A Surprise for Christmas & Other Seasonal Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards

This was such a delightful collection of short stories - in the mystery/detective genre but going back a few decades so the pace was slower, more quiet deduction and plodding rather than hi tech solutions. It also showed in a number of cases the cleverness of the detectives who spotted human errors and were thus able very quickly, very smoothly to solve the crime. All the stories set during Christmas, it brought a small degree of Christmas spirit to me personally. What with a extended lockdown, curfews, horrendous number of Covid cases and deaths, the inability to get to a church has left many of us feeling slightly isolated and as time went on depressed. I could not wrap my head around the fact that Christmas seems around the corner. This book of stories took me out of it for a bit, made me relive Christmas's past. The stories were all very well written, with central characters and slick side characters, also very descriptive of settings as well. Would be enjoyed by those readers who like a slightly older vintage of the mystery genre. Sent by Poisoned Pen Press for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.