Review: The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories

Title: The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories
Author: P.D. James

This edition published: 2017
First published: 1969, 1979, 1995, 1996
Publisher: Faber & Faber

Following on from Agatha Christie, this review is of a prolific crime writer from the next generation: P.D James. I picked up The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories at Paddington Station on a rare occasion when I wasn’t doing a 100-metre dash for a train. I had heard nothing but praise for the ‘Queen of Crime’ and fancied a few short stories to ease myself into the festive spirit.

The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories
looking festive.

The first story in the book, ‘The Mistletoe Murder’, was astonishing. While it was published near the end of P.D. James’s long career as a crime writer, it actually takes you right back to the beginning. This is the true story of the murder that happened under the author’s nose one Christmas. She told hundreds of other stories before revealing this one to the world. You can’t help but wonder whether, for years, she was just searching for the right words.

It sounds like a cliché, but it turns out that England used to be like this: a young war widow is invited to her grandmother’s country house for Christmas along with two distant cousins. Young P.D. James didn’t know any of these relatives very well, but she hadn’t exactly been overwhelmed with other invitations. You’ll have to read it to find out which of her relatives committed the murderous act...

Another of the stories, ‘The Twelve Clues of Christmas’ (I must admit, I think titling has come a long way since then), follows a similar plotline. It’s interesting to draw parallels with the first story: a well-to-do family gather in an isolated country house at Christmas and one of them gets their comeuppance. Was this one written as practice until the time the author could finally reveal her own story?

These tales were all written and set a while ago now, but they are great reads with a touch of class. Houses and habits and haircuts may have changed, but the human emotions and motivations explored here are universal, so I’m sure people will still be reading these in years to come. They aren’t gruesome or sensationalist stories full of guts and horror, they instead get under the skin of what causes apparently ordinary people to decide that another person’s life is their's for the taking. The characters here are the everyday people who blend into the background, carrying heavy secrets with them until the end of their own lives. It’s fascinating stuff.

The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories would be a great stocking-filler, and the perfect read during the mid-afternoon slump on Christmas Day when everyone is either nodding off or walking the dogs… as long as you aren’t in an isolated country house surrounded by bitter relatives with access to the turkey knife, that is…

Review: Murder on the Orient Express (film)

Name: Murder on the Orient Express
Based on: The novel by Agatha Christie
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Pfeiffer, Johnny Depp, Judi Dench
Released: 2017

Murder on the Orient Express is the perfect cinematic spectacle to catch as we dive headlong into winter. Weather-wise, its full of snow. I was one of the few people (it seems) who didn't know the ending before watching the film, which I think made it more enjoyable.



This poster was created specially for
the film by New York illustrator
Johnny Dombrowski. See Inside
The Rock Poster Frame blog
to get your hands on one. 

Hercule Poirot (Branagh) is looking forward to a long overdue holiday when he is compelled to take on a murder case in London. Thankfully, he meets his old friend Bouc in Istanbul, who makes room for the famous Poirot on his train – the luxurious Orient Express where guests travel across Europe in style.

So twelve strangers gather aboard the train for the three-day journey. All they have in common is their ability to afford the expensive ticket. The motley crew – including a shady art dealer, a violent dancer, a rude princess and an American woman in search of husband number three – are thrown into disarray when one of them is killed in the sanctity of their train cabin. They're all suspects and the murderer could, of course, strike again.

Murder on the Orient Express is a classic story that has been continuously retold. And for good reason. It includes money and a love affair, as my Welsh friend put it, but more than that, it takes a long, hard look at the wide moral gap between right and wrong, and the ways in which the human soul can fracture.

In my opinion, as well as being a snowy spectacle, Murder on
the Orient Express is good old-fashioned entertainment, with great performances from some of Hollywood's finest. The film took a little while to get going, but then it moved at quite a pace – unlike the train they were stranded on. (Sorry.) I enjoyed figuring out whodunit, and now would like to forget the whole thing entirely so that I can pick up the book in a few years' time and experience it afresh as Agatha would have wanted.