An enjoyable quick read, it's just 182 pages, the stories all work, some better than others, of course. This collection of short winter chills boasts tales from GK Chesterton, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy L Sayers and more. Several of these stories have been published in various other anthologies and I had certainly read some of them before. These are mainly set in the last century but I love the old fashioned settings, the way people spoke, the simplicity of life and the hardship of it before the health service, before the welfare state.

Well I just inhale short stories at Christmas, there is just something about cold winter nights, curled up in front of the fire, solving murders from the sofa! Perfect to dip in and out of between other festivities and I am building my collection of this joyous series! All of these classic stories have their merit, but I think the seasonal theme is sometimes stretched a little too far, with one of the stories set in late October – cold though the featured lonely signal box no doubt is! The sub-title "Ten Classic Crime Stories" gives it away that Cecily Gayford put these stories together.Outstanding is The Chopham Affair by Edgar Wallace, in which a smooth-talking conman finally picks the wrong mark. This is one of the shortest of these short stories (some are actually far too long-winded) and it's one where a thick blanket of snow is crucial to the solution of a murder mystery. A quick and easy read - while some were interesting most we pretty mediocre, no real twists or turns, they seemed to get more lame as the book went on - the best stories being at the front of the book. Loved the plots and characters, such of which would not look out of place on a television adaptation now.

T. Meade and Robert Eustace, possibly the standout story here for me, but I remembered it fairly well from reading it somewhere else, possibly in one of the British Library collections. Though there are 2 - 3 stories that were genuinely fun and exciting to read, most of them were a bit of a letdown – being rather clumsy and awkward. I'll just repeat what I said from that review: in which a fall from a roof in November turns out to be more sinister than originally thought. Innes was reliably clever, Sayers terse and entertaining with a well crafted red herring character, but I did rather enjoy R.In The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel by LT Meade and Robert Eustace, our narrator investigates the mysterious deaths of two signalmen on a remote section of the mountainous Welsh railway. What you do get though is ten early to mid-twentieth century, male centric murder tales with a tenuous link to winter. It begins with the description of the cushy and immoral life of an international gigolo and ends with justice being dealt out on a cold, snowy Christmas Eve in freezing London. JANICE HALLETT, THE SUNDAY TIMESIt's only the afternoon, but dusk is already falling and a log fire burning in the grate. Some of the stories are a little obscure, but I really enjoyed The Chopham Affair, The Adventure of the Abbey Grange and The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel.

A reasonable selection of classic crime stories, but there is no editor's introduction and it is disappointing that no sources or dates of publication are given. By today's standards these stories are quaint but may be worth a read if you are interested in early detective fiction. Sadly, a couple are more meandering, as told by one colourful character from the past to another equally colourful character from the past, without ever creating much sense of mystery or suspense. Here are ten classic crime stories for the winter months, from the greatest minds of the mystery genre. The seasonal murder book market is flooded and there’s a whiff of barrel scraping here but, despite that, some major authors are included.

The Chopham Affair by Edgar Wallace - in which a blackmailer of ladies meets his end on a snowy night by a roadside with a fantastic twist in the end. My favourites in this were the Sherlock Holmes (which I've read many times), The Chopham Affair, and Haunted House, but my absolute favourite was The Mystery of Felwyn Tunnel, which is very like The Signalman by Charles Dickens, a story that I love. Unbelievably, this is the seventh seasonal collection in this series of cosy crime short stories edited by Cecily Gayford.

T. Meade and Robert Eustace - a very good story in which murder is suspected near a train tunnel in winter but the solution is completely natural. Austin Freeman - not a name I knew - whose 'Mr Ponting's Alibi' was long enough, like the Doyle and the Chesteton, to develop a neatly attentuated investigation by lawyer Thorndyke whose relations with the local detective, Superintendent Miller are similar to Holmes and Lestrade. I don't think I am being unfair by saying that even though some of these authors are well-known and respected the particular stories in this book are hardly their best work.

Off the Tile by Ianthe Jerrold - a good story that I came across in another anthology: Crimson Snow: Winter Mysteries. Perhaps a bit more than just the title and author, even just the date first published (even the credits at the back of the book only mentions 4 of the stories and no dates), would have been the icing on the cake.