The stories don't have details of the dates when they were written or previously published, which is a shame. Sayers' Sleuths on the Scent has a classic scenario of weary travellers trapped by bad weather, this time in the bar of the Pig and Pewter. Whilst there are now much fewer instances of stories set at Christmas, all the stories are set in the cold or snowy winter months.

Innes was reliably clever, Sayers terse and entertaining with a well crafted red herring character, but I did rather enjoy R. 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.The Adventure of Abbey Grange' by Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes chooses to play judge and jury, after his detective work is done . 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. 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! 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.

A pretty ragtag selection, all told, with only Conan Doyle’s ‘The Adventure of the Abbey Grange’ and Edgar Wallace’s sneakily structured ‘The Clapham Affair’ truly standing out. This series of books, being a collection of murder stories by well known authors, is a regular Christmas present for my wife. Austin Freeman - in which a woman is murdered and finding her killer may hinge on finding a cat, a dog and a monkey.JANICE HALLETT, THE SUNDAY TIMESIt's only the afternoon, but dusk is already falling and a log fire burning in the grate. Outstanding is The Chopham Affair by Edgar Wallace, in which a smooth-talking conman finally picks the wrong mark.