Murder by Candlelight - selected by Cecily Gayford

Why yes, I did actually buckle down and finally finishing a pile of half read books this weekend, and I'm continuing the good work into the week - it's a nice feeling to see the pile by my bed diminish to slightly more manageable proportions. 

I bought Murder by Candlelight, this year's Christmas crime collection from Profile in the Carlisle Waterstones when I had an hour to spare between my bus south from the Birders and the train further south. I don't know Carlisle at all well, but it's a good sort of place to have a bit of time between trains - the town centre is an easy walk, even with luggage, in pursuit of a hot coffee, decent sandwich, and emergency reading. This book turned out to be inspired choice for the journey.

There are three train stories in it and they all take place on the line that runs from Carlisle to Birmingham. I started reading with the Dorothy L. Sayers story as I left Carlisle to find that the characters were also on a train leaving Carlisle (they got off at Rugby, I only went as far as Birmingham). It's a better story than a lot of Sayers shorts I've read. By chance as I changed trains at New Street I picked Cyril Hare's It Takes Two - the denouement takes place in New Street. Further investigation revealed Freeman Wills Crofts The Mystery of the Sleeping-Car Express where bad things happen near Preston. The worst thing that has ever happened to me at Preston was a rail replacement bus service pre-lockdown. 

Fortunately, this last set of train journeys was entirely trouble free, everything ran on time, there was no problem getting seats and I had lots of reading time to enjoy a few murders in. Murder by Candlelight is the strongest collection I've read from Profile. there isn't a dud in it, and Cyril Hare's It Takes Two was a particular gem. Simon Brett's 'How's Your Mother' is another one - it runs close to humour until just before the end when it veers into something altogether more unsettling. I think it's from 1985s 'A Box of Tricks', and owes a good bit to Physcho. 

A really satisfactory collection of mysteries and an excellent stocking filler of a book.