Oh, the joy of curling up on a winter’s afternoon to immerse oneself in a compelling crime novel or TV drama featuring victims and sleuths. The story will be set in a picturesque, seemingly safe place

Mary Pargeter was starting to feel her age. When did she first attend the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Greenwood House? A quarter of a century, and she was retired even then. Had she loc

By Agatha Christie. Harper Estates, HB, £14.99 When the Christmas prep is finally done, curl up and lose yourself in a classic mystery from the queen of crime, Agatha Christie. In a snowbound house on

IT was two days until Christmas and the afternoon sky was blue and crisp as Lydia’s car pulled up in front of the magnificent Bristol Hotel. Why was it called the Bristol? she wondered. It was nowhere

I“’m dreaming of a white Christmas”: it’s a refrain that we’ve been hearing and singing for 83 years now. The probability of that dream coming to fruition varies by abode, of course, but is always pre

You might be surprised to learn that there are more ghost sightings on Christmas Eve than there are at Halloween, so what better time for a ghost hunt? The festive season has always been favoured by l