Murder under the Christmas Tree: Ten Classic Crime Stories for the Festive Season

At Christmas… therefore he, he firmly retired to his country house in Essex, called in the servants to hang holly and mistletoe upon the Cubist electric fittings; loaded the steel sideboard with delicacies from Fortnum & Mason, hung up stockings at the heads of the polished walnut bedsteads; and even, on this occasion only, had the electric radiators removed from the modernist grates and installed wood fires and a Yule log.

Murder most festive...

A locked room mystery solved with a flourish on Boxing Day. Blackmail on Christmas Eve. A missing jewel discovered in a very festive hiding place. A body slumped in a chair on Christmas morning, still listening to carols. The midnight theft of a gift intended for a saint.

Crime doesn't take a holiday, so these - and many more - are the puzzles that make up Murder under the Christmas Tree, a collection of festive mysteries featuring fictional sleuths from Lord Peter Wimsey to Sherlock Holmes, Cadfael to Father Brown.

This is the very best of Christmas murder and mayhem - so settle into your armchair, put another log on the fire and take a bite of your mince pie.

Just make sure it's not poisoned...