So many Christmas-themed mystery novels are ‘cozies’ to one degree or another. No surprise, since starry nights, blankets of snow, roaring fires and evergreen bedecked rooms are all pretty…well, cozy. Seriously, kitty-cats, caterers, country cottages all fit in with the spirit of the season a little better than dark urban alleys, sleazy cocktail lounges and drug dens. Still, there’ve been — and continue to be — a lot of holiday themed novels and stories that sidestep the overly cute.
Paul French offers up a group of Christmas themed novels and short fiction for our consideration in his 12.9.19 Crime Reads article “The Crime Novels Of Christmas – A Merry Rundown Of Crime Fiction Set During The Holidays”, which lists writers as diverse as James Ellroy, Lee Child and George Pelecanos to Anne Perry, Tasha Alexander and W. Somerset Maugham. Now I can’t imagine Ellroy’s Perfidia making anyone feel all warm ‘n cozy, much less brimming with good will towards their fellow man, but the fun of Christmas themed mystery and crime fiction is the contrast of all the murder and mayhem with the merry time of year. Follow the link to French’s Crime Reads article and see if you don’t want to book a little non-wrapping/caroling/shopping/baking time beside the tree for some serious reading.
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