This is a delightful collection of short stories by Allingham set at Christmas. Three involve her famed sleuth Albert Campion. On Christmas Day in the Morning sees Campion and the Chief Constable called out to a mysterious death. It seems obvious who has killed the postman and how but the evidence then becomes confusing as apparently the postman has been injured and then delivered more letters which would seem impossible. Campion spots the incongruity in. The evidence and gently solves the puzzle. It is typical Allingham and very much of its period.

Happy Christmas is a completely different story and the only one which does not involve Campion. A young couple are disappointed when their friends cancel their Christmas Day visit at the last minute. Their plan is to have a Victorian Christmas exactly as it would have been. In the flat upstairs lives an elderly lady and they ask her for advice. She then takes over their Christmas and they have a wonderful day. There is a lovely twist at the end of this tale which is heartwarming.

The fourth story involves Lady Amanda and their dog Poins. It is pure fairy tale and a little gem which rally evokes Christmas. This book is a short read but delightful for this time of year.

My thanks to Crime Classics for an ARC copy. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it. Can't wait to read the next month's book.

These are four short stories, all with a Christmas setting:
- On Christmas Day in the Morning from The Mysterious Mr Campion
- Happy Christmas (nothing at all to do with Albert Campion, hence I have docked a star).
- The Case of the Man with the Sack
- Word in Season

They are all slight, enjoyable stories. The first story is a standard whodunnit / howdunnit with a good puzzle, albeit in short story format. It will bewilder younger readers (anyone below fifty?!) as it involves a postman delivering mail on Christmas Day. (Yes, it continued to the Sixties at least, as I remember.).

The second story is an acceptable story but nothing special - and no Campion!

The third story involves a theft, but no great effort is required on the part of the reader.

The last story is unusual, as it’s written from the viewpoint of Campion’s dog. He tries to decide whether or not to use the animals’ traditional gift of speech, granted for one hour on Christmas Eve. It's not a mystery, but it does have a feel-good factor.

Four Margery Allingham Shorts - two of them with Albert Campion - and a nice Festive treat. If you haven't read any Campion before this probably isn't the best place to start, but if you have it's a lot of fun to drop in briefly on Albert. They're all quite cleverly put together too which makes them more satisfying than you'd expect given the length of them.

I’ve always had a soft spot for Campion, after enjoying the tv adaptations when I was younger. Took me a long time to get around to any of the books – starting with The Crime at Black Dudley – and to be honest I’ve still only read a couple. However, a set of four short stories from Margery Allingham, based at Christmas, just sounded lovely!

And, they are quite sweet. Three of the four, On Christmas Day in the Morning, The Man with the Sack, and Word in Season, involve Albert Campion, two of those solving mini mysteries and the other one a slice of family life with a very very large dollop of whimsy. I enjoyed all of these, picturing Peter Davison in the role, and who doesn’t love dogs with the last one? :)

The other story, Happy Christmas, the second in the collection, is a different beast. While clearly about Christmas, it doesn’t feature Campion and to be honest I was left scratching my head a little over what it was all about. Nothing wrong with it, it’s still a sweet little slice of period frippery, just not entirely sure what I was missing. It’s the oldest story, too, published in 1937 compared with the 1960s for the others.

If you’re a fan of Campion, this is a short but lovely little compilation of cosy mystery niceness that conjures images of a more gentile time.

This is 4 short stories - the longest took me about 20 minutes to read. So I sat in front of the Christmas tree and read them all in one sitting.

The stories have a bit of a Victorian feel to them, although they are set quite that far back.

For someone who loves Christmas and historical reads, I think they would love these. For me, who only loves Christmas, I enjoyed that they were a good wholesome story, but I think I'm better to stick to tales like Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer and The Night Before Christmas.

But a quality short read.

Fab holiday read. Short stories, which are brilliant when you’re busy, all with a seasonal theme. You can’t beat a good murder mystery, and Campion is an old favourite. Loved this!

As a long term Campion fan and Christmas lover, these stories couldn’t go wrong! Short and simple but full of delicious character descriptions and a feel for a bygone time. This is a book I would return to in festive seasons to come.

Four individual short holiday themed stories showcase Allingham's creative versatility. Homey seasonal settings of crackling fires and frosty weather, murder, mysteries, and ending with a fantasy. Treated to a variety in this wintry collection, readers discover more insights of Campion in these choice tasters.
As originally written and published in the British 30s and 60s Golden Age of Crime, the stories offer uniquely evocative insights of the era in dialogue, dress, action, and settings. Sure to be a treat for any Allingham fan!

Find a variety of seasonal reading delights in ~
On Christmas Day in the Morning
Happy Christmas
The Case of the Man with the Sack
Word in Season

I do like to read a bit of seasonal classic crime at Christmas. To be honest I like to read classic crime at any time of year!
Last Christmas I read a selection of Georges Simenon’s Christmas short stories, this year it is Margery Allingham that has been granted to me by the good people at Classic Crime Advance Readers Club.

I have previously read only one Margery Allingham novel (not a Campion story) and it was quite excellent, so this I was looking forward to greatly. Apparently Campion is her great creation but to be honest this VERY short collection proves not to be a great introduction to Campion as a character so I was a little disappointed. It may very well be that if you are already a fan and understand the history and ‘backstory’ of the character that you may get more out of these stories but I was left feeling a little nonplussed particularly when it came to the story of what Campion’s dog said to him on Christmas Eve... Yes, that's right, apparently this is/was a ‘thing’ and indeed it comes up in two out of the four stories contained in this collection.

That being said, in one affecting story in particular there is genuine sorrow and concern portrayed and it is every bit as profound as that found in Simenon, but with a little more warmth.

As I often say about golden age crime stories, it is very pleasing to be able to consider stories, set in the relatively recent past, not written by a modern author either cynically viewing the past or writing a pastiche of a certain type of novel as one so frequently comes across. Allingham’s voice is distinctive and contemporary with the time and situations about which she is writing. We don’t need to imagine how people may have thought and reacted to events; Mrs Allingham tells us precisely as she was there.

Four short Christmas stories, two are detective stories, the last one is a slice of domestic life for the Campion's and I have no idea what the second story was supposed to be.

What is this thing about dogs can speak in the final hour of Christmas Eve? Is this a thing? I've never heard it before and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. It's mentioned more than once in these stories and I wish it wasn't.

The two detective stories were well thought out and full of characters - perfect cosy Christmas reads. The first one is quite sad too, I really felt for the lonely old lady.

The second story is a bit odd, though it made a bit more sense when I saw that it was originally published in a Woman's Own Magazine in the '60s. It felt out of place here.

The last story made me laugh, it has the funniest married couple scene I've read for a while.

"I take back everything except cackhanded."

"I concede cackhanded."

Campion knows when to take a hit.

Overall, it's a nice little book to sit down with for an afternoon but I wish it were longer, or that they were all detective stories. Though for just £2 on Amazon at the moment it's not bad value.

My favourite of all the past and present crime writers, still the Queen in my book!

Four delicious short stories to whet the appetite for Christmas reading; all elegant little presentations, complete and encapsulated and like all bonnes bouches leaving us wanting more!

A delightful Christmas treat -- four short stories of minimum criminality and maximum warmth. The final story, told by Albert Campion's red setter, Poins, will melt your heart. Strongly recommended.

Highly recommend this group of Christmas stories from Margery Allingham.I enjoyed each story each with the Christmas theme woven in.Would make a lovely stocking stuffer ,#netgalley #agora

This charming book is a must read. Ms Allingham brings her usual vivid description and characterization, adds a bit of excellent story telling, and ends by giving us her best. This book would be best paired either with a warm bath and wine, or cozy pajamas and cocoa.

I don’t think I’ve run into this series character before, and I find him very charming in these series. These are gentle stories that are more about the season than the mystery. A lot of slang and references have been lost in time, and I only happened to learn recently that it was once a custom to hang all the presents from the tree with ribbons (try hanging a new laptop) or I would have been a bit lost. The only thing that jarred was a definite need for closer editing – someone relied too heavily on spell-check when they produced this book. Some of the malaprops are humorous, but most are just annoying. The stories were written, of course, in the 1930s and you have to be ready for a different style of writing. Just slow your mind down, brew a pot of Christmas tea, sit by the fire and enjoy.

Margery Allingham is my favourite writer of the ‘Golden Age’ of detective fiction, so I was delighted to receive Campion at Christmas from Agora Books and NetGalley. There are only four stories in this collection and they’re very slight. Three are from previous collections and one was originally printed in Woman’s Own. The longest and best is The Case of the Man with the Sack, which is a classic ‘Campion spends time at a country house’ story. If you already like Albert Campion, you’ll want to read these stories but if you’re new to Allingham, it would be much better to start with a full-length novel like The Beckoning Lady or Sweet Danger.

You can’t like Michael Edward’s writing and not have an appreciation for the golden age of crime.
Margaret Allingham is a treasured figure in this period; that one reads and criticises her work with caution looking for self-preservation or the hope to remain credible in your reviewing of crime fiction.
Campion at Christmas is a collection of 4 short stories about how her famous detective spent this seasonal period, as a guest of others or in his own home.
These are not over-plotted gems rich on complex matters but simple tales that capture the spirit of Christmas from sending cards, buying gifts, decorations and relationships.
There’s a wealth of historical value here to digest aa we gaze upon a servant heavy society and recall a less commercial time. There is a joy and those simple truths to consider away from social media.
Of the stories contained in this book. I enjoyed the first which has a puzzle to solve and the final one which reflects the Christmas message. Peace on Earth.
Of the others I would have to re-read the second as I lost it’s direction and story values and in the third it seemed all a little predictable to fully engage my mind.
I like Campion and the easy characters depicted but beware this is set within a different world even though television is mentioned. A time of mistletoe, when kisses were sought and when animals were lovingly considered to be granted the power of speech on Christmas Eve.
Objectively, and not listening to my dog’s opinion, I think I will commit to reading more in the hope of falling under the author’s spell.

This is a wonderful little short story collection by an author I haven't heard of before (for shame!), it's a really quick read because, short stories, and it gave me a taster of the writing and of the characters in the Campion series.

As these are all set at Christmas it's given me a little bit of push to get into the spirit of the season.

Have a couple more stories to read by this author now so will be getting to them soon.

*Huge thanks to Margery Allingham, Agora Books and NetGalley for this copy which I chose to read and all opinions are my own*

A fine mixture of Christmas themed short stories. Not all are mysteries, not all are Campion. Pure Allingham but, alas, the book is far too short to be satisfying. Good preview, but leaves the reader wanting more.