Welcome to Litsy!

@julieclair--wowza! You spoiled me! The wrapped gifts were so pretty, I had to take a pic of those--and keep Pippa from wanting to tear the packages. She thinks every wrapped anything is for her! Candy? My FAVORITES! Book post-its? So useful--as well as the hand soap sheets! Bookmark? Precious. Books? LOVELOVELOVE! Thank you so much, my friend. 🩵❄️🩵

Also, a big thanks to @bookish_wookish for hosting this lovely swap! #LCS #LittleChristmasSwap

This is my first PD James novel and she has me convinced I‘m a fan of the short story murder mystery. There were 4 solid stories here. My two favorites were The Mistletoe Murder - a murder in the home told by a WWII war widow and A Commonplace Murder told by a creepy dude keeping the details of a murder to himself even if it means an innocent man takes the rap.

My last review of the year! This short audiobook was interesting enough. Very sort of old fashioned murder mystery entertainment. Made cleaning fun (ish). 🌟🌟🌟 #mistletoemaniacs #wintergames2021 #bookspinbingo #averymerrybingo #christmasmyway #averymerryreadathon

This is a photograph of the prolific author, P. D. (Phyllis Dorothy)James who died in 2014. The book is a a collection of short stories that take place in England. All involve a murder. Clever, elegant narrative that keeps you guessing till the end. Loved this quote from two of the stories “pure Agatha Christie”. I was transported to the time and place as I listened to the audio on Libby. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

New Hoopla audiobook! #classic

These short stories were pretty good. Had a little bit of an Agatha Christie vibe. #mistletoemaniacs #wintergames2021 @Clwojick

I…. Thought this was fine. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ it all felt very… anticlimactic to me 🤷🏽‍♀️

Also, once I came home and saw the #jolabokaflodswap package that was destroyed yesterday, it was clear it was no dog, but instead one of our neighborhood‘s resident bobcats 😲 I‘m not sure if you can tell from this pic (I had to cover the addresses), but there are claw marks on the label 🐅🐆

Whew! It‘s been a busy Dec! We finally got our tree up & decorated & I finally got all of my swap packages finished, wrapped, packaged, & out the door! #Bestof2021Swap #Jólabókaflód #jolabokaflodswap #littlechristmasswap #wintersolsticeswap Though, unfortunately, a dog (?) apparently got into 1 pkg before the mail person could pick it up, so 1 #jólabókaflódswap package has to be redone & will be sent out this week!

And enjoying these 2 reads ☺️

I rather liked this book, a lot!

Fun little mystery stories! Very Agatha Christie, honestly. #bookspinbingo #cornersquare #wintergames2020 #teahreadnosedreindeer 26pts #readmyowndamnbooks

Excellent book of four short Christmas Crime Capers!

@Twainy thank you for this lovely #Elfswap package! I‘m already reading the tagged book! I really appreciate the socks, HUGE bag of caramels, and second book (!!!!) 😀 I hope you have a lovely Christmas! 🎄 @Avanders thanks for hosting this sweet swap!! ⛄️

My litsy penpal sent Santa my way and boy did he deliver! Look at these fabulous gifts she picked out for me! I was hoping to get more of those amazing socks. Also got some fur mama magnets, lunar new year black tea, and books that I already started reading. Thank you so much @Litlady for all these beautiful gifts! This year has been rough, but I'm so grateful for your friendship. Merry Christmas!!! Happy Holidays to you all! ❄️

This was my first time reading P.D. James and although I didn‘t love all the stories, I really enjoyed most of them. I especially enjoyed being introduced to her famous detective, Adam Dalgliesh, in the story “The Twelve Clues of Christmas”. I was amazed at how much James fit into such short stories, and although the endings were not always surprising, I was ok with that because of the length of the stories.

Day 6 - #Mistletoe #SleighTheShelves
#TheMistletoeMurders #PDJames

I read and enjoyed this book in December 2018.

This book wasn‘t for me. I was hoping for a stronger Christmas feel, but besides a few of the short stories being set on Christmas , that is only Christmas feel to them. It was a quick read, if you are looking for some quick mysteries to fill an hour or so then maybe you would enjoy it. Not my thing I guess.

I am not normally one to reach for seasonal reads but everyone here on Litsy has inspired me to do so. Therefore I am giving it a go! #christmasreads #mystery

Not enough suspense for me.

I don‘t think I‘ve ever read P.D. James before. I‘m not sure how I made that omission, but I decided to give this book a try over Christmas. I liked it, but didn‘t love it. I think I‘m just more used to Agatha Christie‘s lighter style. To be fair, I liked these stories enough to want to give a James full-length novel a try before I make a final judgement on her writing. I‘d still recommend this collection.

P. D. James is not an incredibly celebrated author for nothing. She has such skill. Beautiful descriptions, a couple of surprises... great set of stories.

Finishing the year strong!!
A retelling of A Christmas Carol and 4 short murder mysteries.

#HolidayReads

#TeamFestivus @wanderinglynn
#WinterGames @Clwojick @StayCurious

Day 29 - #Mistletoe #HollyJollyReading

The short stories were quick and easy to read and quite entertaining. They were sort of like cozies but were masterly done as the characters were interesting and the murderer was not too easy to figure out. I mostly enjoyed the surprise endings which was not expected. It you have not read her before, you should read this book as a sample of her writing. I'm sure you would enjoy it as much as I did!

My mum is trying to hit 100 books read this year. The Mistletoe Murder will be number 95, if I recall correctly.

Coincidentally, I just nabbed another PD James off her shelves: A Taste for Death. #BookTwins ?
(Mum: "That was the first PD James I read! It was really good.")

Four short stories by P.D. James, taking her inspiration from the Christmas country-house Murders of Agatha Christie. #WinterGames #MerryReaders #HolidayRead

I liked ‘Sleep No More‘ by P. D. James so much I had look and see if she had any other story collections and I found this. Turns out she often wrote special stories for Christmas for newspapers and magazines. Several of her most well-known were collected in the tagged book. Murder and mistletoe...what could be better on a cold, winter night? I think I need to read this book too.

I am usually not a fan of short stories but I had picked this one because of the theme of the holidays and it was available on Litsy. (I say I‘m not a fan yet I do indulge in the short story now and then) anyway I enjoyed it.

Go #TeamNutcracker !!! ❄️ #WinterGames

@Bookworm54 , @Clwojick , @StayCurious

1 point participation ⛄️

1 point #FestivePhotoChallenge + 20 points #HolidayRead 🎄= 21 points

Running total: 1,177

Only listened to the first story so far. But I am loving it :)

Go #TeamNutcracker !!! ❄️ #WinterGames

@Bookworm54 , @Clwojick , @StayCurious

1 point participation ⛄️

#WinterReadsBingo

Running total: 1,071

Picked this one just for the cover.... I am usually not a fan of short stories but.... I mean hopefully it will be entertaining

Go #TeamNutcracker !!! ❄️ #WinterGames

@Bookworm54 , @Clwojick , @StayCurious

1 point participation ⛄️

Running total: 1,013

I wanted to finish 71 books this year so at the end I chose short books😜There are 4 short stories where a murder had occurred and the end you discovered the murderer but not necessarily the case is closed. As short stories you always would like more details but in general I would say the author kept my attention. I didn't like how she mentioned Agatha Christie in her stories, did she think she was better?3.6⭐️Thanks for this book @Stacy_31

This is my first P.D. James book and I have to say, I‘m quite impressed! This is an excellent collection of short stories. I found myself getting wrapped up in each one, especially the second story. I will definitely be checking out more of her books. Thank you again @callielafleur ! 🤗

#Christmas
#mystery
#catsoflitsy
#Scarlett

🎄⛄️🎅🏻🎄⛄️🎅🏻🎄⛄️🎅🏻🎄⛄️🎅🏻🎄⛄️🎅🏻🎄⛄️

Before this, I've only read Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James & really liked it. I also really enjoyed this small collection of short stories. Although the last one takes a good-hearted stab at a Christie-esque whodunit, James's strength seems to be the psychological depth to her stories. These aren't quiet, cosy Christmas tales; one in particular is rather dark & grim. I enjoy her writing; it's rich & descriptive & rewards close attention.

Was planning to read it this month, but looks like my current read will take up the rest of December. Oh well, next year perhaps.
#seasonsreadings #mistletoe

Funnily enough I didn‘t actually like The Mistletoe Murder; there was no satisfaction to it, and no great story. But I did enjoy the other three stories very much! They were very satisfying and had me intrigued! 🎄

This was a easy quick read. I liked the character Adam and will be looking to buy the first book in his series Cover her Face.

I'm not a fan of short stories but I did enjoy this book by James. I've only read Death Comes to Pemberley by her in the past but I do look forward to reading her other books. The short stories were quick and easy to read and quite entertaining. They were sort of like cozies but were masterly done as the characters were interesting and the murderer was not too easy to figure out. I mostly enjoyed the surprise endings which was not expected.

Fits the bill for holiday mysteries, though they aren‘t terribly memorable.