Short stories are often fun, and a good collection may be found in Christmas Crimes At The Mysterious Bookshop, edited by Otto Penzler. Mr. Penzler owns a books shop: The Mysterious Bookshop. It is in New York. Seems it is huge and offers new, used, rare and out-of-print books. Thirty some years ago he started a tradition of asking an authors to write a short story which was published in booklet form and used as a gift to some of his regular customers. There were just three requirements for the stories: they were set at Christmas time, had a mystery, and at least some of the action took place in The Mysterious Bookshop. This is a collection of some of those stories. They are sad, and grim, happy, heart warming, funny ... a wonderful way to start a chilly December morning with a cup of tea. You may always wonder why that bottle of brandy seems to taste a little ... different ... :-)

It took a while for this to come out, but it was worth the wait. The Judas Monk Murders, the fourth in the Homefront Sleuths Mystery series by father/daughter team of Anna Elliott and Charles Veley. A soldier is found dead in the ruins of an old abbey. The military say it was an accident, but our Homefront Sleuths feel otherwise. Adding to the mystery is the story of a monk, a monk who was a traitor (hence the name, Judas Monk). Is there a connection, and if so, what? Don't miss the historical notes at the end.

Reading Hermit With Dog