Review: Miss Winter In The Library With A Knife by Martin Edwards

Synopsis: Six down-on-their-luck people with links to the world of crime writing have been invited to play a game this Christmas by the mysterious Midwinter Trust. The challenge seems simple but ......

Solve the murder of a fictional crime writer in a remote but wonderfully atmospheric village in north Yorkshire to win a prize that will change your fortunes for good.

Six members of staff from the shadowy Trust are there to make sure everyone plays fair. The contestants have been meticulously vetted but you can never be too careful. And with the village about to be cut off by a snow storm, everyone needs to be extra vigilant. Midwinter can play tricks on people's minds…

The game is set – but playing fair isn't on everyone's Christmas list.

~ ~ ~

"... the skill lies in diverting attention from what really matters, seducing the players with red herrings ..."

The narrative is in the form of journals, letters, tourist-like pamphlets, maps, floor-plans where the challenge to solve the mystery is between both reader and characters. If the reader is stuck, Martin provides a "clue finder" at the back of the book. It will remind some readers of the classic interactive crime books and of more recent versions such as "Cluedle" or "Murdle".

For me, this really needs to be visual - I think you need to see how things play out - a bit like the movie "Clue". I wasn't really a fan of this one nor its set up. The story line was great, the characters fine, the setting suitable, but ... I don't know ... the delivery just wasn't there for me. I felt like I needed to be watching rather than reading, if that makes sense.

Give it a go as Martin is the supreme classic crime novelist - and his curated anthologies are exceptional.

Review: Vintage Crime edited by Martin Edwards

Synopsis: Vintage Crimes will be a CWA anthology with a difference, celebrating members' work over the years. The book will gather stories from the mid-1950s until the twenty-first century by great names of the past, great names of the present together with a few hidden treasures by less familiar writers. The first CWA anthology, Butcher's Dozen, appeared in 1956, and was co-edited by Julian Symons, Michael Gilbert, and Josephine Bell. The anthology has been edited by Martin Edwards since 1996, and has yielded many award-winning and nominated stories in the UK and overseas.

A nice mixed bag of stories - not overly long - from some well-known and not so well-known names in crime fiction. We have stories covering practical jokes gone awry, sleepwalking, dreams, espionage, love and betrayal, greed and jealousy, accidental death and out-and-out murder. Quite a few have that twist at the end that readers will enjoy, and not all our protagonists are deserving of our empathy. With some distinctive noirish tones, I enjoyed all twenty-two stories, and appreciated the mini author biographies at the end. Martin Edwards does it again - collating a diverse range of tales for this murderous anthology.