Given that ‘Christie for Christmas’ was a thing, it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that the Christmas spirit can be increased with the addition of fictional murder. In The Mistletoe Murders, P.D. James gives us four holiday-themed short stories.

Since the stories are unconnected, and there are only four of them, I’ll cover them one by one.

• The Mistletoe Murder: The titular story starts off feeling almost autobiographical, with the protagonist and narrator being a “best-selling crime novelist”. In this recounting, she goes back in time to an unsolved murder that takes place at her grandmother’s place. It’s a very deftly sketched story, with a resolution that comes on you suddenly but satisfyingly.
• A Very Commonplace Murder: This was probably the most unconventional story of them all, since solving the murder appears almost irrelevant to the story. It’s told by Gabriel, an old man who passes by an apartment and remembers a time years ago, when he saw something and never spoke up about it. The ending here was fantastic, really.
• The Boxdale Inheritance: Inspector Dalgliesh has been asked by his godfather to make sure that his godfather’s inheritance is not sullied by crime. This has hints of Tey’s Daughter of Time, given that it’s a murder that happened decades ago. Unlike Daughter of Time, however, there’s one last witness that can confirm Dalgliesh’s suspicions.
• The Twelve Clues of Christmas: Featuring a young Dalgliesh, this was another self-referential story, with Dalgliesh almost aware that he’s a character in a Christmas murder mystery.

Out of the four stories, I thought A Very Commonplace Murder and The Boxdale Inheritance were the strongest two because of how they ended. I can’t really spoil it for you, and I don’t want to hint at it, but I would definitely recommend these stories.

For me, the weakest story was The Twelve Clues of Christmas. I’m not sure why, but it never really grabbed my attention, even though it seemed fun enough. That said, I don’t think it wasn’t a bad story, it just wasn’t as strong as the preceding ones.

Overall, this is a quick and fun read. Even if you’re caught up in the Christmas festivities/busyness, you can probably still fit in these four short stories, making this a good choice for a quick Christmas boost.