Christmas Reading

Here we are, gifts wrapped, cookies made, baked goods delivered and now it’s time to kick back and read. It’s also time to share some of the books I’ve selected and stacked up to read this next week.

Is it possible to fall in love with a bookstore? Well, I certainty did – I fell hard for the Mysterious Bookshop in New York City – claims to be the oldest mystery specialty bookstore in the world. Just look – sigh…

A few weeks ago, (perhaps, again, under the influence) I ordered the bookshop’s exclusive and newest Christmas crimes collection directly from the store and signed by the owner. The little volume arrived the other day (below left) and I am not disappointed. Then I had to dig out my older collection from 2011 (out of print, but found in a used bookstore out here)

Both books contain a collection of crime stories gathered from a wonderful tradition at the Mysterious Bookshop. For most of its forty-five-year history Otto Penzler, the owner, has commissioned an original short story as a holiday gift for its customers. These tales are written exclusively for the store, never published elsewhere, and were given as a holiday booklet to its customers as a thank you for their business — handed out or mailed between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. These booklets are rare and hard to find – click to make bigger.

Mr. Penzler’s requirements for these stories were based on three elements: that it be set at Christmastime, that it involve a crime of some kind, or the suspicion of one, and that it be set at least partially in the Mysterious Bookshop.

Many famous authors happily complied, including such notables as Jeffery Deaver, Laura Lippman, Lawrence Block, Ed McBain, and Donald E. Westlake – just to name a few.

I’ve already dipped in, and tales are as diverse as the authors. Perfect cozy crime reads for the holiday season.

And while I’m in a Christmas crime mood, here are two more I put on my stack to read this year. Both dug out from my stash of Christmas books — you see, I can’t get rid of them as the covers are so fun – wish you could see the sparkly cover on the Val McDermid book.