A slim collection of short stories by P. D. James. She was often commissioned by newspapers and magazines to write a special short story for Christmas; four of the best are gathered for this delightful romp of a book. The back of the book explains the stories best with no spoilers:
"In the title story, a bestselling crime novelist describes the crime she herself was involved in fifty years earlier...in "A Very Commonplace Murder," a "pedantic, respectable, censorious" clerk's secret taste for pornography is only the first reason he finds for not coming forward as a witness to a murder..."The Boxdale Inheritance" finds Dalgliesh implored by his godfather to reinvestigate a notorious murder, an investigation that will reveal a family secret so dark that Dalgliesh will firmly rebury it...and in "The Twelve Clues of Christmas," Dalgliesh is drawn into a case that involves a family with "an aversion to natural death." "
Since James's death I had no hopes of new works coming out; this collection was quite welcome to me, especially since two of the stories involved Adam Dalgliesh, the poet-detective from the Metropolitan Police (her most famous creation). I read two of the stories while waiting at various appointments. An easy read with some twists. Good stuff!
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