Welcome to the Carnival of the Criminal Minds, the Grand Tour of the crime fiction blogosphere impeccably organised by Barbara Fister who has persuaded the finest criminal bloggers on the planet (as well as me) to take readers on a tour of their favourite online places. The Carnival arrives here in England after the shortest hop from Ireland, where a typically good craic was provided by Declan Burke of Crime Always Pays.
It's that time again: either hell on earth and too little goodwill to around, or, to quote Eddie Pola and George Wyle, "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year." It all depends, I guess, on where you are and what you're doing.
If you're in Lakeside or Bluewater desperately seeking the last Nintendo DS Lite on the face of the earth and in the company of 125,000 crazy people, you're probably thinking about murder as much I am.
But there is an alternative.
Imagine a gentle, relaxed stroll through an atmospheric European Christmas market - perhaps in Austria or southern Germany. Snow is falling silently, the band is knocking out Silent Night, the cider is spiced and warm, almost as good as those tempting little pastries.
Well, what we're going to do with this leg of the Carnival is a little both. A little of Satan's shopping mall as well as a leisurely tour around the Salzburg winter fair side of the blogosphere, and stop to sample the very best it has to offer from some of the marvellous writing talent in the ether: some of it with a Yuletide theme, some of it.
And the first stop is also one of the last stop, Femme Fatales, hosts of the fourth leg of the Carnival. where Charlaine Harris has discovered that Christmas is not merely a time for giving but also for listening, particularly for writers:
"Holidays are especially fertile times for eavesdropping. People are reminiscing, and thinking about each other, and anticipating good times. This leads to some rich (and public) conversations. I hear some discussions that just beg for further explanation." But for further explanation, you'll have to visit Femmes Fatales.
She is absolutely right of course. And there is another, certainly here in London where the party season is in full swing: alcohol loosens tongues. In more way than one. Charlaine's post reminds me of a little scene I encountered about this time last year: The Office Party Affair.
In our household, Christmas is also time for lists: presents, guests, food, cards, tasks. You name it, there's a list for it. And criminal minds like lists also - perhaps it's a need for order and organisation. One I've enjoyed is over at Crime Fiction Dossier, where David J Montgomery, who also doubles as a critic for the Chicago Sun-Tribune, has persuaded an impressive cast to tell him their three favourite books of 2007. Part one includes David's own choices as well as those of Tess Gerritsen, while part two features the marvellous George Pellecanos and Ken Bruen.
Another one I like is a discussion started over at Crimespace by Daniel Hatadi, who recommends Citizen Vince by Jess Walter, one of my favourite little-known works. So good, does he find it, that Hatadi decides "I really should get off my arse and read some of his other work as soon as possible". Very true. And nicely put.
The idea of Books for Christmas is a good one, because it serves two purposes. The first is obvious: everyone's out there wracking their brains for ideas looking for that special gift for someone special. The second is that at some point over the holiday period, you are going to want to be alone for a few moments and disappear off somewhere quiet. Why not take a good book? And every recommendation helps.
Perhaps the best of these Christmas bazaars is to be found at It's a Crime! (or a mystery) where Rhian persuaded a star-studded cast to reveal their Christmas best, including Andrew Taylor, Zoe Sharp, Steve Mosby and Donna Moore.
But what would Christmas be without a little musical interlude. So please let me introduce you to Straight No Chaser, the wonderfully harmonic and inventive a capella choir from Indiana University with their unique interpretation of the 12 Days of Christmas.
As you peruse the stalls of the market, however, be sure to spare a thought for the staff, and be courteous to them at all times. I have worked in a men's clothing store over the Christmas period, and trust me, however little fun you are having searching for gifts, the person on the other side of the counter is sure to be having a more miserable time. Jeff Kingston, propietor of the Rap Sheet, seems to be enjoying his stint working in a local book store, but found himself holding his tongue when a customer asked him what he thought about three particular books, none of which Jeff had read. "Gee, for someone who works in a bookstore, you sure don’t read much, do you?" was the customer's response.
The Christmas season brings with it an interesting contrast, between the messages of hope and spirituality inherent in the new testament stories and in the Bacchanalian rites of the modern festival: eat, drink, be merry, but most of all shop, shop, shop.
With the world economy seemingly on its way to hell in a handbasket, there's been a lot of hand-wringing this year about just how consumers and retailers will cope with it all. Well, enough hand-wringing to infuriate Jacqueline Winspear, author of the Maisie Dobbs books, and blogger over at the naked truth about literature and life. She writes an impassioned polemic against the modern materialism so evident at this time of year, and believes she has found the root of a phenomenon that does have a dangerous tendency towards obscenity.
"Something is waaaay out of whack here. And one of the problems is stuff. Most of us have got too much stuff. We expect even more stuff at holiday times, and we are breeding new generations addicted to stuff. And why are we all grabbing more stuff than we can possibly ever need? Arguably, it's to fill that great big hole somewhere inside that can’t be filled by all the money and stuff in the world." Go over there and read it, it's well worth the time.
And it would be a mistake to believe that everyone is happy at Christmas, however much stuff they get. A former colleague of mine was married to a nurse, who had to work in a central London hospital on either Christmas Day or New Year's Eve every year.
She, and her colleagues, hated both, and not just because they had to be away from family or parties at that time of year. Christmas was miserable and sad because of the number of elderly people who were simply dropped at the hospital and left there, not because they were unwell but because their families had simply had enough of them. And New Year's Eve was considered slightly better, if somewhat more dangerous, as drunken hooligans required dodging and torrents of vomit were fought off with the assistance of wellington boots and aprons.
And so it's little wonder that this time of year has provided its own crime canon. It's probably even less of a surprise that it is being catalogued over at Euro Crime, where Karen keeps one the most comprehensive blogs on the web. Of the four books she's unearthed this year, I particularly like the look of Cyril Hare's An English Murder, which does sound quintessentially English.
Well, that's just about it for the carnival from me. All I can tell you is that after a cold European Christmas, what could be better than New Year's in the sunshine. And that's where the Carnival is off to next, south Florida, courtesy of Book Bitch.
Happy holidays.
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