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Short stories 331-340

On with December:
  • “Cold and Deep” by Frances Fyfield. About getting away with murder on Christmas.

The next 12 stories come from Mystery for Christmas, a collection of Christmas crime stories originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

  • “The Christmas Bear” by Herbert Resnicow. About a missing toy and the grandmother who solved the mystery of its disappearance.
  • “Christmas Cop” by Thomas Adcock. An undercover cop meets with a moral dilemma on Christmas.
  • “Dead on Christmas Street” by John D. MacDonald. It looked like the mob did it, but did they really? Recommended.
  • “I Saw Mommy Killing Santa Claus” by George Baxt. What the title says.
  • “Kelso’s Christmas” by Malcolm McClintick. A second murdered Santa. Recommended.
  • “The Marley Case” by Linda Haldeman. A modern Scrooge starts to wonder how Jacob Marley died and gets an unexpected visit.
  • “Mystery for Christmas” by Anthony Boucher. A film studio script doctor helps the police with their enquiries.
  • “On Christmas Day in the Morning” by Margery Allingham. About how a little more in-depth questioning can clear up a mystery. Recommended.
  • “The Plot Against Santa Claus” by James Powell. Fantasy piece about a plot to kill Santa.
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