By Jeff Baker

I have a tradition involving reading short stories around Christmas. I re-read two stories by the great British author Margery Allingham. The first, “On Christmas Day In The Morning,” involves her detective Albert Campion (a man who is not who he seems!) solving a Christmas morning mystery. The line “They sent me their love at Christmastime and I’ve still got it,” rings more true to me as I grow progressively older. Allingham’s stories often had an added “oompfh!” at the end and this is no exception.

The second Allingham story ties in with another Christmas tradition: the Christmas ghost story. “He Was Asking After You” is a fine chiller which doesn’t end at the point where any other writer would end the narrative. There is an added “oompfh!” here and it fits perfectly.

Two LGBT-themed reads now; Greg Herren edited a fine collection of gay Christmas tales “Upon a Midnight Clear,” which is easy to find and worth the time. ‘Nathan Burgoine wrote a fine Christmas novella “Handmade Holidays” which should be a yearly holiday reading tradition. Here’s a link to my review:https://authorjeffbaker.com/2017/11/23/handmade-holidays-nathan-burgoines-new-christmas-story-review-by-jeff-baker/

Happy Holidays and Happy reading!