A New Year

We spent the Christmas holiday in Palm Springs, as we wanted a change of scene – and that it was. Very unusual to see cactus and palm trees decorated, but we soon settled in and enjoyed the warmer weather.

We stayed at the iconic Palm Springs Tennis Club which is where Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and gang hung out to play tennis and drink by the pool.

I did some reading in the beautiful lobby.

Husband played a bit of tennis in between rain showers

We also got in a little pool time.

The room came with the Turner Classic channel which we don’t get at home. It rained several evenings, so we happily watched some great old holiday films — in between I read this great reissue by the British Library Crime series and Poisoned Pen Press.

This is a collection of mysteries from the Golden Age of mysteries. The anthology contains short stories from both well-known authors such as Cyril Hare and Carter Dickson. But there are also some largely unknown authors

Martin Edwards, who is a regular editor in the British Library series, gives a informative overview of the author at the beginning of each story and tells us how they fit into this age of crime writing.

This collection, as the title says, are written with a Christmas theme and the stories do not disappoint. Here’s just a few in the collection:

Blind Man’s Hood: Carter Dickson (1937)- an eerie and chilling tale in the Christmas tradition of Dickens. Wonderful storytelling and a very enjoyable read.

Twixt the Cup and the Lip: Julian Symons (1965)- an extremely good tale of a perfectly-planned jewel robbery in a London department store, just before Christmas.

A Christmas Tragedy: Baroness Orczy (1909)- an investigation, by Lady Molly, of a country house murder on Christmas Morning, narrated by her maid. An interesting tale, including a wronged suitor and a callous young woman. Our Lady uses psychology to reveal the perpetrator.

I’ve collected quite a few in this Christmas themed series and I am not ashamed to admit it’s largely due to the covers – aren’t they great? I just lay them all out during the holidays — picking and choosing my reading at random.