and Erle Stanley Gardner, Penzler presents memorable tales from the lesser-known’ – Publishers Weekly 
 
‘Belongs on the shelf of any true mystery fan, and in the collection of every library’s mystery section’ – Booklist 
 
‘Exemplary’ – Kirkus

Dangerous Women

Original stories from today's greatest suspense writers, including Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin, Elmore Leonard and many more

I'm not usually given to superlatives, but Dangerous Women may be the best, most varied, and colorful mystery anthology of all time

Otto Penzler knows more about crime fiction than most people know about anything, and proves it once more in this brilliant anthology

Wow, what memorable dames! What terrific short stories! Dangerous Women is a winning collection

It's a joy to watch these talented authors embrace the short story form and produce magic

Otto Penzler owns The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and founded the Mysterious Press and Otto Penzler Books. He has written and edited several books, including the Edgar Award-winning Encyclopaedia of Mystery and Detection, and is the series editor of the annual Best American Mystery Stories of the Year.

Prepare to meet the most seductively female and the most shockingly fatal of femme fatales, brought to you by seventeen of today's finest authors of mystery and suspense fiction. Award-winning editor Otto Penzler presents a collection of short and sizzling masterpieces of kisses and kiss-offs, gams and gats. Tale after thrilling tale, they'll prove to you just how sexy and not so gentle the 'gentler sex' can be. 
 
In 'Third Party', Jay McInerney takes you on a wild ride through the Paris night with a party girl built for speed and sin... 'Rendezvous', Nelson DeMille's first short story in twenty-five years, plunges you into a Vietnam jungle where the bloodiest scourge of this man's army is no man at all... back in the USA of 'Louly and Pretty Boy', Elmore Leonard introduces a Depression-era teenage gun moll who loves Pretty Boy Floyd more than she likes knocking off filling stations... a very smart blonde takes her shot in Lorenzo Carcaterra's 'A Thousand Miles from Nowhere', a study in slow-simmered vengeance... and Michael Connelly's colourful and ironic 'Cielo Azul' shows how a nameless woman left dead on a Los Angeles hillside can be the most lethal prey of all. 
 
In other riveting tales, a scorned lover claims an old fling's heart, a little too literally... a lady of mystery offers a suicide pact you almost can't refuse... and a she-demon rises from the grave in a bid to rule the earth... These and a bevy of other very bad girls cast their criminal spells through the powerful voices of Joyce Carol Oates, John Connolly, Thomas H. Cook, Jeffrey Deaver, J.A. Jance, Andrew Klavan, Laura Lippman, Ed McBain, Walter Mosely, Anne Perry, Ian Rankin and S.J. Rozan in stories as irresistible as the anti-heroines that blaze through their pages.

Otto Penzler

Each tale's brevity makes it easy to dip into and out of the collection, and the mix of big names . . . with lesser-knowns offers a spirited survey of contemporary crime fiction.

The stories are all refreshingly good-natured and, in the spirit of the season, lean toward peace on earth and good will to most. A must for every mystery lover's wish list.

This collection is stellar, and each story does a fine job of highlighting both the store and the Yuletide season.

With crimes ranging from theft to death, these stories' plots will have you second-guessing everything, but throughout all of them, the cozy bookshop remains a reliable (if occasionally murder-rific) setting.

The variety of plot agendas represented (from revenge to redemption) should guarantee something to please every reader this holiday season.

If you like books, bookstores, and booksellers, you'll love this miscellany of seasonal hijinks that highlights different storytellers, styles, and subgenres. It's also an ideal stocking stuffer for the bibliophile in your life.

Mystery fans will find some of their favorite writers up to holiday no-good in Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop. . . Even if you just pay attention to the conversations between characters, there are so many recommendations of excellent mysteries you may have missed that Christmas Crimes sometimes feels like a book club and gift guide all in one.

Twelve festive crime stories set in New York City’s beloved mystery bookstore. 
 
The oldest mystery bookstore in the world, The Mysterious Bookshop, has for most of its forty-five-year history commissioned an original short story as a holiday gift for its customers. 
 
The prompt for each story requires three elements: that it be set at Christmastime, that it involve a mystery, and that it takes place at least partially inside the Mysterious Bookshop. 
 
The dozen tales included in this volume – by celebrated crime fiction authors, such as Laura Lippman, Ragnar Jonasson, and Jeffery Deaver – are among the finest to be produced in this annual tradition, sure to charm any reader looking for a Christmas escape. 
 
‘A must for every mystery lover’s wish list’ Kirkus 
 
‘Something to please every reader this holiday season’ Wall Street Journal

Otto Penzler

Books by Otto Penzler

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12 Christmas murder mystery books to get you feeling festive

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