When Eggnog Alone Is Not Enough

Here’s the set-up: you’re home for the holidays and have been trapped in the house with a lot of relatives for the last 24 hours ... though it seems like three weeks.

The snow has been coming down in scattered blasts and it’s cold enough that you don’t feel like venturing outside, but your great-aunt Justina has been talking your ear off about things you figure are mostly best left unsaid. (“Well, when your uncle Bertram approached things in that way, you could see he was a lot of man.”) You just want to escape to your room and read for a while.

There’s a problem though: the holidays have you hungering for reading material that is seasonally adjusted. But you don’t even know where to start. Saddened, you pour an extra finger of rum into your eggnog and settle back down next to Aunt J., praying she doesn’t now start on stories involving your folks, the old days, and any backseats. At all.

But wait! Back that up. In Reference to Murder’s B.V. Lawson has offered up not only a listing of classic crime-fiction-connected works containing elements of “Christmas mayhem,” but also links to places where other seasonal lists can be found.

The books listed--complete with mini-reviews--include Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot’s Christmas from 1938, Dashiell Hammett’s memorable The Thin Man from 1934, and Ellis Peters’ Raven in the Foregate from 1986.

What’s most astonishing here is the list of brand-new Christmas-themed mysteries. Including anthologies, In Reference to Murder lists 11 from 2007 alone, with new holiday offerings by M.C. Beaton (Kissing Christmas Goodbye), Emily Brightwell (Mrs. Jeffries and Feast of St. Stephen), Jennifer Colt (The Con Artist of Catalina Island), Con Lehane (Death at the Old Hotel), Louise Penny (A Fatal Grace), Anne Perry (A Christmas Beginning), and Deanna Raybourn (Silent in the Sanctuary).

If none of these suits your fancy (or seems enough to banish all thought of Aunt Justina’s stories) don’t despair: this list is only the very tip of the holiday icicle. “I couldn’t possibly include a complete list of Christmas-themed novels ...,” Lawson quips, “because it’s almost enough to fill a book itself.”

In Reference to Murder can be found here.