Murder is best served ... ice cold

ONE OF THE TIMES BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 'Perfect for a quick fix of golden-age crime.. well worth reading by candlelight before turning in on Christmas Eve...' - JANICE HALLETT, THE SUNDAY TIMES It's only the afternoon, but dusk is already falling and a log fire burning in the grate. Outside, frost coats the tree branches and snow sparkles on the ground. And somewhere in the darkness, a murderer is making plans ... Here are ten classic crime stories for the winter months, from the greatest minds of the mystery genre. So bundle up, grab a glass of mulled wine, and get ready to be puzzled, astonished and entertained by these festive stories of murder and mayhem.

"Perfect for a quick fix of golden-age crime ... this collection of short winter chills is well worth reading by candlelight before turning in on Christmas Eve" - The Sunday Times

"An excellent collection of short stories by ten top-class writers" - Times Books of the Year

"An impressive tome by some great names ... there isn't actually a bum note in the entire collection, not a single one you could skip through and not miss it - which is quite some feat. To paraphrase Nick Cook's famous Crimewatch sign off, just don't have nightmares after reading it." - On Magazine

"Praise for the Murder at Christmas series" - :

"Has everything you might want from a Sherlock Holmes story ... the moment you read of the 'tall, gaunt figure pacing up and down the platform at Paddington Station', you are hooked'" - Mail on Sunday

"Offers excellent value as the roll call of authors included is really very impressive indeed." - Shotsmag

"Praise for Cecily Gayford" - :

"With Cecily Gayford in charge, we are on safe ground. Each of her top-notch writers ... brings a distinctive and imaginative edge to Christmas crime" - Daily Mail

"Not enough time to read a whole Christmas novel? Short stories are perfect for a quick fix of golden-age crime. This collection of short winter chills boasts tales from GK Chesterton, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy L Sayers and more. Outstanding is The Chopham Affair by Edgar Wallace, in which a smooth-talking conman finally picks the wrong mark. In The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel by LT Meade and Robert Eustace, our narrator investigates the mysterious deaths of two signalmen on a remote section of the mountainous Welsh railway. But for shivers down the spine, the opener Haunted House by Gladys Mitchell is well worth reading by candlelight before turning in on Christmas Eve..." - The Sunday Times