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The Mistletoe Murder

Name: The Mistletoe Murder
Price: 4.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: P. D. James
ISBN: 9780451494153

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Published on Oct 25, 2016 | 176 Pages

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Published on Oct 25, 2016 | 176 Pages

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Throughout her illustrious career as the Queen of Crime, P. D. James was frequently commissioned by newspapers and magazines to write a special short story for Christmas. Four of the best are collected here.

“Mystery lovers are in for a very merry time. . . . Will entertain and delight.” —USA Today

Each of these stories is as playful as it is ingeniously plotted, the author’s sly humor as evident as her hallmark narrative elegance and shrewd understanding of some of the most complex–not to say the most damning–aspects of human nature. In “The Twelve Clues of Christmas,” James’s iconic Scotland Yard detective Adam Dalgliesh is drawn into a case that is, in his own words, “pure Agatha Christie.” In “A Very Commonplace Murder,” a respectable clerk’s secret taste for pornography is only the first reason he finds for not coming forward as a witness to a terrible crime. “The Boxdale Inheritance” finds Dalgliesh’s godfather imploring him to reinvestigate a notorious murder that might ease the godfather’s mind about an inheritance–but which will reveal a truth that even the supremely upstanding Dalgliesh will keep to himself. And, in the title story, a bestselling crime novelist describes the crime she herself was involved in fifty years earlier. A treat for P. D. James’s legions of fans and anyone who enjoys the pleasures of a masterfuly wrought whodunit.

“Mystery lovers are in for a very merry time. . . . All four tales will entertain and delight.” —USA Today

“Deft. . . . Entertaining. . . . A welcome belated present from P.D. James.” —The Wall Street Journal

“A great mystery writer. . . . Among the many pleasures of reading James is her evocative style.” —The Washington Post

“Delectable. . . . Will keep you guessing, and entertained, until the last page.” —People

“A Christmas present to be treasured. . . . Rekindles the pleasure of experiencing [James’s] imagination, her intellect and her integrity.” —Richmond Times-Dispatch

“These hitherto unpublished stories grant us the boon of fresh material from a modern master. . . . Her intelligence and erudition shine forth on every page.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Criminally good. . . . [A] stocking-sized beauty of a book. . . . Short, sweet, wry, smart and darkly funny.” —The Post and Courier

“Ingenious plotting, sly humor, pitch perfect settings, and plenty of atmosphere.” —The American Spectator

“There are overtones of Agatha Christie, albeit with a more modern sensibility; the perfect prose you have come to anticipate and admire; and red herrings and twists galore. . . . And the focal point of the book . . . is a classic variation on the locked-room mystery with a slick last-possible-moment twist that surprised and tickled even this jaded reader..” —Bruce Tierney, BookPage

“A marvelous holiday present for anyone who loves to read and enjoys a twist at the end of a story.” —The New York Journal of Books

“Evokes mystery’s Golden Age. . . . These short tales feature James’s clever plotting and witty narration with gratifying conclusions. A perfect stocking stuffer for James’s many readers.” —Library Journal

“Precisely, exquisitely done.” —BookReporter

“The four previously uncollected mysteries in this collection show that James was just as adept at the short form as she was at novel length; they efficiently introduce characters and create atmosphere, while posing fair challenges to readers eager to match wits with her.” —Publishers Weekly

Author

P. D. James

P. D. JAMES (1920-2014) published nineteen novels, two works of non-fiction, a memoir, and many distinguished essays. Most of her novels have been broadcast on television, and The Children of Men was the basis for an award-winning film. From 1949 to 1968 she worked in the National Health Service and subsequently in the Home Office, first in the Police Department and later in the Criminal Policy Department. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Arts. Her commitment to public service included serving as a Governor of the BBC, on the Board of the British Council, and as a magistrate in Middlesex and London. She was an Honorary Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, and was elected President of the Society of Authors. She received honorary degrees from seven British universities, was awarded an OBE in 1983, and was created a life peer in 1991 as Baroness James of Holland Park.

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The Mistletoe Murder

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By P. D. James